What We Do
In our quest to help North Carolina citizens achieve meaningful pro-democracy reform, Democracy North Carolina engages in a variety of different overlapping activities, including:
Research that analyzes election-related problems, explores possible solutions and distributes our findings to targeted audiences as well as the media and other intermediaries. As part of this effort, we educate the public on our findings and the implications for their lives.
Advocacy for pro-democracy reforms that improve disclosure of the flow of political money; strengthen enforcement of election laws and protect voter rights; improve government accountability and ethics; and promote voluntary public campaign financing programs that put voters at the center of elections where they belong.
Organizing both statewide and in local communities, where we bring together diverse groups of people to focus on shared advocacy and civic engagement goals. Through these coalition-building activities, we are building a coordinated, effective, racially and politically diverse reform effort in NC.
Civic Engagement that expands voter participation in elections; pulls in those not typically involved in elections, such as youth, ex-felons and discouraged ex-voters; and ensures that every registered person who goes to the polls has his or her ballot counted.
Training that is conducted through our grassroots organizing network. We are developing local and statewide networks of informed citizens who are willing to pursue and defend meaningful pro-democracy policies and to take a more active role in government, including running for office themselves one day.
Democracy Summer, a unique training program that pays outstanding college students to work on the frontline of democracy for nine weeks each year, learning the fundamentals of grassroots organizing and empowering citizens to take part in the political process.
Each of these activity areas complements the other and contributes to our goal of expanding the effectiveness of organizations and individuals who are concerned about civic participation and government reform.
Support Our Activities
Many people who donate to Democracy NC direct their gifts to specific activities. This allows our supporters to make a direct impact in the areas they care most about. If you are interested in underwriting a specific activity or program, please visit the Support Us section or contact our Development Director, Molly Beacham (919-286-6000, Ext. 12).
Changing with the Times
Depending on the election schedule and the state legislative cycle, Democracy NC’s program priorities vary from year to year.
For example, during 2008 much of our resources were focused on educating voters and increasing voter participation, particularly among historically disenfranchised groups.
We have now shifted our priority focus to issue advocacy as we take advantage of 2009 and 2010’s General Assembly sessions and seek to sustain the public campaign financing momentum we have gained in recent years.
Youth Outreach
All of our programs emphasize permanently engaging young people in the electoral process. The 2008 Primary Election was a good example of this focus at work. During a single month, we worked with East Carolina, Livingstone College, St. Augustine’s College, NCCU, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Terry Sanford High School in Fayetteville, helping students conduct student voter drives and special events. Afterwards, we interviewed administrators and student leaders to identify successful ideas and techniques we can use to reach out to even more campuses during future election cycles.
Changing the Landscape
We have two overriding goals that affect every area of our work: 1) bringing new people into the electoral process; and 2) bringing together groups that have historically not interacted so that they can focus on common goals.
For example, in order to win public campaign financing reform, we are educating and motivating grassroots GOTV leaders in communities of color while also reaching out to large campaign donors. Using a variety of tactics, we are identifying and educating leaders among each of these groups so that they can become visible advocates for public campaign financing.
Already, GOTV leaders in several counties and individuals serving on our statewide Campaign Donors for Campaign Reform advisory board have played key roles in demonstrating new dimensions of support to reluctant policy makers. Both groups have been pivotal in our efforts to expand Voter-Owned Elections as well as in winning reforms that make voting easier and political favoritism in policy debates more difficult.
Useful Links
- We've been building a government of, for and by the people of NC for over ten years.
- Research underpins our work and helps us quantify both our challenges and our successes.
- Everything we do supports our core mission.
- Check out our local coalitions for info on how we work locally in these focus areas.
- We also encourage people and groups to take action on the issues important to them.
- We've built a library of valuable resources to help us in our work.
