If there is one lesson from 2020, it is that long-term investment in bold strategies to build power works!
The organizations that NLA partnered with in our 2018 and 2020 Accelerator program are undisputed leaders of the movement who deserve credit for progressive victories when and where it mattered over the last four years.
Our 2020 cohort - The New American Majority - played a major role in winning critical battles in key states of Wisconsin, Texas, Georgia, and Arizona. By building multi-entity structures, these organizations were able to target and engage millions of voters, fight for voting rights and progressive policies, and build lasting power within their communities.
We’re proud of the power NLA and our partners have built over the past four years. But this work didn’t happen overnight. It’s taken years of sustained commitment and dedication to build infrastructure and organizations capable of engaging and mobilizing millions of voters.
We must not stop now. We hope that you will take a moment to read about the extraordinary impact our cohort members made this year and recommit to supporting them and NLA in 2021.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM NLA’S 2020 NEW AMERICAN MAJORITY COHORT
In 2020, NLA worked with power-building organizations in WI, AZ, GA, MN, TX and CO. Here’s a look at the impact three of our partners had this year:
VOCES DE LA FRONTERA ACTION FUND (Voces): Long Wisconsin’s leading immigration rights and low-wage worker’s center, Voces committed in 2020 to expand and scale their 501(c)(4) work. By serving their communities on multiple fronts—providing critical assistance to working families, fighting year-round for legislative victories, and mobilizing Latinx voters—Voces is playing a central role in building a new progressive power base in Wisconsin. In 2020, Voces won key legislative battles to restore access to driver’s licenses for immigrants and the poor and fully fund public schools. They helped turn out historic numbers of Latinx voters to elect pro-immigrant, pro-worker candidates up and down the ballot, and trained election observers to protect the Latinx vote at 23 key polling places. But the best measure of Voces’ impact? The Latinx voters Voces reached in Wisconsin exceeded the margin of victory in the state!
THE ASIAN AMERICAN ADVOCACY FUND (AAAF): Singularly adept at turning the AAPI community into a force to be reckoned with in Georgia, AAAF and NLA’s worked to build out their organizational capacity and execute an aggressive field program. A grassroots organization dedicated to mobilizing Asian American communities and advocating for their civil and human rights, AAAF is transforming the political landscape in this traditionally conservative state. In 2020, they used their two new legal structures to run the most effective AAPI field program in Georgia’s history—making over 600,000 phone calls and mailing over 600,000 communications in multiple languages, and playing a critical role in the narrow margin of victory here. AAAF will continue to build progressive power in Georgia for years to come.
WORKERS DEFENSE ACTION FUND (WDAF): A rapidly-scaling group that has become a major force to reckon with in Texas, NLA was honored to work with WDAF this year. By educating, organizing, and serving Latinx immigrants, BIPOC, and low-wage workers, WDAF is laying the groundwork for lasting change in a critical state. In 2020, they leveraged years of grassroots mobilization efforts to reach 3.2 million Texans via social media, contact nearly 400,000 low-propensity voters, and register and engage an unprecedented number of new voters. WDAF also won vital safety & health protections during the pandemic for essential construction workers. Their work is building the power we need to transform Texas in the years ahead.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM NLA’S 2017-2019 PROGRESSIVE INFRASTRUCTURE COHORT
In 2017, NLA made early bets on new organizations with bold ideas. Our investment paid off! Take a look at what three cohort members have accomplished since 2017:
SISTER DISTRICT: Now a household name in progressive circles, Sister District was the second group to join NLA’s first cohort. They pioneered an innovative approach to move resources to competitive swing state legislative districts, where flipping control of the state legislature would end partisan gerrymandering. In 2020, they mobilized a national network of 50,000 volunteers, raised an average of $46,000 in small-dollar donations for each of their candidates in AZ, FL, GA, MI, MN, NC, PA, TX, and WI, and contacted more than 800,000 voters through phones, texts, and postcards in districts where the difference between winning and losing is just several thousand voters. By collaborating closely with the DLCC they have become the go-to way to move critical resources from safe to targeted state legislature battles.
THE MOVEMENT COOPERATIVE (TMC): In start-up and scale-fast mode when they joined NLA’s cohort in 2017, TMC has become the go-to leader for data and technology infrastructure for the progressive movement. Now encompassing 70+ member organizations, TMC provides the tools and infrastructure for data, texting, phone banking, relational organizing, and deep canvassing. TMC enabled its members to make tens of millions of election-related phone calls and send hundreds of millions texts. In 2020, TMC played a critical role in helping progressive organizations in nearly every state pivot to vote-by-mail programs and track ballot requests and voter contact and engagement. TMC has forever changed and improved the way the progressive ecosystem accesses and uses technology and data.
LAWYERS FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT (L4GG): A path-breaking organization, L4GG had a vision for how to engage, organize, and deploy thousands of attorneys to serve the progressive movement. By coordinating large scale pro bono programs to defend against harmful policies, advocating for lasting policy changes on critical issues from climate change to immigrant rights and voting rights, and providing legal support to nonprofits, L4GG changed the ways lawyers engage in building the progressive movement. In 2020, Project Corazon is a national model for providing in-person and remote legal assistance to asylum seekers at border crossings and in detention centers across the country. And L4GG lawyers helped hundreds of small businesses and nonprofits apply for and access PPP loans to support their financial stability. Their innovative model for harnessing pro bono legal resources across the country has significantly and durably expanded the capacity of the progressive movement.
Members of L4GG’s Project Corazon volunteer legal team on a trip to assist asylum seekers in Mexico.
The six groups featured above are just a few of the organizations NLA has partnered with to build durable power for the progressive majority in our country over the last four years. Organizations in our state pilot project including Black Male Voter Project and Represent GA in Georgia, Freedom Inc., Law Forward, and Wisdom in Wisconsin, and LUCHA, RAZE and CASE in Arizona deserve credit for decades spent building true power in their communities.
We are proud to support their work and will continue to do so in 2021 to protect their progress and allow them to build more momentum.