UUCC Good Trouble Electoral Justice 2022 Campaign
Purpose of UUCC Good Trouble Campaign – Contribute to work for electoral justice as part of ongoing work with our social justice partners to organize our people, build our power, and get wins – justice – for our communities
Goal for UUCC – Engage 20% of members ~ approx. 60 people in electoral justice activities between Sept. 11 and Nov. 8, 2022 in alignment with ongoing justice organizing. We surpassed our goal with 71 members (24%) participating!
The UUCC Good Trouble team of four people was a result of attendance at the Fall 2021 Organizing Strategy School (OST) and then the opportunity to work with Susan Leslie as our coach for a specific UUCC campaign. We landed on creating our own version of the UUA’s Good Trouble campaign in partnership with Greater Cleveland Congregation’s intensive canvassing and other non-partisan get-out-the-vote efforts.
We put together a list of options that echoed OST’s “Ladder of Engagement” so that people had a number of entry points from very easy (stay after church to write letters and postcards) to more complex (GCC canvassing and poll working). We hosted a kick-off lunch after church to introduce the campaign and to get people started on postcards and letters. We continued to have a table for writing each Sunday and also made “To Go” bags so people could take them home. We hosted a mid-campaign update and snacks for an additional push. We emailed participants weekly with thanks, encouragement, and next steps. We had weekly updates in the e-news with links to more detailed info on the website. Rev. Randy Partain gave a weekly update on participation at the end of each service.
We applied and procured a UUA grant of $500 that helped cover the cost of supplies, some of the stamps and refreshments. Many people contributed the cost of the stamps for letters and postcards. We were thrilled to end up with 71 participants and a lot of enthusiasm within the congregation which we celebrated at a congregational meal just after the election with a special cake and with Good Trouble magnets for each participant.
We asked all participants to report their participation on a google survey we sent out to them.
The 71 participants accomplished the following;
⚫ GCC in-person canvassing 316+
⚫ GCC phone calls 154+
⚫ GCC conversations 80+
⚫ GCC Texts 330+
⚫ Letters 2040
⚫ Postcards 750
⚫ Palm cards distributed 50
⚫ Poll Workers 3
⚫ Poll Monitors 4
We would not have had the success we had without the excellent guidance of Susan Leslie who
facilitated our meetings, planned our agendas, and kept us on track about all of the organizing
concepts. She made a video which we played at the final celebration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dna0P3rKUAI
Here’s the text of her message:
Congratulations Cleveland UUs! Your Organizing Team Laurie Albright, Pat Dillard,
Nancy King Smith, and Debbie Wright put together a great campaign. I was honored to
work with them. Faith-rooted organizing moves people, creates momentum, builds
community, and gets results in a congregation. Your team started by listening to you and
community partners and discerned that electoral justice was key at this time. They
branded the Good Trouble campaign, set a launch date, and developed weekly
communications. They set concrete goals and a manageable timeline. They provided
multiple opportunities for participation, materials, snacks, secured a grant and raised
funds. They managed sign up and data tracking platforms. They held 1-to-1
conversations and had ongoing check-ins and updates with volunteers. They built
community within the congregation, met the needs of volunteers, deepened faith values
through action, and strengthened justice partnerships. They brought to their organizing
a deep sense of purpose along with a spirit of love and fun! So glad you are celebrating
today and I wish you much success in your future justice campaigns.
While not everyone found the canvassing and calling actions rewarding, there were many
positive comments;
Great. I feel I am doing something for the preservation of our rights. I wish I had started
earlier.
* Liked that there were lots of options.
* I would do more for the next Good Trouble campaign. Organizers were great!
* Lots of good camaraderie observed
* This was easy to do and I hope some of this will make a difference. Thanks for organizing
and making the resources available for those of us who wanted to help – even just in a
small way. Would like to do more another time.
* Enjoyed group letter writing and sense of community, common purpose, and hopefully
making a difference in such an important election. Turnout was large and enthusiastic,
thanks to excellent communication, organization, positive feedback – and cake!
* Being part of the Good Trouble Organizing Team has been a great learning experience!
* The GCC canvassing seemed more about building community than increasing voter
turnout. I especially enjoyed the voter tripling task. People really smiled and it may have
increased voter turnout.
* Loved being able to help. Will be glad to help with letters and postcards in the future.
Gratifying work, especially with an experienced partner. Had 11 conversations, 10
positive.
* A very rewarding experience. Sending 100 letters gives once a real sense of
accomplishment that you may be making a difference
* It was great to have the information sent via email on how to get involved and to have
the letters to do at coffee hour . It was also great to be able to do things as a group , I
needed that support during this crazy time .
Some less positive:
* I like doing all this, but I worry that nonpartisan GOTV messages elicit votes that I do not
want. I feel better doing partisan campaigning
* The canvassing was disappointing for the effort involved, though I wasn’t expecting many
to respond. I was glad to be doing something, and very glad to be part of the Good
Trouble Team.
* To be honest I did not like the scripted nature of the GCC activity. I am not sure we did
anything, and it took a lot of time
* It remains a loathsome task and brings on guilt that I don’t do more. You guys did an
awesome job–it’s just not something I’m any good at.
Celebration cake with Good Trouble Team: Nancy King Smith, Debbie Wright, Pat Dillard
and Laurie Albright
Good Trouble Participants:
Laurie Albright, Bev Austin, Eve Bendezu, Joanne Billiar,
Marlene Blatnik-Freeze, Steve Bottorff, Marguerite Bray, Nancy Burkle,
Garry Burkle, Becky Burns, Katerina Cerny, Pete Clapham,
Linda Coulter, Jan Devereaux, Pat Dillard, Jean Ellsworth-Wolk, Carol Gay,
Pam Gibbon, Ray Gonzalez, Kate Greenfield, Helen Gutin,
Mary Ann Hall, Louise Hayek, Dana Hercbergs, Barbara Hill-Newby,
Judy Holder, Laurie Holmes, Laura Imbornoni, Nancy King Smith,
Ivy Kopit, Peggy Lagodny, Brian Larson, Jean Martin, Mary McCoy,
Barb McDonald, Valerie McFadden, Bob McKimm, Nancy Middaugh, Mike Miller, Louise
Mosher, Pat Moyer, Bill Newby, Greg Nosan, Rosemarie Paini,
Kirsten Parkinson, Tadd Pinkston, Kay Ritter,
Brandon Ruud, Vern Sackman, Dell Salza, Anne Sanford, Steve Sanford,
Mary Schatzman, Pamela Schenk, Alan Sharp, Patricia Solomon,
Jackie Stimpert, Anita Stoll, Frank Tascone, Cynthia Taylor, Meg Testa,
Heather Torok, Kristen VonKranenburgh, Mark Weber, Cat White,
Sandy Wilson, Cliff Wire, Debbie Wright, Kathleen Zassick, Suzanne Zilber.