INTEGRATED VOTER ENGAGMENT: RECAPPING A YEAR OF ORGANIZING AND OUTREACH
Centro’s Impact During the Super Year of Elections
Centro stayed active throughout the super year of elections, focusing on combating the global threat of disinformation—a challenge that disproportionately affects underrepresented and disenfranchised communities. Through grassroots organizing, leadership development, and popular education, we mobilized voters, addressed critical issues, and empowered new organizers to build a more informed and engaged electorate.
Campaign 1: Mobilizing Voters and Addressing Energy Inequities
Our first campaign focused on mobilizing voters for the primary elections and raising awareness about discrepancies in CPS Energy’s rate structure. Over six weeks, a dedicated team of five field canvassers and five phone bankers:
Contacted 4,190 voters.
Identified 2,331 supporters advocating for a restructured rate system.
Distributed 8,000 pocket voter guide zines containing essential information on candidate responsibilities, polling sites, and voting hours.
These efforts not only engaged our community but also built momentum around energy justice issues.
Campaign 2: Building Capacity Through the Organizing School of Justice
Our second campaign was tied to the Organizing School of Justice, a seven-week internship program involving 14 participants aged 16-24. The program emphasized capacity building and hands-on grassroots organizing experience. Read more about the summer campaign here. Highlights included:
Popular Education: Two weeks focused on foundational topics like movement history, local fights, power mapping, research, canvassing scripts, and storytelling.
National Collaboration: Attendance at the GGJ Rising Majority convening, where participants aligned with national movements, expanded networks, and learned innovative organizing methods.
Community Engagement: Three weeks of blockwalking to educate high-priority communities about urban heat islands and their effects, alongside collaborating with UT Health to launch a soil-testing project for PFAS.Read more about this campaign here. During this period, we:
Contacted 816 voters.
Identified 610 supporters for environmental justice initiatives.
Program Closure: The program concluded with a camping trip and a presentation in partnership with UT Health’s School of Public Health to share summer program learnings
Campaign 3: Combating Disinformation and Protecting Voter Rights
In our third campaign, we prioritized fighting disinformation encountered during canvassing and phone banking. With the purging of over 1 million voters in Texas since 2021, we focused on:
Voter Registration Awareness: Ensuring community members knew their voter registration status and guiding those unregistered to meet the October 7 deadline.
Accurate Information: Providing tools to locate polling places, clarify voting deadlines, and explain down-ballot policies and positions.
This campaign spanned from the registration deadline to election day, with a team of eight interns trained to design and execute campaigns. Their efforts resulted in:
Contacting 3,455 voters.
Identifying 2,331 issue supporters aligned with our advocacy goals.
Distributed 8,000 pocket voter guide zines containing essential information on candidate responsibilities, polling sites, and voting hours.
