Community Leaders Assemble for Intensive Training Focused on Voter Protection

- Anticipating the largest voter turnout in history - and ensuing problems at the polls - the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) hosted a three-day Operation Big Vote Training Academy in New Orleans last week to train field organizers on voter registration, education, mobilization, and voter protection.

“Our job is to make sure each voter has an opportunity to cast a ballot that counts on November 4,” executive director and CEO of the NCBCP, Melanie L. Campbell, told over 60 community organizers from 14 states. “This intensive training is designed to prepare us for any challenges that may arise in the coming months.”

Lawyers, seasoned organizers, and technology experts conducted training sessions that ranged from best practices in nonpartisan voter education, volunteer recruitment, and voter protection, to integrating new technology tools and minding your health during this rigorous campaign. Participants also learned the capabilities of the NCBCP’s voter information hotline, 1 866-MYVOTE -1.

“Bringing together an intergenerational mix of public servants created an opportunity for the seasoned veterans to teach the young people how to mobilize on the ground, while the youth taught veterans how to organize online,” Campbell added.

Sharon Hanshaw, executive director of Costal Women for Change in Biloxi, MS, adds, “We will continue to registering new voters, however, the larger focus of the Unity ‘08 Black Campaign is to make sure voters verify their names on the voter rolls, locate their polling place in advance, and know their rights at the polls before they go cast their ballot.”

Participants in the training represented a number of labor and nonprofit organizations, including several executives from A. Philip Randolph Institute, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and local affiliates of the National Urban League, all major Unity ‘08 Black Campaign partners. Other partners include American Urban Radio Networks and UniverSoul Circus.

The NCBCP’s Unity ‘08 Black Campaign is a non-partisan civic engagement initiative designed to inoculate, motivate, and mobilize Black voters to participate in the 2008 election.