THE EMPOWER HOUSTON LEADERS PROJECT

A PROVEN APPROACH TO BUILDING GRASSROOTS LEADERSHIP, CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND VOTING IN

HISTORICALLY DISENGAGED COMMUNITIES

C r e a t i n g a n e m p o w e r e d n e t w o r k o f g r a s s r o o t s l e a d e r s t o e ff e c t c i v i c p a r t i c i p a t i o n a n d v o t i n g i n H a r r i s

C o u n t y

OVERVIEW

• Texas and Harris County Suffer From a Lack of Civic Engagement

• Civic Engagement is a Process that takes Face-to Face Action!

• EHL is Designed to Engage Low Propensity Minority Participants

• Hands on experience with Community Projects Residents want!

• How does Texans Together make this happen?

• How does this increase voting in these areas?

• How does this voter network work?

• Accountability

• Where we are today

• How can you help?

3

TEXAS AND HARRIS COUNTY SUFFER FROM A LACK OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND VOTING

In 2008, Latino adult citizens voting in Texas and Harris County lagged far behind the country. Texas is the only

Hispanic-rich state where the Latino turnout percentage has declined since 2000; the other states

have increased turnout significantly. US Census Voting Data (2011)

4

OTHER STATES HAVE INCREASED MARKEDLY CIVIC PARTICIPATION AND VOTING THROUGH GRASSROOTS LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

“Renewing and building civic participation doesn’t really happen through one more direct mail piece or a better television commercial. It requires person-to-person connections, leading to positive experiences within a supportive community addressing personally felt issues. Effective grassroots leaders are active at the heart of these endeavors.”

W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Grassroots Leadership Development

5

Breakout Groups Where The Class Works On Individual Projects

THE EHL PROJECT IS DESIGNED TO DEVELOP LOWER INCOME, MINORITY GRASSROOTS

LEADERS

• Materials and training are devised for working people.

• Trainers are from minority, working class backgrounds.

• Grassroots leaders continue to learn leadership skills with supervised community organizing projects after the classroom training ends.

• The Project utilizes social media and regular networking meetings to build an activist culture.

• It provides small stipends and mentorship for leaders’ own projects.

7

FOR EACH EHL LEADERSHIP CLASS

• We recruit and accept 30 potential grassroots leaders from disengaged communities

• We provide 8 practical trainings on engaging their communities

• Leaders receive small stipends and supervision for community projects of their choosing

• Leaders are part of an on-going grassroots network that includes regular meetings

• Each leader commits and receives support to work with volunteers to turn out 100 neighbors to vote in Nov. 2014

8

WHERE THE GRASSROOTS LEADERS AND VOTER TEAMS WILL BE LOCATED

9

HOW THE VOTER NETWORK WORKS

• 200 EHL leaders become voter captains in the target areas

• Each of the 200 EHL leaders forms a voter team with 5 volunteers

• Each of the 200 voter teams is responsible for engaging 100 potential voters who normally do not vote

• Each team hosts 2 house parties or meet-ups

• Each team will have 3 personal contacts (2 in-person and a phone call ) with each of the 20,000 targets

10

ACCOUNTABILITY

• Each Voter Teams’ list of 100 identified potential voters will be collected

• Participation of each potential voter on the lists will be verified after the Election

• An accountability report will be provided to each donor by the end of December 2014

11

WHERE THE PROJECT IS TODAY

We have raised $550,000 of our $1,266,038,000 budget

Our current funding will pay for:

• training 2/3rds of the planned 200 voting leaders

• making 3 personal contacts to 13,000 targets out of 20,000 planned targets

12

CONCLUSION

• Because of Texans Together reputation and collaborative community partnerships, we believe we can train more constituents in Harris County and graduate them into our Grassroots Organizing Network.

• This network helps disengaged communities increase voting, improve their neighborhoods and become self-sustainable local leaders.

• In order for this innovative method of engaging constituents in the minority communities, we need your help!

• The Meadows Foundation was founded on improving people’s lives and a major part of that mission is through civic engagement.

• Please greatly consider our funding proposal of $60,000 and join other donors in making a change in Houston!

13