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VOP to mobilize 300,000 Community Values Voters
Campaign for Community Values E-Bulletin:
Born out of a mass rejection of the failed policies of individualism and divisiveness, the Campaign for Community Values is a return to the beliefs our country was founded on: shared responsibility, shared sacrifice and shared success.
Take a look at what’s NEW in communities across the country since we last updated you:
Virginia Organizing Project Reaches 130,000 Community Values Voters
Organization is on target to mobilize 300,000 Virginians for the 2008 election, transform Virginia politics.
The Virginia Organizing Project
has identified more than 130,000 Community Values Voters in
Virginia so far this summer, on
target to activate more than 300,000 voters in the presidential election this
fall. But what's most interesting about
Virginia Organizing Project's work this election year isn't just the scale of
their effort, it's the scope. They're
going door to door in every corner of the state talking about everything from
just and humane immigration reform to climate change. And
Virginia voters are listening.
“People of all walks of life are fed up with divisive, go-it-alone politics and want an America that works for everyone,” said Janice “Jay” Johnson, chairperson of the Virginia Organizing Project. “Virginians understand how we're connected to each other, and how healthcare is connected to good jobs and good jobs are connected to public education. That desire crosses the red and blue parts of the state. Our Community Values Voters are part of a larger trend that will change Virginia and the country this election.”
It is clear that the drumbeat for change in this election builds on years of organizing at the grassroots level. The Virginia Organizing Project is collaborating with union groups, gay rights organizations, women's groups and others. Fifty summer interns worked with ten community organizers and hundreds of volunteers to go door to door, county by county across Virginia this summer, distributing a 32-page voter guide, with information on community values issues facing the state.
Following the election, the Virginia Organizing Project will continue to mobilize the Community Values Voters it identifies to push for policy change in the state legislature and in Congress.
What Community Values is all about:
The Center for Community Change, working
with more than 300 hundred grassroots organizations, recognized the demand from
Americans for more cooperation through our interaction with diverse communities
throughout the country. We recognized that Americans wanted to vote on common
values and a common goal - to make their country a better place for their
families, neighbors and communities.
The call for change bubbling up across the country is a call for
a return to community values. This year will be the year
of the Community Values Voter.. Community Values Voter are banding
together to show that our country is closer to its ideals when we include
everyone, when we care for each other, when we recognize everyone’s inherent
value and worth. Only then do we have an
America that
works for all of us. Community Values Voters — across
communities, across political stripes — will hold elected officials
accountable, no matter who wins. This is the next wave of change in
America.
See/read highlights from the Campaign for Community Values:
- The Center’s Sally Kohn writes about the irony of celebrating immigrant Olympians while reviling poorer immigrants.
- Launch of grassroots voter project telephonic press briefing June 23, 2008
- Heartland Presidential Candidate Forum in Des Moines, IA December 1, 2007
For more information about the
efforts of the Campaign for Community values or to visit a voter project,
contact Germonique Ulmer: gulmer@communitychange.org
