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Regress to Progress/ So What’s a Contact Do Anyway?

Our Journey of Building a Cost-Effective Model

Regress to Progress is an analysis of the likelihood of voters in North Carolina that were contacted by partner organizations to have voted in 2020 but not 2022. We did this by utilizing the widely available and free programming language, R, and R Studio. Our hope being that other folks can recreate this model or something similar for their own organizations through their own use of open source technology.

Regress to Progress

Fellow Bios

Farhad Choksy

Farhad M. Choksy is a data practitioner with nearly a decade of experience working with local, state, and nationwide campaigns and progressive causes. Farhad currently works as a Partner Success Manager at Community Tech Alliance, where he supports clients and partners with their data infrastructure needs. Prior to that, Farhad was the Senior Data Manager at Leaders Ignitning Transformation, a statewide organization building political power for Black and Brown youth in Wisconsin. As a practicing Zoroastrian, Farhad strongly believes in building a world where each and every human being can live a life of joy and kindness. Outside of work, you can find Farhad experimenting with a new recipe or cooking technique, exploring the DC metro area, or glued in front of a new (or retro) video game.

Addison Evans

Addison A. Evans is a data practitioner with eight years of experience working in progressive technology. They got their start in organizing working on a campaign for gender non-specific housing on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill while they were a student. From there they went on to work on the campaign against Amendment 1 in NC and the fight against HB2. They eventually landed a job working at the North Carolina state table where they got introduced to progressive tech and fell in love with the idea of being able to use their technological skills for social change. More personally they are a Black, queer, agender, and disabled Unitarian Universalist socialist who believes in the inherent worth and dignity of every person. All people deserve bodily autonomy and it is their life’s work to help realize a world in which this is possible.

Back to DxP

Empire Health Foundation

At the end of 2023, our Movement Building program partnered with the Empire Health Foundation (based in Spokane, WA) to support them in developing local BIPOC organizing capacity through training their grantee organizations. An all-WoC team led a 2-day Storytelling Workshop, customized to support participants in identifying real world applications for storytelling in organizing, which they got to practice live. We followed that up with a 2-day Train-the-Trainers with a select group of participants from the original cohort, who will be supported locally to continue to transmit these practices to other leaders and organizations.

Video by Empire Health Foundation

For 2024, Empire Health Foundation is seeing re:power as a key partner in developing local capacity and they have asked us to set up a partner contract where we’ll reserve close to 80 seats in public trainings across all our program areas for EHF grantees. We’re excited about the impact that can result from having so many participants from a single region sitting in all our programs and we look forward to continuing to support those organizations in 2024 and beyond.

State Voices Women of Color Cohort

From September to December, re:power facilitated a 9-week Women of Color Leadership Development Cohort for a group of 20 staff from across State Voices’ network, who hold roles ranging from Communications Associate to Organizing Director to Development Manager. The State Voices network now has more women of color staff than ever before and this program is focused on investing in their leadership and growth. 

We deepened our connection to State Voices after one of their staff participated in our February 2023 public cohort and recommended the program to the State Voices network. This participant stated:

“The content shared and worked through was unexpected but so needed—I love how you all connect everyday things that we often use for coping mechanisms as a way to harness our leadership and feel more connected to our inner selves. Thank y’all ❤️ “

State Voices participants from the Winter 2023 Cohort were enlightened and refreshed from their recent cohort experience. Many stated this opportunity helped them connect on a deeper level with other State Voices staff which enhances the work they do across the State Voices table.

“Thank you for the opportunity to be in this space and to heal. We as women of color do need to heal ourselves before we can heal the community.”

WoC – State Voices cohort member

Our WOC Cohort Alum are ambassadors for re:power and they stay connected to re:power by attending additional trainings, becoming facilitators for the cohort, and facilitating opportunities for re:power to partner with other organizations.

We look forward to seeing how our growing base of WoC alumni will continue engaging with us and championing our work in the future!

“This is magical and it works.”

WoC – State Voices cohort member

American Federation of Teachers

What we love about this work is the opportunity to train leaders across different social movements. In August, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) partnered with us to train 25 staff members from the National Political Department in developing a national volunteer activists program, slated to launch in 2024.

The AFT is gearing up to mobilize and organize its members, everyday individuals, and students, ensuring the safeguarding of public education across school board, state, and federal elections in the next five years.

The training introduced state and national staff to a relational organizing approach that can complement their electoral mobilizing strategies and tactics for the 2024 campaign cycle. There was a primary focus throughout the training on how electoral organizing connects to year-round organizing and movement building.

The curriculum included:

  • Developing a Transformative and Winning Field Plan
  • Campaign Strategy Development
  • Base Building and Direct Voter Contact
  • Building a Volunteer Program and Ladder of Engagement
  • Internal Team Management/Building Healthy Campaign Culture
  • Campaign Messaging & Communications
  • Introduction to Digital Organizing and Finding Our People Online

Introducing our new Alumni Community Manager

We’re thrilled to announce our newest staff member, Sagal Handulle! Sagal joined re:power in September 2023 as our first ever Alumni Community Manager. She will be working on the Strategy & Engagement Team to deepen our relationship with re:power alumni and help build a tighter network of incredible BIPOC women, trans & gender expansive people of color leaders.

Sagal Handulle
Alumni Community Manager

Sagal Handulle

Raised in central Ohio, Sagal Handulle graduated from The Ohio State University with a B.A. in Political Science. She got her start in politics as a Progressive Pipeline fellow with the PA Working Families Party and was shortly promoted to digital organizer. In her role, she developed digital strategies for campaigns and candidates—and found comfort in an organizing space that valued the need for a diverse point of view. Inspired by her own experience, she returned to Progressive Pipeline as the Fellowship Director, managing the flagship fellowship program and placing 400+ fellows with over 80 different employer partners.

Sagal completed re:power’s WOC leadership track this summer and felt a sense of safety, community, and kinship for the first time in her professional life. She joins the re:power team, ready to build on the momentum and deliver programming that taps into the unique experiences, challenges, and concerns faced by our alumni community. When she’s not working, you’ll find her at the gym, baking late at night, or writing short stories.

re:power Welcomes New Board Members, Kelley Robinson and Angela Ferrell-Zabala

re:power, a national training and capacity-building organization that exists to build a critical mass of social justice movements and their leaders who embody the ideology and practice of liberatory organizing, is excited to announce two new additions to our Board of Directors: Kelley Robinson and Angela Ferrell-Zabala. 

Robinson and Ferell-Zabala embody our core values of community, collective action, and abundance through their years-long commitment to organizing for material change in the lives of the most impacted. Most importantly, Robinson and Ferell-Zabala are both leading organizations that have built strong organizing coalitions and fought for necessary legislative and narrative change on issues that affect so many of us: Gun Violence Prevention and LGBTQIA+ rights. re:power’s Executive Director Karundi Williams shared, “In this critical time where states are rolling back human rights and gun violence is soaring, Kelley and Angela’s work is more critical than ever and their leadership on re:power’s board is in recognition of the need for more training and infrastructure support for their movements.”

Kelley Robinson

Kelley Robinson is the ninth president of the Human Rights Campaign — the first Black, Queer woman to lead the organization. The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality and liberation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. Robinson is widely respected for her work over the last 15 years creating and leading winning campaigns and programs and has been at the forefront in the fight for bodily autonomy and racial and gender equity. 

“At a time when LGTBQ+ people face a State of Emergency and our basic freedoms are on the line, I’m honored to join re:power on the frontlines of the fight for social, racial, and economic justice. Together with activists, organizers and advocates, re:power is building a collective of effective leaders who are committed to the fight for liberation without exception.” 

Kelley Robinson

Angela Ferrell-Zabala serves as the first ever Executive Director of Moms Demand Action where she is responsible for leading and growing the largest gun violence prevention grassroots network in the country . Angela has been with the organization since 2019 leading its movement building work and overseeing grassroots organizing, external, cultural and corporate engagement, and national partnerships and programming.

Angela Ferrell-Zabala

“As an organizer at heart, I am deeply honored to join re:power’s board and to help develop a powerful community fighting for our collective liberation. We don’t have to accept a reality where people’s livelihoods are threatened simply for existing. In order to realize the better, safer world that we all deserve, it’s critical that we invest in strong organizing training for leaders across movements — and re:power is doing exactly that.”

Angela Ferrell-Zabala

Our two new board members will bring their powerful leadership and deep experience to our already dynamic board.  Their vision will be invaluable as we continue to move toward our northstar of a multiracial democracy, liberated from the oppressive systems of white supremacy and patriarchy.

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