The Virginia Organizing Project : My notes from the field: VOP’s Civic Engagement Project

My notes from the field: VOP’s Civic Engagement Project

By Chris Heneghan

I worked on the Virginia Organizing Project’s Civic Engagement Project for 10 weeks this summer. I became comfortable knocking on strangers’ doors covered in sweat and trying to relate to them for a couple of minutes before heading to their neighbor’s house and doing the same thing.

The stack of non-partisan voter guides I toted around didn’t resemble “Great Value!” coupons or religious literature. A lot of people were put at ease, knowing that I wasn’t going to try and sell them something or start preaching. The perspiration soaking through my shirt revealed I was hot and tired and wouldn’t be at their door had I not genuinely wanted to speak to them.

After introducing myself and my reason for being there, often I was asked the same three questions. “You’re from where?” “The Virginia who…?” “What party are you working for…?”

I answered that our work was non-partisan, and that we encouraged people to make their own informed decisions about candidates. Knowing VOP was not allied with any political party gave people a sense of empowerment. It told them we were in their community because we were interested in hearing their perspective on issues that mattered to them.

There were three of us interns working in the Central Shenandoah Valley. Our team’s primary focus was to conduct a canvass of the Twentieth House District. The hope was to gain an understanding of how Delegate Saxman’s constituents felt about the need to improve access to health care in Virginia. We wanted to identify individuals interested in getting active around the issue. We also wanted to continue the work that VOP had done to combat predatory lenders in the area, by talking with individuals who had fallen victim to the rapacious lending practices of the payday loans industry, and offering them possible resources for assistance.

VOP had 50 canvassers working statewide. Each of us distributed thousands of flyers about the state’s health care crisis, asking people to call their state representatives and urge them to ensure comprehensive and affordable health insurance coverage to all Virginians. We also registered a lot of people to vote on their front porches, and we provided restoration of voting rights forms to non-violent former felons, who had their voting rights taken away by the state.

Many people I talked with this summer had no health insurance, and felt there was nothing they could do about it. Some said they had two options, “buy groceries and pay the rent, or buy health insurance and starve.” They felt alone, worried and uncertain of their future should they develop a chronic condition or have an accident in which they needed emergency medical care. When they glanced at the health care flyer and read, “one million Virginians and 47 million Americans are without health insurance, and 75 percent of Virginia’s uninsured people work or live with somebody who works full time,” I think they felt a little less alone. Some people asked, “why nothing was being done,” or, “what could be done to change this?” Making a phone call and attending upcoming community meetings were two things I suggested as good first steps to building a grassroots response to the issue.

At the end of the summer the payday loan industry was still in business and there were still one million Virginians living without health insurance. But because of 10 weeks of hard work by 50 individuals, there are several hundred thousand people in Virginia who are aware of the work other Virginians are doing on the health care crisis and other pressing issues. Many of these people will take action in their communities for a fair and just commonwealth.

Chris Heneghan is a writer and environmental activist, and most recently volunteered with the Southeast Convergence for Climate Action.

Resources

VOP in the Media

Current Campaigns