It’s April 1, and you are reading my weekly Friday email.  ;-D

But no foolin’ – our program last week, “Building Political Power in Battleground States”, was excellent!!  I encourage you to watch the recording if you weren’t there – get your faith in the power of the people restored in just one hour!  And please consider donating to the three grassroots activist groups we featured – Pennsylvania Stands Up, Somos Votantes (Arizona), and Souls to the Polls Wisconsin.  We’ve already raised over $30K – but every additional dollar donated translates into more voter connections.  You can see from the group names that they are located in states where it’s super important to get out the vote in 2024 – and if you listen to the recording, you’ll see how how effective they are in doing just that (and each has a record of success – that’s why we chose them).  They work closely with their communities year-round, to establish trust, advocate for community needs, and ultimately demonstrate that voting is critical to changing lives.  Please support them!

This week, we are venturing into a new program (for us) – “deep canvassing”, which is a potentially powerful technique to connect with voters through authentic conversations, focused on personal stories, as a way to encourage lasting increases in voting.  We will be canvassing in West Philadelphia, on April 14 and future dates.  Training is essential, to learn the nuts and bolts of structuring conversations and also to develop a “personal story” that can be shared at the door. The first of these training sessions, a Story Workshop, will be offered on Zoom on the evening of April 11 (the second will be on site, in Philadelphia, before canvassing on 4/14).  If any of this sounds intriguing to you, please consider attending an Intro to Deep Canvassing, also on Zoom, this Wednesday evening April 3, with Changing the Conversation, the group we will be partnering with.  Take a look at our calendar – Deep Canvassing items are in purple!

On Thursday afternoon April 4/4, we have our first letter-writing gathering in DC Join us at Donetta G’s home in Chevy Chase DC to write letters to infrequent voters in Georgia – to encourage them to vote this year! We’ll also be going over some new insights into effective messaging.  Come learn more – training and materials will be provided. (You can also write letters at home – click here to “order”.)

And finally, since we just ended a phonebank to Arizona Dems to sign them up to vote by mail, I want to convey how enthusiastic the callers were about their success rate tonight – how many times they connected with voters who were grateful to be called with this information. These can be really rewarding calls – so consider signing up for our AZ phonebank next Monday evening 4/8. Training and coaching provided!  And increasing the Dem turnout in Arizona is one of the most important things we can be doing now.

Dori
“The fool shouts loudly, thinking to impress the world.” – Marie de France