BUILDING A BROADER COMMUNITY
After establishing and building a digital community surrounding the 2020 Presidential and 2021 GA Senate races, 1000 WOMEN STRONG is focused on fostering community with Black women and our allies in work across the country. Building a comprehensive directory of who, what, where, and how Black women are organizing in their respective communities and building foundational relationships will be crucial to further campaigns and initiatives as we are going forward. We are ready to develop a program focused on hiring regional organizers to remotely survey Black women organizers across the entire continental US and territories.
HIRE, TRAIN & MANAGE ORGANIZERS
One of the key parts of our strategy has always been to identify local talent and train them to be leaders within the campaign organization. Being in partnership with new and seasoned organizers from the community is key to the grassroot efforts between neighbors and will be key to the organization's consistent growth. They will be prepared to conduct one-on-ones, write comprehensive reports, and build relationships to mobilize our collective base in key actions and initiatives in key regions throughout various states and territories.
CONNECTING WITH
COMMUNITY
Fortunately, there are historic and established institutions that focus on Black women across the country. There will be a deliberate investment in building relationships with larger institutions, but the bulk of our work will focus on connecting with smaller under-resourced and community based initiatives. These Black women: Trans, cis, and non-gender conforming- are the gatekeepers to a communities information and access to resources and they therefore are leading the work.
1000 WOMEN STRONG will build a dynamic database that can be used from various points of view. The initial survey style will allow for easily coded information for future searches.
• Utilize NGP EveryAction database to organize and manage our organizers and allies.
• Use our database for targeting and executing education campaign activities, organize future actions and general correspondence with supporters.
• Use demographic and geographic information to tailor our message to particular slices of the universe.
MANAGE THE DATABASE
OUR TARGETING STRATEGY
1000 WOMEN STRONG will cover all 50 States, 5 Major territories (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands), and the District of Columbia. Initially there will be no tier system for the locations, but rather 3 phases of overall engagement.
Phase I- Agree to participation in the general information survey and being listed in the directory.
Phase II- Agree to participate as allies in future education and/or issue based campaigns where we align.
Phase III- Agree to become a full collaborator in education and/or issue based campaigns in the immediate future.
It is our baseline strategic goal to engage with a minimum of 10,000 new organizers or organizing communities led by Black women and focused on our intersecting issues with phase one. The project is not focused on any specific group of issues because we know Reproductive Justice, Electoral Justice, and Environmental Justice are equally important to those directly impacted and there are direct and indirect intersections of the work, particularly for Black women.
The succession to phase 2 and 3 for organizations will require deep relationship building and ongoing conversations. It will not be a one size fits all approach and will result in various forms of campaign partnerships including: digital, remote canvassing, and on-the ground support. We are currently predicting that the rule of halves will take effect and we estimate that 5,000 will sign on as allies, and 2,500 collaborators.
PROGRAMMATIC
HIGHLIGHTS
● Universe: United States and 5 Major Territories
● Training and Development of 10 regional organizers
● 3 Phase Approach from allies, partner, collaborator
● Goal of a minimum of 10,000 new contacts across the universe
● Comprehensive database for future actions and initiatives
In 2021, we launched our national Cancel Student Loan Debt: Build Black Women's Futures' campaign with the National ACLU amplifying the disproportionate effects on Black women and urging the Biden Administration to cancel $50K in debt for eligible borrowers. During Black History Month 2022, we are continuing the fight and hosted a student loan debt webinar featuring our very own Executive Director Shayka Cherry-Donaldson and Black women elected officials including: Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Wayne County Commission Chair Alisha Bell (MI), Philadelphia Councilmember Kendra Brooks (PA), State House Delegate Marcia Price (VA), State Representative CaMia Jackson (GA), Denise D. Adams, Mayor Pro Tempore (NC).