The Challenges of Organizing in Rural Areas
Rural America has become increasingly critical to the electoral success of the Democratic Party, and is poised to become an important beneficiary of Administration initiatives in agriculture, broadband, clean energy, education, health care, infrastructure and more. But success in these arenas involves overcoming an array of challenges that commonly characterize organizing in rural settings.
This panel will examine different types of organizing – community, advocacy/issues, electoral/political, legislative/policy – and explore the challenges involved in organizing for these purposes in rural regions. We will consider geographic, logistical, cultural and economic obstacles, and will explore commonalities with organizing in exurban/suburban/urban settings, current best practices, failures and successes, emerging techniques and tools, etc. Particular attention will be paid to organizing among rural Hispanics/Latinos, as well as in other communities of color, including Indian Country.
This panel will be appropriate for anyone interested in rural issues and revitalization; candidates, campaign staff and political volunteers in rural districts/states; community activists and organizers, non-profit staff and volunteers, etc. Audience participation will be welcomed and resources for further reference will be suggested.
Lynn Allen is the Communications Director for the Institute for Washington’s Future. She writes on issues related to sustainable agriculture, alternative energy, climate change and it’s impacts, and rural revitalization in Washington State. Lynn has worked as a business consultant and trainer helping develop effective business, leadership and team skills. She has also written extensively at Evergreen Politics, now defunct, assisted community groups with outreach to engage citizens and worked to educate both elected officials and the public on critical environmental and rural revitalization issues. She also writes on a civic engagement blog, Rebuilding Democracy.
Mindy ("mindoca" on Daily Kos) has been actively volunteering for political campaigns since 1984. Her functional areas of interest are field, organizing, training, and volunteer recruitment and retention. She is also bilingual and has extensive electoral experience with Hispanic and Latino constituencies in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Mexico and Texas. During the last election cycle, she was a Primary Precinct Captain for rural South Texas, and a field trainer and field volunteer in Northern New Mexico. Mindy is an alumna of Campaign Academy Training (DFA), Camp Obama/Hispanic Leadership Training, and Camp Wellstone. She resides in New York City.
Lauren Reichelt is director of a Health and Human Services Department in New Mexico where she oversees jail-based substance abuse treatment programs, intensive case management services for IV Drug Users and high-risk pregnant women, DWI prevention and treatment, and health care planning activities. She has worked with mothers of murdered children, substance abusers, and refugees. She uses organizing as a tool to help heal wounds resulting from historical trauma. She earned her MA in Comparative Culture from Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. She blogs for Daily Kos and ePluribus Media as TheFatLadySings.
Jill Richardson became interested in food policy when she spent a week working in a cardiac ICU and realized many of the patients could have prevented their illnesses by improving their eating habits. Since then, she's worked with the Netroots community to seek solutions to the problems in America's food system. Jill blogs at La Vida Locavore and the title of her first book is Recipe for America: Why Our Food System is Broken and What We Can Do To Fix It.
