1050 words............

Needs Statement and Management Plan

As a leading Committee member in my community, our focus and agenda are to create awareness on why it important to vote in local elections.

Made out of residents in our local community, mothers, teachers, small business owners and neighbors we noticed a pattern where most community members don’t see the importance and urgency in participating in elections taking place in their local community. Regardless of who their candidate of choice is and what they represent, the voter turnout remains low.

In our efforts since creating our organization, we work on creating awareness of the topics that local community members care about, striving to show how their vote matters when it comes to creating change or establishing an idea they can relate to. Our efforts include phone-calls, flyers and posters, door-knocking, local community meetings, and social media ads and discussion forums.

We aim these efforts towards local business owners, families with children, and low wage employees in the community. These groups overall as many of us and others are consumed with their day to day activities and tasks to the point where they are not able to follow and be informed of new initiatives that are proposed, issues that may help or hurt them down the line, or issues that could help them achieve better quality of life. From data collected the low turnout is caused by not seeing any positive outcomes out of local elections, and not being in the loop and dedicate the time to know and understand what is happening. Our efforts create a topic for discussion for all so by the time it is time to vote they are part of the solutions and participate in it.

To fund such a project, we are in direct contact with local city officials and state officials where they can allocate funds towards helping us create such awareness through community meetings and ads, but the funds allocated are not enough to fund our cause fully. Residents also can donate to our efforts, with their time and money, and so accordingly and we appreciate all their contributions. Above all, we encourage our residents to contribute their time by discussing our agenda and local issues with their friends and neighbors and spread the word.

To achieve higher funding opportunities, we are turning to non-profits organizations across the country such as “non-profit vote”, “common America”, “Let America Vote” and more (Bustle.com, 2020). Such institutions assist local communities in reaching voting engagement in their community.

As mentioned above, the essence of the problem where the community has had low turnout in elections had been sourced mainly to a disconnect between local officials and the raising issues, to the day to day families and businesses that are the core of the community. While the issues on hand had the most impact on such individuals, they were least consulted or given a voice for their opinion on the issue. Out of lack of time for the same and frustration for many, voting turnout has decreased.

In my efforts as a leader in our local community movement we are focused, and committed to focusing on the following areas:

· weekly community meetings led by community members such as business owners, parents, teachers and such where they can raise a topic of concern or area for improvement. Such a meeting creates a topic for discussion not only during the meeting but in other forums outside as well, up to creating and adapting new laws and legislations. As a leader, I’m responsible for my team to talk to local members about attending such a meeting, finding a member to lead it, advertise it, and follow through on all technical arrangements.

· As a result of such meeting, a leader we have created a plan where topics and issues of concerns are discussed with one of the above-mentioned groups by phone or canvassing. Members will knock on doors, visit businesses and make calls to local community members to discuss these issues, and let them know of the ways they can participate and make their voice heard. A possible outcome from such visits can range from participating in a local community meeting, talking to a friend about the ongoing issues, voting and more.

· Last but not least, advertising. Social media ads, local posters, and signage in a non-partisan and friendly manner that promotes the issues community members care about, upcoming elections, advancing and opening new voting locations and community meetings where members can learn more, influence others and be inspired.

Community members that previously weren’t engaged in local issues and were influenced by our efforts to participate in voting and more community affairs have become active in their community and thanked us for helping them become more aware of their community's most urgent needs. They now serve as ambassadors and role models for the community and create more active voters and a united community that works to improve their lives and for those around them.

As a manager, I 'm responsible to develop the daily, weekly and monthly focus and agenda that surrounds our objective in getting more residents to participate in the upcoming election cycle through engagement. I will work with my staff to review the streets and businesses we will be visiting the upcoming week, the phone calls we have completed so far and the feedback we received in these calls. We consider the suggestions and feedback we receive to implement more change in our process to achieve better results and connections with our community. I work alongside engaged community members to ensure a weekly community meeting takes place where various community members will deliver remarks and open table discussion.

Our goal is to achieve a 50% voter turnout increase by the next election cycle. We are determined and sure that are efforts will deliver us even greater results.

References:

O'Neal-McElrath, T. (2013). Winning Grants Step by Step. The Complete Workbook for Planning, Developing, and Writing Successful Proposals. 4th edition. Jossey-Bass. San Francisco, CA.

8 Voting Rights Organizations To Know Before The 2020 Elections Roll Around. Retrieved from: https://www.bustle.com/p/8-voting-rights-organizations-to-know-before-the-2020-elections-roll-around-13156367