Greetings!
Happy New Year and cheers to 100%!
2011 drew to a close with many reminders of the divisions between us and the inequities that persist in our society. So let's begin 2012 by remembering the common action all citizens who are 18 and over can take this year - VOTE.
100% turnout is still a dream - less than 75% of eligible voters in California are registered and only 45% voted in 2010. 62.5% turned out for the last presidential election in 2008. With your help we can top that in 2012.
But who will turnout? Voter turnout is not just about who wins, but what voters and which communities are heard after Election Day.
A disproportionate number of voters who stayed home in past elections were either young or lower income individuals, and part of the reason is because most were never personally contacted about the election by a candidate or party -- further widening participation and mobilization gaps.
Nonprofits can change that. With over 160,000 nonprofits employing more than 760,000 people (5.1% of the state work force) California nonprofits are a powerful civic force. Their staff and volunteers have frequent contact and trusting relationships with some of the most disenfranchised and under-represented populations.
The California Participation Projects provides nonprofits with the resources and support to make civic participation a permanent part of their organization's culture and services. CPP partners with leading voting and civic engagement organizations, statewide human service nonprofit organizations, and state and regional nonprofit networks and community-based organizations.
Both in person and online, CPP provides training and materials to nonprofits to help them engage voters - helping them both register and understand the voting process, as well as providing links to nonpartisan voter education and giving them a reason to vote.
In 2012, the California Participation Project will join our national partner Nonprofit VOTE and a broad national coalition in an effort to mobilize all nonprofits for the first ever National Voter Registration Day on September 25, an effort to ensure every eligible voter can participate and vote on Election Day.
Please make a donation. And spread the word. Let's not only boost turnout, but also close the participation gaps. Every dollar you give increases the number of nonprofits able to help their communities get out and vote this year.
Let's give nonprofits and our communities a seat at the table of democracy this November and beyond.
Thank you,
Sarah Pillsbury
P.S. You can donate online by clicking HERE. When you get to the online donation form for our fiscal sponsor Community Partners, be sure to designate the California Participation Project under the tab "Designate a Project."
Or you may send a check made out to Community Partners FBO (for the benefit of) the California Participation Project to:
California Participation Project
1000 N. Alameda St. Suite 240
Los Angeles, CA 90012
| 
