ORGANIZE YOUR COMMUNITY
Neighboorhood Teams
The Plan
In 2008, Barack Obama reminded Democrats that one voice can change the room, which can change the world. His campaign reminded us that neighborhood organizing is a powerful tool that invites people in their neighborhoods to take action. The concept is not new, but we as a party must renew this core belief that ordinary people working together can take action, empower others, and make the change we seek.
Our neighborhood teams plan to empower local volunteers to engage in grassroots activism, foster community conversations, and drive civic engagement.
These teams validate information and encourage actions like contacting officials, knocking on doors, reaching out to voters in their areas, and promoting leadership within the Democratic Party, ensuring a well-informed electorate across El Paso County.
We will create a team model that includes a Neighborhood Leader of their area who will lead and develop actions for the team, and supported Squad Members or their supporters will assist them. Meanwhile, they will recruit Team Members to join the team.
The main plan of these neighborhood teams is not to last one election cycle and re-invent for the next one. The plan is to create a self-sustaining model of organization that takes action every day, every month, and every year to renew the promise of our party values, keep our elected officials accountable, and build the next generation of El Paso Democratic electorate and leadership.
Goals
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Establish a regional volunteer model independent of election cycles and based in each corner of the county.
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Target key areas to increase voter turnout and close gaps.
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Equip volunteers with leadership roles to organize block walks, phone banks, etc., with regular training to keep engagement and the latest concepts.
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Strengthen ties between volunteers and their communities.
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Create a sense of connection and local activism.
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Complement the County Executive Committee model by integrating volunteers into party leadership roles.
Neighborhood Teams
The organizational model that best achieves our goals for our neighborhood teams is called the "snowflake model," where that leadership is distributed, not top-down. No one person or group has all the power, but the responsibility is shared sustainably, and the aim is to create accountability within each other. The strength of this model is that it enables others within the team to receive training, responsibility, and leadership development.
We will accomplish this by having each team have a Team Leader, Squad Members who work with the Team Leader, and recruited Team Members.
Leader
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Lead and host events
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Recruit and train Squad members for their team
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Work with the Organizing Director on planning and goal-setting
Squad
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Assist the Leader with events and lead a specific event (i.e., block walk, phonebank, etc)
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Help with recruiting team members with the lead
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Always ready to step in to help.
Member
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Dependable to attend events
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Help recruit other members