Deborah Gentry of Charlottesville is one of many community leaders engaged in Virginia Organizing’s civic engagement activities. Deborah has volunteered to make thousands of phone calls to help reach our goal. Deborah is familiar with the need to get people of color and low-income communities involved because she has been unemployed for more than a year and sees the way that joblessness can fuel feelings of disenfranchisement with government and voting. Despite this, Deborah finds ways to reach the people she speaks to on the phone. “I just try to relate to people one on one and let them know how they can make their voices heard. They are just frustrated and I was too before I got involved,” said Gentry. “Now that I am more involved, I see that the administration is doing a lot but there is so much more work to be done.”