WHAT
WE DO
We build upon the relationships nonprofits already have with the people they serve. This enables us--in partnership with the community--to galvanize citizens in low-income or hard to reach communities to increase equitable civic engagement, democracy building, and voter participation & efforts for fair elections.
OUR MISSION.
Cleveland VOTES is a nonpartisan, democracy-building movement that works to reconstruct and strengthen power through active participation of our collective partners. Guided by a system of networks, we promote informed, action-oriented mobilization that shifts power towards Equitable Civic Engagement and Infrastructure.​
OUR
VISION.
Our collective work will power a transformation toward a more liberated future, offering access to tools that produce increased efforts in civic education, engagement, and advocacy. We will work with intentionality to amplify the voices of our neighbors, ensuring we have a more informed, participatory, and cohesive community.​
Realizing Equitable
Civic Engagement
In order to increase civic participation, as well as create a more equitable democracy and cohesive social fabric, we must foster opportunities to see how democracy shows up beyond election days. We aim to expand our engagement with art and creative activists, elevate the importance of narrative and storytelling, continue to foster relationships with media and nonprofit journalists developing assemblies or hubs of leaders across the city that receive the necessary tools and experiment through incubation spaces while fostering equitable democracy.
Movement
Capacity-Building
We plan to broaden our training, development,
coordination + research and data work, and launch an incubator program that will
identify, support + create opportunities for future leaders.
Grantmaking
We aim to expand and evolve the Equitable Civic Engagement Fund (ECEF). We will explore participatory grantmaking practices, raise additional funds for the ECEF and embody trust-based philanthropy practices
Shifting Power
We will aim to evolve our internal practices to emulate a democratic governance structure. Together with our network of partners, we will develop a policy and issue-based agenda for action + mobilization.