Oct
23
2024
by Hector Malvido, Senior Manager of Partnerships at Building Movement Project
Setting the Table
Ahead of the 2024 election, voters are already breaking records in early voting compared to the Presidential contest of 2020, despite the fact that some states have made it harder for eligible voters to actually participate at all. While civil liberties organizations and movement groups around the country like the ACLU and the Brennan Center for Justice are actively working to challenge the over 400 anti-voter bills that were introduced since 2020, at BMP, we are thinking about the role an often-overlooked social change maker can play in increasing voter engagement and access – human services organizations.
We believe that direct service organizations are uniquely positioned to support their communities in navigating election seasons because they have the trust of their communities and the skills to help them get the people they serve to the polls. Unfortunately, too few nonprofits across the sector are taking up the call to get more deeply involved in social justice efforts with their communities.
According to the Independent Sector, only 31% percent of all nonprofits are engaging in any form of advocacy as compared to 20 years ago. Human services organizations (which make up almost 40% of the entire nonprofit sector) account for less than 1/3 of those engaging in advocacy work and only 1 in 7 (13%) engage in nonpartisan activities to get out the vote. Notably the factors that discourage them the most include lack of funding, staffing capacity, and an understanding of what they are permitted to do under the law. Those direct service organizations that are engaging in getting out the vote, reported that the biggest motivating factor for them was looking at their mission and utilizing it as a guide for the social change work they were interested in exploring.
Communities In Schools (CIS) of Memphis, a local Tennessee-based service provider, is one of the organizations leading the charge to engage in advocacy alongside their community.
CIS of Memphis Profile
Founded in 2014, CIS of Memphis advances educational equity in schools through holistic programming that centers the success of both students and their families. For over a decade, they have been working deeply in the local school systems, looking at factors that affect the educational achievement and success of the students they serve such as housing, mental health resources, and career advancement support.
In early 2024, BMP launched its first Security to Wellbeing Cohort which was was comprised of 10 direct service organizations from across the US and revolved around the Security to Wellbeing Framework, a tool and series of modules designed to intentionally and sustainably begin or expand the social change work of any direct service organization.
As a member of the SWB cohort, CIS of Memphis delved deep into difficult questions around their mission, their organization’s own capacity to engage in social change work, and their overall role in helping to transform the oppressive structures that plague the systems they work in. From an organizational standpoint, CIS of Memphis had historically and rigidly stayed in their lane, focusing only on programming and initiatives that revolved around the success of their students. More recently, CIS of Memphis has been broadening their mission of “surrounding students and families with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life,” to include an analysis of root causes and looking at what systems exist that hold their students back.
Reflection Question: Have your constituents begun identifying some root causes of the oppressive systems impacting their lives?
The Response
Since the Cohort ended in early May, SWB Cohort Member Jessica Pontoo, Chief of Staff and Strategy with CIS of Memphis and her team were chock-full of ideas on ways to deepen their service work and broaden the social change efforts they have undertaken alongside their community outside of their regular programming. They began looking at urban farming opportunities as a means to tackle food insecurity and economic development. They also worked on an alumni program designed to retain the knowledge of former students by bringing them in as staff, and even aimed to launch leadership development initiatives that lift up the voice and power of the parents of the students they serve.
One timely initiative that emerged from the cohort led them to engage their community in a way they hadn’t since CIS of Memphis first opened its doors 10 years ago – getting their communities out to vote for the upcoming election in November. Acutely aware of the importance of this election, Jessica and her team leaned into their organization’s mission and values to lead the way.
Tennessee ranked last in voter turnout in the last election, with only 31% of registered voters making it out to the polls in 2022. Memphians are also contending within ongoing disenfranchisement by way of confusing laws designed to intimidate them from voting and making it impossible for justice involved folks to regain their ability to vote. For Jessica and her team, diving into this work was personal because it would support their community by pushing back against voter suppression.
“Living in our values of educational access and equity – because we want to make sure voters are aware of how to get involved, equipping people with the right information is part and parcel of our work” – Jessica Pontoo
The first step they took in stepping into this new role was acknowledging that they are not experts in voter education, but they are experts in bringing people together; CIS of Memphis has a reputation for intentionally building relationships with other providers and creating trust with community members. They set out to bring others into this project who could build on what CIS of Memphis was planning. What they did not expect jumping into this was the outpouring of support they would receive from organizations they had never worked with and volunteers they had never met.
Reflection Question: Do you have allies in your community to help you engage in social change work?
The Outcome
What at first was an idea mentioned in passing in a regular meeting quickly turned into a monumental initiative led by CIS of Memphis in partnership with their local community college, Tennessee College of Applied Technology and the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. Over the course of 3 separate events, almost 100 older and younger generations of Black and Brown Memphis locals came together to support each other to navigate election information and over 30 registered to vote on the spot. CIS of Memphis staff themselves were also deeply moved by this new way of engaging their community through their work:
“I saw people come alive in this work, it was an opportunity to create initiatives in which we can extract meaning and purpose in the work because so many people heard this message, they felt it was important” – Jessica Pontoo
The truth about becoming a Service and Social Change organization, is that any changes or new initiatives providers want to take on, should be informed by their mission, their values, and overall honing in on what they do best. As they continue engaging their community through these new social change initiatives, Jessica and her team want to remain steadfast with their “Both | And” approach to social change. As Jessica aptly put it, “while it is crucial to provide direct support, it’s equally important to go upstream and address the root causes.”
What’s Next
BMP is eager to continue working with service providers interested in social change work. If you are a part of a direct service organization like Community In Schools of Memphis, we are excited to share that we plan to launch a 2nd Cohort in 2025 for those interested – so please keep your eyes peeled for more information coming soon!
In addition to the possibility of future cohorts, we are working on publishing the Security to Wellbeing Facilitator’s Guide. The purpose of the Facilitator’s Guide is to support change-makers within direct service organizations in their work to help their nonprofit become a Service and Social Change Organization with tools, discussion and facilitation prompts, and so much more. Please stay-tuned for when it becomes available for download on BMP’s website.
Complete the form below to receive updates on the 2025 cohort and the release of the Security to Wellbeing Facilitator’s Guide.
Related Posts
