Washington State Democratic Chairs Organization

For those of you that don't yet know, Organizing for America (OFA) is up and running in Washington State, and our first Listening Tour stop in Washington kicks off in 100 hours.

What on earth is OFA and why are you doing a Listening Tour?
As an organization OFA has two priorities: (1) organizing support for President Obama's policy priorities, and (2) building and strengthening our grassroots movement by empowering people to have an impact in their own communities. The core of our mission is to build support for, and educate President Obama's policies for change.

Back in February, OFA volunteers organized in support of the President's stimulus plan, and we delivered hundreds of thousands of postcards to Congress, and made even more phone calls to our Congressional delegation urging them to support the President's plan. Thanks to the work we did, every single Democratic member of Congress from this state voted the right way on that legislation!

Beginning Monday, we kick off OFA in our state with the first of 13 stops in rural, urban, and suburban cities and towns acros the state to solicit input from you about how we structure our organization in this state. You all are experts on what worked well on the campaign, and what we could do better. I will be using the information from these meetings to write our state plan for the remainder of the year, so I'd apreciate your input.

Schedule for Washington State Listening Tour
Tacoma 5/11/2009 6:00:00 PM
IBEW Hall 3049 S 36th St 98409
Vancouver 5/12/2009 6:00:00 PM Cameo Cafe 7703 NE 72nd Ave 98661
Olympia 5/13/2009 6:30:00 PM Coach House 214 22nd Ave SW 98501
Kennewick 5/16/2009 12:00:00 PM Kennewick Library 1620 S Union St 99338
Bremerton 5/17/2009 12:00:00 PM
Machinists Hall 822 Park Ave 98337
Bainbridge Island 5/19/2009 6:00:00 PM
Community Center 4779 Lynnwood Center Rd NE 98110
Ellensburg 5/26/2009 6:00:00 PM Central Washington Univ Student Union Bldg. 400 E University Way 98926
Bellevue 5/31/2009 6:30:00 PM Bellevue Library 1111 111th Ave NE 98004
Seattle 6/1/2009 6:00:00 PM
Seattle Labor Temple 2800 1st Ave 98121
Sequim 6/2/2009 6:30:00 PM
Sequim Library 630 N. Sequim Ave 98382
Everett 6/3/2009 6:00:00 PM
Everett Labor Temple 2812 Lombard Ave 98201
Spokane 6/4/2009 6:00:00 PM
East Central Community Center 500 S Stone St 99202
Bellingham 6/6/2009 12:00:00 PM
Whatcom Educational Credit Union 600 E Holly St 98225

What will OFA do in our state?
OFA will continue to engage Obama supporters, and work to bring more people into the political process. The organization will give volunteers the opportunity to work for change in their communities and to organize for reform in Washington.

At the heart of everything OFA does is the belief that the important debates about health care reform, energy policy, education and other important issues should not happen solely on cable TV among Washington DC's politicians and pundits -- these conversations need to take place on doorsteps, porches and across dinner tables in neighborhoods around the country.

Organizing activities may include: house parties, door-to-door canvasses, phone banks, phone calls and letters to members of Congress, letters to the editor, pledge drives, service projects, trainings, additional policy campaigns, etc.

How can I help make these events successful?
If you are interested in making these events come off without a hitch, I would love help with a few things:

1. Help with turnout -- reach out to others about the importance of these meetings, and encourage people to attend
2. Facilitate discussion -- we are going to break out into smaller discussion groups in these meetings, and we would love to have your help facilitating a small group
3. Even if you can't make it to a tour stop, please let me know if you'd like to help as we get of thr ground here in the state

If you can do any of the above, please get a hold of me and I would love to have your help!

OFA HQ is going to be sending out an email to all of our fellow supporters in Washington tomorrow, but I wanted those of you who did work on the campaign and since November to have a heads up.

Thanks again, for all you have done for President Obama, and thanks in advance for your help in making these Listening Tour stops an incredible success. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Best,

Dustin Lambro
Washington State Director
Organizing for America
lambrod@dnc.org