Although much work remains to be done to restore the California Dream, California Calls is wrapping up another successful year of engaging, educating and inspiring statewide voters, including young people, new immigrants, and Latinos and African Americans from low-income and working poor neighborhoods.
Building Voter Trust and Engagement
- Using high-capacity predictive dialing phone systems and smart phones, California Calls’ grassroots leaders and volunteers connected with over 225,000 voters during the Spring and Fall outreach programs and got commitments from 166,984 voters to vote in every election.
- In May, we talked to over 93,000 voters on the phone and at their doors and asked them to join the public policy debate around increased funding for schools with high numbers of children in poverty, in foster care and English language learners. 83% of the voters we contacted believe that schools with the greatest need and which were impacted most by the economic crisis and years of budget cuts should receive additional funding to help even the playing field.
- In October and November, we had real, one-on-one conversations with over 100,000 voters to urge them to sign up for the Affordable Care Act using the Covered California health insurance marketplace. Over 20% of them told us they planned to sign up!
- During 2 one-hour Telephone Town Halls, we talked to over 22,000 voters on the impact of California’s budget on families, women and children, and answered their questions about how the Affordable Care Act impacts them.
Building to Statewide Scale
- California Calls provided training in community organizing and voter technology to our 13 anchor groups, representing 30 organizations in 12 counties, building the skills of over 1,000 social justice leaders and volunteers.
- We raised our public visibility through ramped-up media coverage resulting in impressive news coverage in various news outlets, including The Oakland Tribune, Univision, The San Jose Mercury News, The Ventura County Star, Alternet, The Bakersfield Californian, The San Francisco Chronicle, and many others.
Building the Power to Win a New Vision for California
- In collaboration with USC’s Program for Regional and Economic Equity (PERE) and the California Tax Reform Association, we completed the first phase of a Commercial Property Tax Reform project which confirmed gross inequities in the current system stemming from Proposition 13. We found growing support for re-considering the commercial property provisions of this 1978 law which could provide billions of dollars in new revenues for K-12 education, fire and police protection, and basic city services such as road repairs.
- California Calls was one of over 40 organizations that joined together to urge Covered California to comply with the National Voter Registration Act and provide people with the opportunity to register to vote when they enroll for health insurance.
In sum, we are building a powerful bloc of progressive voters to win a new vision for California that includes stable public services, good government, fair taxes and economic growth.
