Way Forward Day 01 Highlights Way to Rise’s Work Towards Co-Governance

Way to Rise, the nonpartisan partner of Way to Win, wrapped up its first virtual Way Forward event with almost 300 donors, philanthropic leaders, and aligned partners who came together to discuss holistic approaches to philanthropy and solidify digital organizing efforts amid COVID-19. Way to Rise is calling donors and institutions to close the $59 million 501(c)(3) budget gap they are tracking across 80 organizations working across the nation.

View the recap video here.

Speakers of the virtual event included Harris County Judge Linda Hidalgo, Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II, and the Virginia State Delegate Marcia Price. Despite the event being held virtually, attendees were not amiss with Way to Win swag mailed to those registered beforehand, including an intention-setting guide and blessed salt from Kahu Lahela, a native practitioner in Hawaii.

As is the tradition from previous in-person events, Way Forward began with an acknowledgment of land and place. View the video below.

Jessica Byrd, Founder of Three Point Strategies and Way Forward emcee, roused the attendees: “We want to call in the global solidarity that we feel in this moment the courage of our ancestors and elders,” she said.

Melanye Price, Professor of Political Science at Prairie View A&M University, discussed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Mountaintop Speech” as a lens for understanding the rise of Trump, the 2016 election and the current Black Lives Matter movement.

“In his mountaintop speech, King gave us the portrait of a promised land on the other side of the civil rights movement. A promised land not just for black Americans — but for all,” Professor Price said. She described Trump’s rise as “mountaintop removal” and concluded by asking, “Will you put your time and talent on the line for a better world, or will those who rise be only those immediately impacted — the miner’s canaries of American democracy?”

Tory Gavito, President of Way to Win, mentioned the recent win for DACA on the Supreme Court. “Not only can movements dream of mountaintops, we can move mountains.”

Still, the struggle continues, she said.

From a global pandemic, to a political and economic system built on white supremacy, to a planet on the brink of climate collapse — the stakes today could not be higher. Our fears and anxieties run deep, but so should our hope and resolve, because there is a path forward. We have a plan.

Following her was Senior Advisor of Way to Rise, Nicole Boucher, who shared the organization’s north stars of Plan to Win and Plan to Govern, as well as the three key funding priorities:

• Voter Protection and Education: Supporting efforts that protect voters and expand Vote-By-Mail access come November. This includes nonpartisan voter education and registration.
• Co-Governance & Sustainable Communities: Ensuring elected officials, staff, and community-based organizations are provided with the training and support programs needed to be involved in legislative sessions, draft policy, and hold elected officials accountable.
• Narrative Change: Building a new narrative around multiracial communities led by state-based organizations.

“We identify co-governance as when movements and elected officials achieve bold policy change together,” Nicole said.

Attendees then heard examples of co-governance from elected officials Harris County Judge Linda Hidalgo and Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II on a panel moderated by Crystal Hayling of the Libra Foundation

“We established the first task force on education policy in 2019 that actually had current teachers on it,” Lt. Governor Garlin shared.

Judge Hidalgo explained her efforts to better engage the community and under-represented constituencies. Instead of having a quick transition committee, she and her team did an open community-wide transition process. At the seven town halls Judge Hidalgo hosted, she initially wondered whether people would show up — and hundreds of people showed up at each one.

“When you invite people in, they show up,” she said.

During the conclusion of the event, Way to Win member, Quinn Delaney, galvanized the attendees to support the movement. “Way to Win is my political home where I can bring all of who I am to the work,” she said.

Way to Rise is calling donors and philanthropies to close the $59 million ©3 budget gap across 80 organizations working across the nation, such as Instituto, Blueprint North Carolina, and Texas Civil Rights Project, which bolster local communities through voter education programs; Kairos and Reframe, which help expand digital organizing among communities of color; and United We Dream and Color of Change, which fight against systemic racial inequality.

“These organizations have the plans, the power, and the potential to protect our democracy — from educating and registering voters, to staffing polling locations, to lawyering up and fighting against voter suppression — but they must have the resources and capacity to deliver,” Nicole said.

The next Way Forward events will take place on August 6 and September 10. The team will share the latest data from battleground states, the full plan to win and introduce some of the candidates from the 250+ races they are supporting.