kai campaign
Executive Summary
Weekly community engagement picnic with focus on rights education, community speakers, community, food, relaxing activities, live music and mutual aid.
Background
Kai Newkirk is running for AZ US Congress District 4. Newkirk campaign volunteers include folks like Liz Humphrey, who coordinates mutual aid donation and distribution. Newkirk is a progressive anti-ICE, anti-genocide, humanity first activist with fast growing support.
Problem Canvassing is hard and we volunteers need something to look forward to. Lack of third spaces shared with immediate neighbors makes people feel isolated.
Solution
Create a shared space that is built collectively by the attendees to foster a sense of community. Focus on "know your rights education" and emphasize local leaders making a difference. Fuse that into food and music. Collect or distribute mutual aid. The space should feel like it exists for the community and Kai is simply a part of it.
Possible Activities List
- yoga mats, meditation pillows
- tarot, grounding sessions, sound healing
- live painting, BYOP or paints provided
- live music: acoustic, low fi house, local bands or solo performers
- spoken word, poetry
- cookout with potluck "bring some sides" model
- community speakers
- yard games (corn hole, etc)
- dog and kid friendly
- homemade crafts
- flow art
Schedule
- 9 am - Brick Road Coffee kick off as normal, inform people about picnic after (same model as before, except community bash after instead of brunch)
- 10 am - All canvassers deployed from Brick coffee
- 11 am - Event begins, one campaign member there to help facilitate a positive experience and share about the campaign.
- 12/12:30, canvassers arrive from canvassing, bringing the energy and positivity
- Event goers get to learn about the campaign from those working on it and feel the community
Open Questions:
- Event start time; would overlapping with canvassing session harm canvassing attendance or increase it?
- Heat: Will anyone attend in the heat? Mitigation: Book public indoor space, heavily shaded Ramada, or area with pool
- Legal Risks: What restrictions must event production partners follow in order to comply with campaign finance laws?
Motivating Scenarios:
- Volunteer 45 minutes late, arrives at event, socialized and deploys in 15 minutes. Without the event: Schedule conflicts push out volunteers
- First 30 houses were rough on a volunteers morale, they are feeling hot, demoralized, and home owners were impolite. Canvasser returns to the event to recharge their social battery, is motivated and inspired by the rest of the team and goes out to finish the rest of their list
- Two canvass partners agree to do half their list from 9 am - 10 am, relax at the event until 10:30 am, and finish their canvassing with fresh motivation. After the event, they decide to tackle 30 more houses because of how fired up they are
- New volunteer feels ashamed they are not committing enough time. The event invites them to participate in the campaign in an informal way that inspires them to share the campaign. Event creates a low stakes opportunity to foster unactivated volunteers
- Campaign volunteer invites several friends to simply hang out at the "canvass after party". Seeing the physical presence of the campaign inspires them to donate for a sign
Outcomes/Goals:
- Other neighbors in the park approach out of curiosity
- ICE and safety awareness, educating community about rights (Spanish and English speakers needed)
- Sustained weekly event gives volunteers and community members something to look forward to
- Event attendance increases with each event as awareness grows
- Excuse for campaign volunteers to involve friends who may not be committed to action
- Regular community speaker engagement helps people understand who is serving their community, spreads awareness, and let's people know there ARE people out there trying to make things better
- Connecting individual nodes of mutual aid networks
- Opportunities for candid Kai media moments (if present)
- Bringing people together through art, creating a sense of community and belonging (which can be transformed into direct campaign action)
- Donation funnel: Motivated but time-blocked volunteers receive weekly in person engagements that lead to donations
Promotion and Marketing
- Not marketed as a Kai for congress event. Strategic choice, direct promotion opportunity is possible but changes tone and introduced campaign finance risk. Makes promotion easier--can post notices to local park bulletin boards, communities trust community first events more than they trust political ones
- Promote with signs around the immediate neighborhood, Instagram
Logistics:
- Booking: All event planners please reach out to musicians, artists, sound healers, community nodes, and identify willing participates who are motivated by the cause
- Production: arthouse1312 and partners have equipment available for all soundstage needs