What is “Infrastructure?”
Hospitals, roads, schools, bridges…but what if I was to tell you that it also includes community organizing?
The Democratic Party relies on the work of volunteers to be a viable institution. Over the past decade, we have seen burnout in our volunteers. Nowhere is this more evident than in rural communities. Every election cycle, we go to our volunteers and we ask them to deliver the impossible. We ask for their time and whatever resources they may be able to provide to help each Democrat “get over the finish line”—but what does this mean? And how can we continue to put this burden on folks who never get their voices prioritized when it comes to legislation? When we see members of our own party vote for legislation that allows for inequitably funded schools in rural areas - what do we do to keep our volunteers engaged? We need to be making a different kind of investment in social infrastructure.
Organizations have been popping up around the country to try to help address this issue.
Rural GroundGame was founded in 2019, a pivotal moment in Virginia, to support rural Democrats and prevent the further decline of the Democratic brand in rural Virginia. Support for rural Democratic candidates and committees from our Statewide party had fallen to an all time low and candidates could not afford to run full scale campaigns on their own. With the program Rural GroundGame built, 12 House of Delegates campaigns and 2 State Senate campaigns were able to run professional and effective field and communications programs. While rural campaigns across the Commonwealth saw a 3 point increase in votes in 2019 on average, those campaigns that participated in the Rural GroundGame program saw an increase of 11 points.
The formula Democrats apply to win campaigns in consistently blue and competitive districts is simply not effective in rural communities. Rural campaigns and committees often feel isolated and without a clear goal, constantly searching for support they need to effectively carry the Democratic banner in every community. Rural GroundGame brings tools, institutional knowledge, and campaign experience to bear in our direct and consistent support of rural Democrats.
We work with Democratic nominees, their campaigns, local committees, and volunteers to advance the values and platform of the Democratic Party with the unique characteristics and challenges of rural communities in mind. We provide a variety of services and support to meet the essential needs of campaigns and committees, which include help with field, data, communications, finance, and operations.
Rural GroundGame is prepared to step in and work with committees of volunteers and fill gaps where full time staff is necessary to be effective. While large Democratic committees have the funding capacity to pay full time staff members to do the often complicated work of organizing and educating a larger community, rural committees simply do not have the capacity for this. We are here to level up the capabilities of these activists, not to tell them how to best work in their backyard.
For generations, rural communities were represented by Democrats. With your investment in Rural GroundGame, we can begin to bring Democratic representation back to these communities through the long-term investment of rebuilding the Democratic brand and bench of candidates. Rural communities are well aware of the enormity of the task at hand, but they are still showing up to do the work year after year.
Investing in social infrastructure means investing in organizations like Rural GroundGame to train up and support volunteers the way they and their communities deserve. Let’s stand with our fellow activists, and show them that we have their back.
To invest in Rural GroundGame Click → HERE