Staten Island New York Vote Community Meeting September 5, 2008

The NY Vote Campaign that we have been doing in Staten Island has consisted largely in going to the homes of active Latino voters in Port Richmond, the neighborhood around Make the Road's (Make the Road New York is the organization I work for) Staten Island office. We've been asking a series of questions, encouraging them to vote, and then following up with the people who respond positively. After about a month of this we returned to some of the districts just around the Port Richmond area to do a second contact—more geared towards getting people to come out to a meeting where we'd be discussing the campaign and what our goals are.

Well, that meeting happened yesterday. Initially I had roughly 10 confirmations from different people. I was expecting, between my two co-workers and myself something like 15 people from Staten Island to come out to the meeting. These would have been 15 people living and voting in the districts we're working in. They would have been people we wanted to involve more in the campaign, who we had identified while we canvassed as people who showed more interest, who had a little more spark, who were more interested in asking questions. We also invited people from Queens out, and about 20 people came. I was excited about the possibilities—this was the first time that I was doing the work to bring people out. I was the contact, and whether or not people came would reflect on the work I had been doing.

By the time the meeting was supposed to start three people from Port Richmond had showed up. Granted, they were all people I had confirmed, but all the same, not quite the showing I had expected. I got on the phone and talked to a couple of people that had confirmed. The director, who had come for the meeting, told me to call people before the event, even though I had called them either Thursday or Friday. I thought that was a bad idea, that the people who had said yes would be there. I was surprised when she said the day-of call was normal, that it was simply what you have to do to turn people out.

The meeting, however, ended up going much better than I had expected. A few more people I had canvasses came out, bringing our total to seven. Each one of them had a few moments, sharing things about themselves or their community, responding to the group or a question that had been asked, that made me feel like the work we had done was worth it. The group dynamic was positive; the director came in and ran a small educational session, talking about the upcoming congressional primary and how we at the meeting could make sure that whoever won the primaries heard our voices. It was good to watch the group come to the conclusions that the 25 people in the room were not enough to be noticed, and that going out into the community and bringing more people into the campaign just like they had been brought in was the best strategy to get our concerns heard.

When we finished, the people that I had canvassed demonstrated interest in joining canvassing or other campaign efforts. That was great. Ultimately that was what we were looking for—a few people who wanted to get involved in the campaign, who liked what we were doing and wanted to help. In the past month I have spoken to hundreds of people and walked all over the Staten Island north shore. I wonder about our methods. I wonder how I would react if someone came to my door. I see the neighborhood—interesting enough to deserve its own post—and wonder about what life is like there. I wonder if this work is doing anything, if it will be worth anything more than allowing Make the Road to claim accomplishments in the small NY activist organizing circle. At times I take heart, when someone says thank you, when someone encourages me to keep working, but I admit that refusals or low-interest responses have grated on my enthusiasm. After yesterday, however, we have six or seven people ready to get involved, people who have shared their stories openly. I made a mistake in getting down about the lack of people. Numbers are important, but every person that comes out is a step forward—in a clichéd way I know.

Given that this was my first attempt at turning people out ever, and given that Make the Road had never done any organizing work in Port Richmond, and given that we were going door to door, I do not feel bad. There are lessons to take away, and the campaign is moving forward. We have two months to go.