FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 6, 2013
CONTACT: Ana Beatriz Cholo, abeatriz@calicalls.org, 312-927-4845 (cell)

95,000 Voters Already Contacted Statewide During Affordable Care Act Grassroots Outreach Campaign

LOS ANGELES – One-thousand grassroots organizers from California Calls, an alliance of 31 statewide grassroots organizations, will continue knocking on doors today and through next Sunday from the Bay Area to San Diego in an effort to spread the word about the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, to 100,000 voters. The outreach campaign, partially funded by the California Endowment, is one of the largest such coordinated activities in the state. It consists of calling new and occasional voters and knocking on their doors in precincts in 12 counties.

About 80 canvassers in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties will be using a smart phone canvassing tool at the doors that eliminates the use of the traditional clipboard and paper and is designed to collect data while tracking responses in real time. These four organizations from California Calls include Inner City Struggle, Community Coalition and Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE) in Los Angeles, and Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) in Ventura County.

“Old-fashioned organizing, especially phone calls and face-to-face conversations, is most effective in building relationships with infrequent voters and inspiring them to become civically engaged,” said Karla Zombro, field director for California Calls. “Technology, such as our high-speed phone system, micro-targeting, and now smartphones allows us to maintain the grassroots personal touch with voters, but reach a much larger scale of people.”

Over the weekend, hundreds of volunteers will join the alliance’s daily outreach teams. Special volunteer trainings and door-to-door outreach is planned in each of the 12 counties.

The alliance engages with voters two to three times a year around the premise that government is critical and benefits the lives of our base of supporters – working families, immigrants, youth and people of color.

MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA ARE INVITED TO ACCOMPANY CANVASSERS ON DOOR-TO-DOOR WALKS

WHAT: Door-to-door voter outreach to educate and encourage up to 100,000 voters to enroll into the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, throughout the state. Smart phones are being used by canvassers in neighborhoods in East and South Los Angeles and Oxnard in Ventura County.

WHO: 1,000 grassroots leaders from our 31 member, community-based organizations will fan out across the state educating and encouraging voters to enroll in Obamacare.

WHERE: Santa Clara, Alameda, San Francisco, Kern, Tulare, Fresno, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego Counties.

WHEN: October 14 to November 10, 2013. From 3 to 8 p.m. weekdays and Sundays and on Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (TIMES MAY VARY)

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California Calls is a growing alliance of 31 grassroots, community-based organizations spanning urban, rural and suburban counties across the state. We engage, educate and motivate new and infrequent voters among young people, from communities of color, and from poor and working class neighborhoods to make California’s electorate reflect our state’s diverse population. Through our bottom-up approach, we are organizing voters most impacted by budget cuts and deteriorating public services in support of systemic, progressive solutions to our state’s fiscal crisis. Working together, and including those who are often left out of policy decisions, we believe we can reclaim the California Dream of equality, opportunity and prosperity for all Californians.