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Key Excerpts

“Down Home and partner groups across [North Carolina] are also best poised to address the conspiracy theories about FEMA and federal assistance spread by the Trump campaign. “In general, people here don’t have a lot of trust,” Jillian Johnson, Southern Regional Field Director at Movement Voter Project (MVP), told me recently in a phone call. “There’s an anti-institutional feeling and lots of misinformation and disinformation floating out there. So having an organization like Down Home that they already know and has been in the community for years or decades makes a huge difference in connecting people with what they need and later working on getting them to vote.” Movement Voter Project channels donor funds into local organizing groups to build political power and transform policy.”

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“And community groups are often more willing and able to quickly tackle misinformation than the Democratic Party has proven to be. For example, when Trump and Vance launched their vile attacks on Haitian residents in Springfield, Ohio, many in the community assumed the Democratic Party would respond quickly and forcefully. But neither Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown nor Vice President Harris spoke out initially (although President Biden did later condemn the hate campaign). The initial silence led to anger, and then action, said Movement Voter Project’s Senior State Strategy Director, Javier Morillo on a briefing call for supporters. A coalition of Ohio organizers including Ohio Voice, Red Wine and Blue, and Ohio Organizing Collaborative worked with MVP to create the “Oh, No You Don’t” campaign, forcefully pushing back on the Republican conspiracies and bringing community members together well before any Democrat took action.”

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Democracy is an everyday practice and is about far more than voting. If we truly want to strengthen and expand our democracy and rescue this country from fascism, we need to invest in the organizing we don’t see, the less glamorous but crucial work done in every state by organizations with deep ties to communities. These groups need money for their work all year and even more so in an election cycle.

It’s not too late to get funds to them now. You can help immediately by donating to MVP’s PAC, which will get money directly to groups where needed.