It is a little known fact that the “50-State Strategy” never went away – it evolved into the State Participation Program. The DNC is now giving that program new life and taking other steps to strengthen state parties so Democrats can win everywhere and at all levels. The DNC release is below:
DNC Announces Unprecedented Investments in State Democratic Parties
WASHINGTON – The Democratic National Committee (DNC) today announced the details of new unprecedented investments along with the Association of State Democratic Chairs (ASDC) to give local Democratic leaders, activists and organizers the resources they need to grow, get out the vote, and win elections.
The new investments dramatically boosts the DNC’s existing State Participation Program (SPP). Beginning this October, all state parties will receive a monthly $10,000 investment from the DNC through 2018, which is a 33 percent increase over the base funding levels from 2016 and a 100 percent increase over 2015. This is a historic commitment to party building at the grassroots level.
In addition to the revised SPP, the DNC has made an unprecedented investment in local Democratic organizing by establishing a $10-million State Party Innovation Fund (SPIF), the largest-ever DNC investment in state parties and their organizing efforts. Under the program, state parties will compete for grants to create and support grassroots engagement programs for millennial and youth voters, rural and base constituencies, and other electoral organizing efforts to win elections. The SPIF grant program also includes $500,000 in dedicated grants for Democrats Abroad, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the territories.
“The mission of the DNC is to win elections from the school board to the Senate. But for too long, we poured our resources into races at the top of the ticket instead of organizing at the grassroots and building a deep bench of talent,” said DNC Chair Tom Perez. “This unprecedented investment in our state parties is the first major step in our effort to get back to basics and rebuild the Democratic Party from the ground up. Democrats across the country are ready to fight to expand economic opportunity and build a brighter future for all Americans – but we have to win elections first. As long as we keep cultivating our grassroots and making meaningful investments where it matters most, we’ll be unstoppable.”
“Our state parties are critical for empowering the grassroots of the Democratic Party and carrying our candidates to victory, especially at the local level,” said ASDC President Ken Martin. “But in recent years, we have not tapped into their full potential and have suffered losses both nationally and in our states. This new partnership presents states with an exciting opportunity to transform the progressive energy in our communities into meaningful victories on Election Day. I look forward to growing our partnership with the DNC as we march to victory in 2018 and beyond.”
The new investments also includes DNC funding for eight full-time ASDC staffers (including four new regional representatives), as well as initial guidelines for new organizer and volunteer trainings, and a new commitment from the DNC to build up the data and technological infrastructure in state parties. As part of that push, the DNC recently released a smartphone app to bolster neighborhood organizing and canvassing efforts. The app, called Knock 10, pinpoints the user’s GPS location to give them 10 nearby doors to knock on and a Resistance Summer script to get out the Party’s message. While anyone can use the app, only state parties will have access to the data it collects. Every state party will have the opportunity to take advantage of the new tool’s power to get more people involved in their communities.
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