Rural Action Democrats

Despite the clear need, there are virtually no California Young Democrat (CYD) chapters north of Sacramento. As a result, the Democratic activists in Northern California — especially in rural conservative counties — lack an up-and coming Democratic “bench,” and have found difficulty engaging young voters. The RAD Project addresses these challenges by partnering the CYD and local county organizers in order to spread California Young Democrat (CYD) chapters throughout Northern California and increase the number of young Democratic voters. The project combines the successful peer-to-peer approach with the resources of local activists and Democratic Central Committees. This allows each partner to focus on doing what they do most effectively, and will result in increased voter turnout and a more engaged base of young Democrats.

Immediate benefit for California Democrats:

1. Increased Democratic voter numbers in rural counties
2. As Committees age, a base of younger organizers is being cultivated
3. Increase the overall efficacy of the Democratic Party in rural counties by providing a sense of accomplishment for the next generation and inspiring a continued local political interest
4. Improved connection with the issues facing younger voters
5. In order to stay relevant, County Committees need a better understanding of available new technologies and how to effectively utilize them
6. When young people vote—Democrats win!

Goals:

1. Short-term: develop five new YD chapters north of Fresno by the Summer of 2012.
2. Long- term: develop an active and engaged YD chapter in each of the counties north of Fresno County.

Historic Outreach Challenges:

1. With notable exceptions, Central Committees that fall into the focus region are of an average age above 60 (some considerably higher). It is unlikely that a young organizer would be compelled to actively participate without utilizing any peer-to-peer engagement from other young democrats. So far there has been a “chicken and egg” dilemma — how do you bring in new young activists if you don’t already have young people to take the lead?
2. Additionally, while a few of the counties are host to colleges, most are not. As a result, there are few central gathering spots to do targeted youth outreach.
3. If the CYD organizers do an exclusive outreach program, targeting regions without the partnership of the local Central Committees, the local committees receive little benefit. In order to sustain local activity, the Central Committees need to be able to have the ability to incorporate the new young organizers and activists.
4. Previous activities focused on short-term, election-oriented gains and not a sustained appoach to youth engagement. There needs to be a long-term relationship developed so that this there is a consistent influx of young people into these committees, and not just a one-time program.

The mechanics of the project are simple. Using the California Democratic Party (CDP) provided voter database, MOE, local Committees generate county-wide contact lists. (In the first tier of the program we’ve cut the lists to target registered Democrats, aged 30 and under, who’ve voted in the last four elections.) CYD teams, utilizing the peer-to-peer strategy, call the Democrats on these lists to extend a personal invitation to the CYD bi-annual Tahoe convention in November 2011. We are also planning preliminary regional gatherings prior to the convention for confirmed attendees. Throughout the actual Tahoe convention, CYD Regional Directors and the TBRC Intern Project Coordinator will work together to organize these young activists into nucleus clusters for new CYD chapters.

The energy generated during the Tahoe Convention; the partnership support between TBRC, the CYD Regional Directors, and the County Committees; and the planning of subsequent projects will lay the groundwork for chartering five new Young Democrat chapters in the Northern California region — where there are now virtually none. Additionally, the results of the initial phoning project are fed back into each county’s MOE database for future use the by the County Committees, so that local Committees can do regular outreach to this group.

The RAD Project addresses outreach challenges that have faced the conservative rural regions:

1. The initial contact is peer-to-peer, which has been shown to be by far the most effective.
2. Local Committees increase, in their own database, the number of young voters — who have had personal interaction with the Democratic Party.
3. We begin building YD chapters, based on young people who have already shown some initiative because the targets are young people who already vote consistently.
4. As chapters develop, they can adopt neighboring counties and repeat the program, thereby building a longterm sustainable system.

How You Can Make the RAD Project Stronger:
The best thing about this program is that Democrats are literally building our future primarily with sweat equity and very little resource investment. As investments go, this is difficult to beat! TBRC would like to begin the 2011 program with scholarships to help these new activists get to the CYD Convention and leave each burgeoning chapter with a small amount of seed money. During the convention, each new chapter will develop a focused set of goals and we want to them to start right away. Remember the RAD Project builds something from nothing at all, starting entirely from scratch!

We are looking for early adopters of the RAD Program, who can help us raise $2,500 ($500/county, for an expected 5 attendees/county) to help the participants cover the cost of the convention registration. (Many of the attendees will need to drive a fairly substantial distance.) It’s that simple!

Additionally, if you have local projects that further Democratic values, please let us know and we can put you in touch with the local Committees or the CYD chapters to see if there is a fit.

We have very high hopes for this project. The need cannot be overstated and this solution meets every challenge. We hope you will become a RAD Partner and help us build a stronger Democratic Party.