VOP Newsfeed3/16/10 [VOP] Community Organizer questions Tea Party tactics, respects Tea Party activists
3/15/10 New Yorker audio slides on Martinsville, site of VOP's newest office
3/12/10 Virginia Organizing Project Presents Giant $921.01 Check to Governor’s Office
3/8/10 Virginia Organizing Project - Bake Sales for the Budget
2/26/10 Rising Cost Of Health Insurance
1/22/10 VOP on NPR's Morning Edition
Great New Books on Organizing:
Who We Are
The Virginia Organizing Project is a statewide, multi-issue citizens' organization committed to challenging injustice by empowering people in local communities to address issues that affect the quality of their lives. Since 1995, VOP has intentionally involved people who have never participated in working for change alongside those with many years of experience. VOP is intentionally diverse in its leadership development, and attempts to cultivate democratic skills amongst people who, regardless of differences in race, gender, class, sexual orientation, age, occupation, religion, geographic location or ability, believe in the importance of working through local, grassroots communities to ensure a better quality of life for all Virginia's residents.
Please click on each bullet for additional information on each category:
Building a Grassroots Power Base
In 2009:
* VOP hired a Communications Director, a Major Gifts Coordinator and an Organizer.
* VOP completed the 2009 Civic Engagement Project with 40 paid interns canvassing 142,679 doors throughout the state and talking with residents about priority issues and health care reform. The interns also collected 1,183 used cell phones and printer cartridges for recycling and registered 360 people to vote.
* VOP published and distributed 250,000 copies of Virginia Votes 2009: Your Guide to the Virginia Elections, a 32-page non-partisan voter guide.
* VOP assisted in hiring an Executive Director for the Virginia Civic Engagement Table.
* The Virtual Phone Bank kicked off at VOP. We made more than 1,800 calls statewide in the first three days about legislation in the General Assembly, with callers including brand-new volunteers, VOP leaders, staff and board members.
* VOP greatly increased our media presence, with interns and grassroots leaders writing opinion pieces, leading press conferences, and participating in radio and television interviews. VOP appeared in local, state and national media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, CNN, MSNBC, Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo and dozens more.
* VOP received the 2009 Community Change Champion Award from the Center for Community Change.
* VOP participated on panels for meetings of the Council of Foundations, the Funders Committee for Civic Participation, and the Civic Engagement Network.
* VOP staff facilitated a session about working on federal issues for a State Voices meeting.
* VOP developed a blog for the Civic Engagement Project canvassers to post their Front Porch Diaries.
* VOP hosted a Power Analysis meeting on April 25 with grassroots leaders, board, staff and members of other grassroots groups in Virginia.
* The VOP Lynchburg Chapter, along with Operation Turnaround and the Lynchburg League of Women Voters sponsored a Lobbying Workshop the weekend prior to the start of the 2009 General Assembly Session, with 50 people attending.
* VOP chapter members successfully pressed the Washington County Board of Supervisors to reinstate a public comment period at their meetings.
* A VOP organizer participated in a Center for Community Change meeting in Denver to discuss Energy and the Environment coalition work.
* The Historical Educational Movement, which VOP has supported in Warren County since 2006, held a rally and moved closer to naming the local high school for civil rights leader James Wilson Kilby.
* VOP received an award from the Hampton Citizen Unity Commission for its work.
* VOP staff led two workshopd in Hopewell to help participants understand the basics of setting up a community organizing program.
* VOP co-sponsored a "Know Your Rights" training in northern Virginia.
* The Washington County VOP Chapter and other groups won a local campaign to keep a proposed truck stop from locating at a specific exit. The Board had been 4-3 in favor of the truck stop but we did a lot of work in the Chairman’s district and he flipped his vote.
* VOP facilitated two workshops with Western States Center’s CSTI training - Building Statewide Power and Applied Analysis: Power Mapping.
* Twelve VOP leaders attended the Rural America Listening Tour, which included presentations by members of President Obama’s cabinet.
* VOP recruited ten volunteers from the Danville Regional Foundation to canvass with us and learn how community engagement can be incorporated into their work.
* VOP hosted the sixth annual Social Justice Bowl fundraiser and community building event in Charlottesville. It was the largest and most successful to date.
* VOP met with the Appalachian Substance Abuse Coalition committee to discuss strategy for the General Assembly session.
* We broadened the base of people in the organization who actively fundraise for VOP. Leaders, board members and staff made almost 5,000 calls during our Fall Fundraising Campaign. Five supporters, including Barbara Ehrenreich, wrote letters to friends and colleagues requesting donations for VOP.
In 2008, VOP had:
- 60 constituent meetings with legislators
- 49 trainings on leadership development and seven Dismantling Racism workshops
- 797 workshop and training participants
- 364 leaders who used a new skill to improve their community
- 678 one-to-one conversations to bring new people into being active
- 104 interns
- 201 consultations with other groups
- 71 cities and counties in which we worked
- 24 forums on health care, payday lending, and candidate for public office
- 10 direct actions on payday lending, marriage rights and health care reform
Also in 2008:
* VOP brought together 13 statewide groups to form the Virginia c-3 Table to work on a wide range of civic engagement activities throughout the state (voter registration, voter education, get-out-the-vote, election protection and restoration of voting rights for former felons). VOP conducted a major door-to-door canvass with 50 paid interns and hundreds of volunteers; about 300,000 non-partisan voter guides were distributed by knocking on 140,000 doors and about 160,000 given away at major events.
* Representatives of the Virginia Organizing Project, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, Virginia AFL-CIO and Virginia League of Conservation Voters briefed Governor Tim Kaine on the Summer 2008 Civic Engagement Project and future coalition efforts.
* The town of Berryville changed its ordinance after the ACLU threatened to sue on VOP’s behalf for being overly restrictive in regulating the right of people to peaceable assemble.
* 50 VOP staff and leaders attended the Realizing the Promise Forum on Community, Faith and Democracy with members of President-elect Obama's transition team; VOP Chair Jay Johnson was a featured speaker at a forum roundtable discussion.
* VOP held a power analysis weekend at Hat Creek Camp with VOP leaders, board members and staff as well as representatives of other Virginia community groups.
*We celebrated the publication of Lessons From the Field: Organizing In Rural Communities, edited by Joe Szakos and Kristin Layng Szakos.
* We hired a new organizer and two new apprentice organizers.
* We participated in the Festival of the Book in Charlottesville by hosting a luncheon for Susan Wells, participating in a panel on community organizing and holding a workshop on organizing with Michael Jacoby Brown.
* VOP made presentations on community organizing to 24 Virginia CAP planners, 13 educators of the Virginia Education Association and at the Annual Conference on Neighborhood Concerns; we spoke to 27 interns at the Phoenix Project on how non-profits work, did a training for the Charlottesville VOP Chapter on building public relationships, and held a community organizing training for a class of 19 University of Virginia students titled "Women's Leadership, Feminist Organizing and Social Change".
* We connected with 11 members representing different unions at an AFL-CIO Central Labor Council meeting in Roanoke.
* VOP held a meeting, along with other groups, with the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates to outline issues for the 2009 legislative session.
* The Petersburg VOP Chapter co-sponsored Power Up Petersburg with the Legal Aid Justice Center, Richmond Community Action Program, Gamaliel Foundation and Local Initiatives Support Corporation to build leadership skills among grassroots members, raise awareness of and increase involvement in local community-based initiatives, model and encourage a collaborative approach to community work, raise awareness among youth, faith community and public servants regarding the specific roles they can play in promoting justice and democratic values.
* We met with Congressman Tom Periello, who signed on to the Health Care for America Now goal for affordable, accessible health care for everyone.
* VOP participated in a gender identity workshop in Winchester, building relationships with AIDS activists.
* We worked with the Historical Educational Movement to begin plans for a major civil rights commemorative event.
* VOP staff facilitated a meeting to follow up on a vigil protesting anti-Muslim editorials in the Winchester newspaper.
* VOP Organizer Larry Yates gave the graduation speech for participants of the Human Community leadership training in Winchester.
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In 2007:
* VOP groups held 60 constituent meetings with state legislators
* 305 community leaders used a new skill to improve their community
* VOP had 45 VOP interns
* we provided 207 consultations with other groups to increase their effectiveness
* VOP worked in 61 Virginia communities
* we held 24 public forums on poverty, mental health, predatory lending and other issues
* VOPdistributed 53 letters to the editor and 32 op-eds to each of the 125 newspapers in the state
VOP continues to:
* implement a statewide e-mail action alert system to link organizations and individuals in different parts of the state, enabling them to work more effectively together on a variety of issues, such as: living wage, sexual orientation issues, Earned Income Tax Credits, death penalty, clean air, Pharmacy Connect, forestry and logging, out-of-state garbage, Mattaponi reservoir, affordable housing, tax reform, racial profiling and others
* publish virginia.organizing, a news magazine with a circulation of 10,000 that provides news of VOP and its chapters and affiliates, as well as other groups in the state, and has sections on organizing skills (in English and Spanish), a column on understanding the economy, and leadership profiles
* upgrade the VOP web site, www.virginia-organizing.org, which includes links to other organizations and information resources
* distribute op-eds and letters to the editor to 125 newspapers across the state
* participate in the Public News Service, which broadcasts radio announcements across Virginia
* participate on radio and television talk shows and give newspaper interviews
* implement a Used Computer Project which has placed more than 1,600 computers, 325 printers, 55 fax machines, 25 copiers, 14 typewriters and 30 scanners in the hands of non-profit groups and individuals who could not otherwise afford such equipment
* receive donated vehicles and office equipment
* implement a diverse grassroots fundraising program that involves all staff members and encourages grassroots leaders to raise funds for VOP
Additionally, VOP has purchased and renovated an office building in Charlottesville and established an endowment, The Fund for the Virginia Organizing Project
Child Care
In 2009 VOP joined forces with Voices for Virginia’s Children and many other local, regional and statewide groups in forming the Working Families Child Care Coalition. The Coalition’s first initiative was to seek additional public funding from the General Assembly to serve more low-income working families with child care subsidies available through local departments of social services. With waiting lists of approximately 10,000 children, a serious underestimate of need, the Coalition set out to obtain funding over a four-year period that would eliminate these waiting lists. The Coalition had urged Governor Tim Kaine to include additional funding in the 2008 – 2010 biennium, and his budget initiatives included $6 million in federal TANF funds to address child care subsidy needs each year of the biennium. The Coalition and VOP supported the Governor’s initiative during the 2008 session, which was adopted, to fund child care subsidy needs.
Economic Security
In 2009:
* A group of VOP members visited the staff of Senators Mark Warner and Jim Webb and talked with them about the importance of raising revenue from the estate tax to help cover the budget deficit and fund other priorities.
* VOP leaders spoke with the Field Director for Congressman Tom Perriello about the estate tax and asked directly why Congress keeps giving away fair sources of revenue when we are in a large budget deficit.
* Using multiple sources, VOP staff put together a two-page sheet on the federal estate tax, including background material, talking points and action steps. This information sheet has been used by VOP organizers across the state to educate VOP leaders and members on the issue.
* The information sheet was modified into an e-mail blast and sent to over 3,500 VOP members across the state to brief them on what's going on with the federal estate tax and urge them to send letters to the editors of their local papers.
* The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and VOP released a report showing how low and middle-income families in Virginia pay a far higher share of their income in state and local taxes than do the richest families in Virginia.
* VOP sponsored a forum on Housing in the Northern Shenandoah Valley, attended by more than 80 people, that resulted in commitments to improve housing in the area in the coming year.
* VOP Williamsburg Chapter members attended a meeting of the James City County Comprehensive Plan Steering Team, which almost entirely incorporated VOP's suggestions regarding mixed cost, inclusionary housing developments for the local workforce.
* VOP members in Clarke and Shenandoah Counties met with County officials to learn how those officials saw federal stimulus money.
* VOP distributed flyers in front of the Virginia Employment Commission office in Congressional District 7 and talked with people who are unemployed.
In 2008:
* VOP published a Recommended Blueprint for Virginia's Response to the 2008-2010 Revenue Shortfall and distributed it to the Governor, state legislators, and Virginia media outlets.
* VOP worked on behalf of low-income Virginians and their eligibility for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Bills were introduced that addressed the 75,000 Virginians currently eligible for the EITC but not taking advantage of the program. Bills that would have required employers to inform employees of their potential eligibility for the EITC were defeated in the House Commerce and Labor Committee. A bill requiring the Virginia Department of Social Services to provide notice of the EITC to all applicants and recipients of public assistance was signed into law.
* After helping get a record 67 local governments to pass resolutions asking the state legislature to take action on the abuses of payday loans, the Virginia Organizing Project worked with the Virginia Partnership to Encourage Responsible Lending and many other groups to support a 36 percent interest rate cap for payday lenders in Virginia. The compromise legislation resulted in some provisions that work toward breaking the cycle of debt. The loan terms were changed to a 36 percent APR, $20 fee per $100 borrowed and a verification fee of $5, resulting in an APR that is only slightly lower than the current exorbitant rate.
* VOP representatives met twice with staff in the Governor's office on payday lending legislation.
* VOP had a visible presence at all of Governor Tim Kaine’s town hall meetings across the state, passing out lapel stickers and informational flyers and asking questions about the predatory lending legislation passed in the General Assembly.
* VOP worked with the Commonwealth Institute to defeat a bill that would have favored large companies with out-of-state business at the expense of smaller establishments; the bill had previously passed 94-0 in the House before being successfully blocked in the Senate Finance Committee.
* We supported the City of Charlottesville and the Charlottesville school system to increase their living wage.
* VOP worked with a Lynchburg VOP supporter to recruit people of color who are members of a local credit union to apply to be on their board of directors.
* VOP issued a recommendations paper to the members of the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Benefits of Adopting a Single Sales Factor for Taxing Multi-state Corporations.
* The VOP Northern Shenandoah Valley Housing Committee worked to re-direct HOME funding in the area.
* We worked on a Memorandum of Understanding between VOP and the Williamsburg Area Association of Realtors to line out common work with VOP's organizing for affordable workforce housing.
* VOP made a presentation to the James City County Comprehensive Plan Community Participation Team on the local Inclusive Housing campaign, which was entered into the notes of the Comprehensive Plan itself and posted on the County website.
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Statewide Tax Reform Campaign
A national study released in early 2002 by the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities ranked Virginia as one of the harshest tax states for working class and working poor families. The study estimated that a single-parent family of three earning $17,661 would owe $483 in Virginia income taxes – the fourth highest figure in the nation, behind Kentucky, Hawaii and Alabama. With services being cut or eliminated and local governments scrambling to make up for decreases in state revenue, issues of tax reform have a major impact on other issues that need attention in Virginia.
VOP's statewide campaign to help Virginians understand state taxes, appropriations and expenditures achieved success on many levels in 2004. We worked with 18 other groups, held 41 workshops, used our news magazine and action alert system, developed a media campaign, organized informational visits with legislators and encouraged participation in public meetings. As a result, this campaign allowed VOP to experience a new level of organizational capacity.
Our work helped facilitate some improvements for the poor and working poor in Virginia:
* a raise in the filing threshold from $5,000 to $7,000 for individuals and from $8,000 to $14,000 for married couples, which exempts 141,000 low-income Virginians from paying state income taxes
* the creation of a new low-income tax credit for the working poor
* an increase in the personal exemption from $800 to $900
* elimination of the "marriage penalty"
* a schedule of reductions in sales tax on food, working toward the total elimination of this tax
* elimination of two common loopholes used by many major corporations and businesses to legally avoid paying state income taxes
* elimination of a foreign income loophole
* a tax increase on cigarettes
* a means test of the deduction formerly based solely on age
* preserved estate tax revenue on estates worth more than $1 million
VOP also worked with members and allies on other statewide improvements, including:
* an increase of $1.5 billion in new state support to public education, reducing the pressure on local real estate taxes
* an increase in $32 million to assist persons with mental disabilities
* the largest infusion of funds for natural resource programs in Virginia's history
* $15 million each year to the Water Quality Improvement Fund and $2.5 million per year to the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation
During the state revenue debate in 2004, the dialogue received much media attention, including a highlight in The New York Times. VOP was a forerunner and remains a central player in this issue. We were featured in articles in The Washington Post, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Virginian-Pilot (Tidewater), and the Roanoke Times, to name a few. We have been credited in a variety of publications in Virginia with providing continued grassroots leadership in addressing this critical issue.
Living Wage Activity
VOP:
* succeeded in getting the Albemarle County School Board, Albemarle County and the Charlottesville School Board to raise the wages of their lowest paid employees
* succeeded in our living wage campaign for the City of Charlottesville for employees and contract workers
* VOP played a key part in the Virginia Alliance for Worker Justice, a partnership of religious, community and worker organizations working to get legislation introduced in 2007 to increase the Virginia minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.50 an hour
* supported the Richmond Coalition for a Living Wage as they got the Richmond School Board and the Richmond City Council to pay their workers a living wage
* worked with students at the University of Virginia to press for a living wage for university contract workers
* held two living wage luncheons in Wythe County to honor employers who pay a living wage
* successfully worked with a broad-based coalition in 2001 – and again in 2004 – to stop state legislation that would have prohibited localities from enacting living wage ordinances
* made a presentation to the Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in Virginia, which adopted a resolution supporting the living wage and authorized a wage study of all church employees
* facilitated two workshops –Win or Lose: What are the next steps? and How to Dismantle the “isms” in a Living Wage Campaign – at the Southern Living Wage Conference (Spring 2003)
* held a living wage workshop for students from nine different Virginia college campuses including guest speakers Ben McKean, from United Students Against Sweatshops, and Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America
* provided assistance to a living wage campaign at Emory & Henry College where they have 14- produced a newsletter, gathered research and obtained signatures and endorsements
Affordable Housing
VOP:
* succeeded in getting the Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA) to approve more than $339 million to finance low-income home ownership and rental construction loans and set up a three-member creative financing team to work with local governments, non-profit organizations and developers to find new and more effective strategies to address low-income home ownership and rental needs throughout the state
* succeeded in getting VHDA to open up its public comment process
* set up a tour for members of VOP, the Williamsburg Housing Coalition and the Williamsburg City Council of mixed-cost, workforce housing being constructed in New Town
* the Northern Shenandoah Valley VOP Chapter held housing vigils in five jurisdictions – Winchester city and the counties of Clarke, Warren, Page and Shenandoah
* succeeded in getting the City of Petersburg to fund a fair housing officer/housing ombudsman position
* supported the Public Housing Association of Residents (PHAR), a VOP affiliate, in its successful effort to push for increased representation of public housing residents on the local housing authority board, with the first public housing resident in the state serving as chair of a housing authority board
Community Participation
VOP:
* leaders and staff provided tours of low-income and working class communities for senior officials of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond in Martinsville, the Eastern Shore and Northern Virginia
* worked with labor and community groups to get the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond to set up a Community Development Advisory Council to address issues of concern to low-income and working class people, a major change in the Bank’s operation
* co-sponsored a Community and Business Economic Development Symposium with the Wythe County Chamber of Commerce and the Community Affairs Office of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank to involve community leaders in working toward a long-term healthy local economy
Education
In 2009:
* VOP worked with the Rebuild and Renew media conference on higher education funding.
VOP:
* worked with the Independence Resource Center to do a survey of each school in Charlottesville in terms of accessibility; succeeded in getting the Charlottesville City Council to designate $1.1 million to make all school facilities in the city fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act
* assisted on a local campaign to keep the Williamsburg/James City County’s Alternative School operating
* assisted on a local campaign in the Williamsburg area around school redistricting, working for racial and economic parity between schools
* organized a group of Lee County parents who convinced the local school board to retain Advanced Placement classes in their high school, which the board had planned to eliminate
* changed the suspension policy in Lynchburg city schools from a mandatory 365-day suspension to offer appropriate alternative education and counseling
* met with the field staff of the Virginia Education Association about their new efforts to gain adoption of living wage resolutions in school districts throughout the state
Environment
in 2009:
* VOP Washington County Chapter members phone banked to get the School Board and Planning Commission to vote against harmful development in the county, which they did.
* VOP staff attended the Good Jobs First conference in Atlanta on "Making the Recovery Green".
in 2008:
* Pete Myers testified before the U. S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Technology, by friendly invitation, on the adverse health outcomes of bisphenol A and several phthalates.
* VOP joined nine other groups and a Shenandoah County farmer in a federal lawsuit to block plans to widen Interstate 81 to eight or more lanes through much of western Virginia.
* VOP members participated in Governor Kaine’s Transportation Town Hall in Staunton and spoke about VOP’s concern that transportation-related taxes be fair to lower-income people.
* VOP interns gave out more than 800 free compact fluorescent light bulbs in low-income neighborhoods and helped residents change them out while they registered voters in Danville, Richmond and Washington County.
* VOP participated in a Shenandoah Valley-wide meeting of environmental groups working mostly on maintaining the health of the Shenandoah River and to replace developer-driven policies with sustainable planning in their communities.
* VOP co-sponsored the South East Convergence for Climate Action held in Louisa, Virginia.
* VOP connected with local environmentalists in Roanoke in collecting survey information on transportation during Earth Day celebrations.
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VOP:
* worked with the Sierra Club to collect hair samples from 30 women at a Portsmouth hair salon; tests showed some levels of mercury in every sample, with two above the EPA “acceptable limit.”
* co-sponsored a forum with Public Policy Virginia and other groups called “Biofuels: Our Environment, Economy and Security”
* assisted Virginia Forest Watch, with action alerts and other publicity in their successful effort where legislation was passed making Best Management Practices mandatory on logging jobs in Virginia
* provided assistance to RAIL Solution, a group of citizens in western Virginia counties connected by a proposed expansion to Interstate 81, calling for Virginia to increase use of rail for freight moving along the east coast
* helped the Montebello Clean Mountain Coalition (MCMC) in their victory to get the Central Virginia Electric Power Cooperative to refrain from spraying pesticides under power lines on private property if the landowner requests it and to maintain the vegetation manually
* supported groups that succeeded in getting 10,000 acres in Nelson County designated as federal wilderness areas
* helped Virginia Forest Watch in getting the legislature to establish a commission to study the impact of chip mills on the economy and environment
* worked with eight environmental groups in Virginia to establish a statewide environmental e-mail action alert system
* did Dismantling Racism workshop for Save Our Cumberland Mountains (TN), a three-day workshop for national staff and leaders of the Sierra Club and weekend workshops for the Appalachian Community Fund
* helped with campaign planning sessions for the Blue Ridge Coalition which involves a five-county area: Wythe, Floyd, Carroll, Patrick and Henry counties – a coalition that fought two natural gas pipelines proposed to cut through these counties
* led a workshop on Engaging New Constituencies and New Voices at the 2004 National River Rally
Health Care
In 2009:
* VOP interns, volunteers and staff went door-to-door across Virginia, talking to people about health care reform and leaving door hangers asking people to call their representatives to take action this year.
* VOP organized health care forums, rallies and press conferences across the state, including in Wise, Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, Roanoke, Harrisonburg, Winchester, Front Royal, Fairfax, Richmond and Williamsburg in which people told their health care stories to legislators and demanded quality, accessible health care for everyone.
* VOP coordinated health care reform calls with partner groups that included the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, Tenants and Workers United, Service Employees International Union, Change that Works, Organizing for America and others.
* VOP sponsored Health Care Greed Week from September 20-26, with public events and media coverage each day of that week.
* VOP co-sponsored a health care forum with the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy and the League of Women Voters; 80-100 people attended.
* A VOP presentation to the Blue Ridge Democratic Women, attended by 45 people, led to Winchester health care reform plans.
* VOP sponsored a health care forum in Fairfax with 350 people in attendance.
* VOP coordinated a community conversation on health care insurance reform in Front Royal that was attended by 130 people.
* VOP participated in an NAACP-sponsored health care event in Harrisonburg.
* VOP held a demonstration outside the Anthem insurance headquarters in Richmond. The Executive Director and three board members attempted to ask Anthem officials why our premiums went up 14.1% this year; the E. D. was arrested in the entry way for trespassing. Charges were dropped.
* VOP helped to organize Health Care for America Now press events across the state.
* VOP participated in a local Health Benefits Fair in Lynchburg.
* VOP organized health care reform skits in Winchester and Harrisonburg put together by local young people and covered by the local media.
* VOP began working with the Danville Regional Foundation to learn more about obesity in the city of Danville.
* VOP Lee County chapter worked to establish a drug court in southwest Virginia.
* VOP interns took the lead on many health care campaign tactics, including making videos of health care reform supporters, giving a talk at a Richmond-area book store, developing skits, generating phone calls and going door-to-door across the state.
In 2008:
* VOP served as the lead organization in Virginia for Health Care for America Now.
* VOP succeeded in having the following Members of Congress endorse the Health Care for America Now principles: Senator Mark Warner, Representatives Tom Perriello, Jim Moran and Gerry Connolly.
* VOP helped organize the Virginia portion of the national "Road to American Health Care" bus tour.
* VOP sponsored community health care forums in Staunton, Charlottesville, Bristol, Williamsburg, Martinsville, Fredericksburg, Richmond, Danville, Roanoke to discuss critical health care problems, failings in the system and possible policy solutions.
* We recorded video interviews of eight people telling their health care stories for the Health Rights Organizing Project of the Center for Community Change.
* VOP interns set up a Google system to track health care stories from across Virginia.
* Governor Tim Kaine’s biennial budget reflected modest goals that were supported by the Health Care Reform Coalition, of which VOP is an active member; even these efforts achieved only limited success because of a very tight state budget.
* VOP worked with Families USA to release six national reports on needed health care reform and to get organizations to sign on to a letter to the McCain and Obama campaigns, encouraging them to make health care a priority.
* We set up a Statewide Health Care Campaign Strategy Committee.
* VOP participated in the State Health Care Justice Leaders conference call hosted by Universal Health Care Action Network.
* VOP held a major action outside the Anthem insurance company headquarters to press for them to become part of the movement for quality, affordable health care of all Virginians.
* We tabled at the Staunton Fourth of July celebration and talked to hundreds of local residents about health care.
* VOP mailed thousands of health care post cards and organized leaders, volunteers, interns and staff to make thousands of calls to legislators calling for health care reform.
* VOP sponsored a Health Care Roundtable that joined with a coalition of agencies advocating for dental care for the uninsured in the Roanoke area.
* We held screenings of the Health Care for American Now DVD.
* VOP worked to get a Drug Court established in House District 1 in southwest Virginia.
* Dozens of people wrote letters to the Editor and op-eds on the need for health care reform; some of our members were interviewed by a Swedish newspaper on health care reform.
Immigrant and Worker Rights
in 2009:
* VOP attended a worker compensation training held by the AFL-CIO and led by the Commissioner of Virginia Workers Compensation Commission.
in 2008:
* More than 100 bills were introduced in the General Assembly that would have had a negative impact on the immigrant community. Of all these measures, VOP most actively participated in opposing a measure that would have given law enforcement officers the unfettered authority to arrest individuals and take them into custody when they are charged with a Class I or II misdemeanor and required their arrest if they did not stop the unlawful act. After passing the House of Delegates, the bill was defeated in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee.
* VOP attended the meeting of a rapid response team of social service agencies, lawyers, activists, and immigrant rights organizations in response to an Immigration Customs Enforcement raid on a Manassas construction office which led to 34 detentions. VOP had contributed to raid education materials in the fall, and is monitoring the situation and having conversations with area leaders about moving the political focus from scapegoating immigrants to the real, economic problems the locality faces.
* We gave testimony at the Virginia Immigration Commission at James Madison University, having helped to organize other groups to promote the event at which over 20 people testified in favor of welcoming immigrants.
* VOP chapter members from Harrisonburg and Winchester attended the Hispanic Forum in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, meeting with people concerned about immigration issues from Maryland and West Virginia and hearing from national speakers.
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* VOP helped organize and sponsor a rally to support immigrant rights at Richmond’s Monroe Park that drew more than 3,000 people.
* VOP encouraged the Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA) to make loans to legally documented immigrants; formerly, only immigrants with permanent resident status qualified for VHDA loans.
* VOP joined the Tenants’ and Workers’ Support Committee (now Tenants and Workers United) and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in persuading the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority to publish all notices in Spanish and English.
* VOP put statewide pressure on two corporations to resolve workers compensation cases and pay benefits that had initially been denied.
Leadership Development
In 2009:
* VOP worked to establish new campus chapters across the state and transitioned summer interns into longer-term VOP work.
* VOP interns and grassroots leaders had multiple meetings with their Congressional representatives in Washington and in their local offices to discuss health care reform.
* A VOP delegation attended the lobby day for the Employee Free Choice Act in Washington.
* The VOP Lynchburg Chapter, along with Operation Turnaround and the Lynchburg League of Women Voters sponsored a lobbying workshop prior to the General Assembly session, with nearly 50 attendees.
* VOP taught a class on community organizing at the University of Mary Washington.
* VOP hosted a workshop at the University of Virginia on writing letters to the editor.
In 2008:
* Three VOP grassroots leaders attended a media training in New York City to become national spokespeople for the Center for Community Change's Campaign for Community Values
* VOP held a wide range of workshops, such as a General Assembly 101 training workshop with a local group in Lebanon working on addiction issues and a Community Organizing weekend workshop with participants from Roanoke, Alexandria, Fairfax, Richmond, Danville and Charlottesville.
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* VOP continues holding a Leadership Institute annually to build a larger network of grassroots leaders across the state
* We have held trainings for more than 17,000 individuals with workshops on racism, sexual orientation discrimination, and the economy, and ongoing training programs to help people learn leadership skills, such as: speaking in public, chairing a meeting, fundraising, meeting with legislators, working with the media, etc.
* VOP developed teams of "home-grown" workshop facilitators, providing training and experience at the local level.
* We held a workshop with authors Barbara Ehrenreich and Helena Cobban on how to increase the flow of op-ed pieces appearing in newspapers statewide.
* VOP provided campaign strategy and organizational development assistance to more than 200 groups throughout the state working on a wide range of issues and skills.
* We co-taught three Principles of Community Organizing classes at the University of Virginia.
* VOP held a training event on computer-based strategic research for VOP staff and labor union organizers from Virginia.
* We held a roundtable discussion with journalist Bill Greider.
* We led a workshop on Engaging New Constituencies and New Voices at the National River Rally in Wintergreen, Virginia, sponsored by the River Network.
* VOP led a workshop on Organizing for the Long Haul at the Institute of Management and Community Development in Montreal, Quebec .
Racism
In 2009:
* VOP attended an informational meeting with local citizen members of the General Assembly Subcommittee on Massive Resistance.
* VOP spoke to the Winchester NAACP "Law and You" presentation on racial profiling; about 50 people were present, including young people and law enforcement officials.
* VOP members held a follow up meeting in Norton to talk about next steps after a local Dismantling Racism workshop; 15 people attended.
* VOP attended the Community Racial Dialogues event put together by four Williamsburg area pastors, one of whom is active in VOP; a mixed race group of over 100 people attended.
* Four VOP members, an intern and an organizer served on a panel at the Social Work Celebration of 80 social work students at James Madison University, sharing information on law enforcement training activity and voting rights restoration. The keynote speaker was also a VOP member.
* The Front Royal Town Council voted to support naming old Warren County High School for NAACP leader James Wilson Kilby, a major step forward in a campaign that VOP has supported since 2006.
* VOP participated in the revitalization of the Winchester NAACP Branch, after almost a decade of inactivity.
In 2008:
* VOP moved the Racial Profiling Campaign forward by meeting with Senator Henry Marsh, the new chair of the Senate Courts of Justice Committee; Senator Marsh agreed to support the budget amendment calling for a new position at the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services to deal with bias-based policing, and also agreed to help VOP get a meeting with Governor Tim Kaine on data collection on traffic stops.
* VOP worked to address biased-based policing through a budget amendment that would fund a dedicated Bias-Based Policing Coordinator in the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. The state’s dismal revenue projections interfered with the legislature’s consideration of funding any new initiatives.
* We made a presentation on VOP campaigns to about 80 people at the annual meeting of the Coalition for Racial Unity.
* VOP began to work with a small group of Williamsburg residents on a community education project involving taking a look at Whiteness as an identity in relation to anti-racism work; we viewed and discussed the movie, "Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible".
* VOP facilitated a diversity training for the Charlottesville Housing and Redevelopment Authority.
* We held a Dismantling Racism weekend workshop attended by 17 people.
* VOP staff came up with specific ways to cut back on the space white men take up in the conversations at VOP staff meetings.
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Statewide Criminal Justice Reform Campaign
VOP:
* succeeded in getting Governor Mark Warner to streamline the process by which former felons have their voting rights restored after serving their sentences where the Governor has been able to re-enfranchise a record number of former felons in the last three years
* continues to educate Virginians on and facilitate the restoration process where we find an opportunity
* initiated a campaign to eliminate racial profiling
* taped public access TV forums in Charlottesville and Lynchburg on racial profiling
* met with the Virginia Sheriff's Association and the State Association of Chiefs of Police to gain support on the issue
* met with the Chief Deputy Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor and his staff
* held a press conference where students testified to their experiences of repeated stops by local law enforcement
Dismantling Racism Workshops
VOP:
* continues to hold one- and three-day Dismantling Racism workshops
* held a workshop on how Dismantling Racism workshops assist in building a strong citizens' organization for a conference of the National Coalition of Education Activists, Reclaiming Our Children's Future: Uniting Families, Schools and Communities
* facilitated a three-day Dismantling Racism workshop for national staff and leaders of the Sierra Club
* led a workshop on How to Dismantle the "isms" in a Living Wage Campaign for the Southern Living Wage Conference
* adapted our Dismantling Racism workshops to address specific issues of racism among youth
* extended our anti-racism work to a second level of training in a Dismantling Racism II workshop
* published Tools for Dismantling Racism, a compilation of practical tools, session plans and background articles, including transcripts from roundtable discussions and short profiles of those involved in VOP's Dismantling Racism workshops
Local Chapter and Other Campaigns
VOP:
* helped to change the jury selection system in Lee County from one in which five white men hand-picked the jury pool to a random system which ensures that people of color have an equal chance of selection; since the change, three African-Americans have served as jury commissioners
* won removal of racist artwork from the Lynchburg Circuit Court building and a covering for another piece of racist artwork on the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court building
* supported members of the Appalachian Peace Education Committee in their successful push for a zero-tolerance racial discrimination policy in Washington County Schools
* worked to get a safety barrier put on a bridge in Lynchburg that has been a high risk location for suicide attempts
* succeeded in having a new bridge over the James River named in recognition of the Monacan Nation, the indigenous people of central and western Virginia
* helped with the development of the African American Teaching Fellows to support the certification and hiring of African-American teachers
Sexual Orientation Discrimination
in 2008:
* VOP attended a gathering of the main LGBT groups in Northern Virginia, which were looking for something positive and pro-active to do together to revive their collaboration; we talked about borrowing and sharing power, presented information about VOP, including payday lending, the summer internship program and VOP's letter to the editor distribution system.
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VOP:
* worked with other groups to oppose the so-called Marriage Amendment, which passed by 57 percent of those voting, the lowest margin for such an amendment in a southern state
* supported Equality Virginia in its successful effort to pass legislation in 2005 to allow private employers to offer health insurance and other benefits to domestic partners
* succeeded in campaigns to convince the Charlottesville and Albemarle County School Boards to add sexual orientation to the non-discrimination policy
* assisted Equality Virginia in convincing a church in northern Virginia to cancel their “cultural war training” sponsored by the Family Foundation of Virginia that would “help defeat the forces that are trying to push homosexual rights in Virginia”
* worked with Equality Virginia to get VHDA to remove the "family rule" (which specifically defined family as a husband and wife or those related by blood or adoption) and again in 2004 to block legislation that would have forced VHDA to keep the "family rule"
* supported Equality Virginia on adding sexual orientation to hate crimes legislation
Voter Registration & Mobilization
In 2009:
* VOP led an effort to have Governor Tim Kaine sign an executive order restoring the voting rights of former felons.
* VOP held a Restoration of Rights forum with the Delta Sigma Theta sorority at Virginia Commonwealth University.
* VOP interns and chapter members met with legislators on the issue of restoration of voting rights for former felons.
* VOP organized a group of about 50 people in Charlottesville and Albemarle County to work on restoration of voting rights, and set up three community forums on the issue.
* VOP partnered with VA Cares/TAP program to assist with restoration of rights in the Roanoke area.
* VOP assisted former felons in filling out applications to retore their voting rights.
* VOP held a Restoration of Rights forum in Petersburg.
*VOP joined with Total Action Against Poverty, Oliver Hill House, the Deltas and NAACP in the Roanoke area to sponsor an event on advocating for restoration of voting rights; about 150 people attended.
In Get-Out-The-Vote activities for the November 2009 election:
* VOP helped to recruit about a dozen canvassers, made at least 1,000 phone banking calls (from Charlottesville and Fredericksburg) and printed 4,000 door hangers (using door hangers VOP purchased and copied).
* VOP Vice-chairperson Sandra Cook coordinated the Petersburg chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Alumnae sorority's social action committee members to make 1,100 phone calls to the Richmond area.
* In Virginia Beach, canvassers distributed 3,000 door hangers and non-partisan voter guides.
* Canvassers distributed 975 door hangers and non-partisan voter guides, some as “treat or trick”, in the Williamsburg area.
* Canvassers distributed 250 door hangers and non-partisan voter guides in the Fredericksburg area. Students at the University of Mary Washington tabled outside the dining hall, passing out about 200 non-partisan voter guides and flyers to contact members of Congress about health care reform.
* In Roanoke canvassers distributed 340 door hangers with information about their polling place.
* In Southwest Virginia, canvassers went to 150 households in Washington County, made 250 phone calls and distributed more than 2,700 non-partisan voter guides at events and at community colleges.
*Canvassers distributed 400 door hangers in Martinsville.
*Canvassers went to 350 doors in the Charlottesville area to distribute non-partisan voter guides and health care reform flyers and provided rides to the polls.
* VOP sent out a PowerMail to 8,000 people with a toll-free number to deal with voter problems on election day and distributed 3,000 pamphlets that the ACLU and NAACP produced about voter rights and responsibilities.
In 2008:
* VOP worked with Demos, NAACP, Project Vote and Democracy South to notify the Virginia Department of Social Services that they were not in compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which requires states to “designate as voter registration agencies … all offices in the State that provide public assistance.” After meeting with them, the DSS rapidly committed to making major improvements in their voter registration systems.
* VOP worked with the Verified Voting Coalition to push for legislation that was enacted to allow for pilot projects of voting machine audits. A bill that strengthens Virginia’s recount law by helping to insure that recounts actually occur passed, as did a bill to strengthen the security requirements for voting machine certification.
* VOP conducted a Civic Engagement Project in which 50 VOP paid interns and hundreds of volunteers knocked on over 140,000 doors across Virginia, registering voters and helping former felons regain their voting rights.
* VOP helped convene the Virginia c-3 Table for non-partisan civic engagement activities in the state; as part of these activities, VOP signed on to two major letters to the Virginia State Board of Elections to ensure fair, proper administration of elections in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
* VOP assembled a 32-page non-partisan voter's guide and distributed about 300,000 copies across the state.
* VOP co-sponsored a two-day Voter Mobilization Training with the Center for Progressive Leadership attended by 55 progressive leaders from Richmond, Petersburg, Stafford, Newport News and Chester.
* We conducted several voter protection trainings.
* VOP conducted get-out-the-vote activities including distributing non-partisan door hangers and voter empowerment cards, phone banking, putting voter information in small businesses and on college campuses, tabling at public events and giving people rides to the polls; turnout percentages were up substantially in the precincts where we focused our efforts.
* We met with community groups to assist them in setting up voter registration/restoration of voting rights application drives and get-out-the-vote activities.
* VOP participated in the Missing Voter Project with Democracy South to register voters in the Hampton Roads area and to conduct get-out-the-vote activities.
* We attended a meeting of community leaders in the Grove neighborhood around Williamsburg to plan ways to register voters and get them out to vote.
* VOP co-sponsored a Hoop the Vote in Norfolk to encourage youth voting through a basketball event and a Trick-or-Vote event to turn people out to the polls.
* The Petersburg VOP Chapter held a civic engagement workshop in the Petersburg City Council chambers.
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* VOP worked with other groups to secure passage of a bill in 2007 prohibiting future purchases of direct recording electronic voting machines, phasing them out and replacing them with optical scan voting machines which provide a paper ballots, giving the voter confidence in the accuracy and security of elections.
* VOP sent a delegation to the Heartland Presidential Forum in Des Moines, Iowa in December 2007.
* We distributed 40,000 copies of a non-partisan voter guide for the 2005 Virginia gubernatorial election.
* VOP published a 16-page non-partisan voter's guide for the 2004 Charlottesville City Council race.
* We published No Vote, No Voice, a non-partisan voter registration and education guide for the 2004 Presidential Election.
* We distributed 90,000 copies of No Vote, No Voice through 118 organizations and adult literacy programs.
* VOP produced and distributed four public service announcements to 276 radio stations statewide on voter registration.
* We brought together a group of low-income public housing residents and students to attend the Center for Community Change's Presidential Dialogue with America's Families event in Columbia, South Carolina in 2004.
Youth
in 2009:
* The VOP William and Mary Campus Chapter and Youth NAACP canvassed door-to-door in the Williamsburg area.
* A VOP intern won the Wesley Mission Award from the Wesley Foundation at William and Mary, with the award going to the Virginia Organizing Project.
* VOP participated in a James Madison University social work internship event.
* One of VOP's interns worked with students in a Social Justice Seminar class at Christopher Newport University. Each of four groups worked on one of VOP's major issue campaigns: healthcare, racial profiling, tax reform and car title lending. Each group included various direct actions around their issue, such as virtual phonebanking, setting up a table on campus, creating a Facebook group, meeting with the CNU police chief, talking with Hampton City Council members, etc.
* VOP worked with a Virginia State University public relations class project and to establish a VOP chapter at VSU.
* Virginia State University students held a health care forum on campus with 32 students attending; they phoned Senators from the forum.
in 2008:
* VOP brought together 13 statewide groups to coordinate the Summer Civic Engagement Project and hired 50 interns for the ten-week project; the interns knocked on 140,000 doors, distributed non-partisan voter guides and issue flyers, and asked people about their top concerns; about 300,000 non-partisan voter guides were distributed during the canvass and at special events.
* The VOP UVA student chapter hosted a Health Care for America Now! house party, at which 14 students committed to getting active on the health care campaign; some of the group tabled at the Charlottesville Vegetarian Festival.
* Interns from Virginia Commonwealth University, Ferrum College, Emory and Henry University, the University of Virginia, Longwood University, the College of William and Mary, James Madison University and Virginia State University signed on to work with VOP.
* VOP linked VOP to Facebook as a way to engage new youth in organizing.
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VOP:
* held a living wage workshop for students from nine different Virginia college campuses including guest speakers Ben McKean, from United Students Against Sweatshops, and Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America
* held a Dismantling Racism workshop for youth in Lynchburg, Amherst County and the Eastern Shore
* developed a VOP internship program to provide new avenues for high school and college students to work for social change
* had several young leaders present living wage concepts to Albemarle County School officials which led to a policy change for low-wage workers
* sent a delegation of young people to participate in the Southern Living Wage Conference
* sent a VOP intern to an international youth conference in Belize sponsored by Agricultural Missions
* assisted an intern in coordinating an Agrarian Reform Panel as part of the Rural Justice Tour 2002 involving representatives of the Landless Workers Movement of Brazil, the Network of Amazonian Cooperation in Venezuela and the National Indigenous Congress in Mexico
* had VOP interns attend the World Economic Conference in New York City
* provided major consulting support to JustChildren, a legal aid group working on children’s issues, to pass a statewide policy that requires the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice to develop regulations that provide mental health service transition plans for all incarcerated juveniles prior to their re-entry into the community
* continues to have interns, leaders and staff speak to classes, from high school to graduate school, about community organizing and social justice
Charlottesville, VA 22903-5208
Phone: (434) 984-4655 Fax: (434) 984-2803
