MVP partner Down Home North Carolina just concluded a 10-week training session to prepare a multiracial, working-class team of its local chapter members to run for local office across North Carolina.

Here is what they shared in their recent blog post:

"In a culmination of years of big dreams and even bigger work plans, we are incredibly proud to present the very first graduating class of the Down Home Academy! Representing six counties from across the state, these members spent 10 weeks working intensively to prepare themselves for stepping into local elections. Over the course of several months, the participants have engaged in powerful technical and personal work to sharpen their skills and build with each other in profound ways."

Down Home NC is one of two large, base-building partner organizations in the state that are heavily focused on training their members to run for office — and to govern boldly once elected.

These training programs aim to close a critical gap in the North Carolina "state ecosystem" of organizing and movement-building organizations: A lack of movement-aligned elected officials with whom our partner organizations can collaboratively "co-govern" and champion a broadly popular policy agenda that can deliver tangible improvements in millions of people's lives.

Down Home's training program is focusing on rural counties, with the first graduates coming from Alamance, Cabarrus, Iredell, Granville, Johnston, & Watagua counties.

They also focus on working-class candidates, in line with their vision of building working-class rural leadership pipelines. Their first class of graduates includes a mix of members who are currently serving in elected office, running, or planning to run in the future.

The Big Picture: Emboldening the Democratic Party From the Ground Up

Across the Democratic coalition and the progressive movement writ large, so many of us are asking the urgent question: "What do we do about the Democratic Party???"

At MVP, part of our answer is to embolden the party from the ground up — in part by building the bench by identifying, recruiting, training, and supporting local candidates who can champion a bold agenda that speaks to the needs and aspirations of working people of all races.

Down Home's Candidate Academy is a shining example of this strategy.