RFS feel-good update (12/11): Make school boards boring again
Snooooooooooze (but in a good way!)
Hi all -
Here’s a fun thing: Last week through Run for Something Civics (our 501c3), we launched a campaign to Make School Boards Boring Again!
We joined forces with influencers Emily In Your Phone and Mrs. Frazzled, who reach millions of households (especially women and parents!) across their various platforms, to ask people to consider running for office. The new hub on RFS Civics includes free modules on how to decide to run, how to raise money, and a step-by-step guide on starting your campaign.
This is the kind of program we’re eager to do more of through our 50 State School Board Strategy.
It works in tandem with the kind of work we did in PA over 2023, where we tested out some intensive school board recruitment events in partnership with local organizers. -Because of that effort, PA had the highest % of contested school board races among the six states that had statewide school board races this year.
In other RFS community updates:
Chris Hollins won his election over the weekend by 19 points, becoming city controller of Houston, TX!!
Catherine Fray to their oath of office in Carrboro, NC, becoming the first non-binary person elected in the state. They said after: “It’s this beautiful tapestry of a town of all of us getting out, pulling in one direction, pushing in another, and working together to make Carrboro the strange little place it is.”
Lindsey Horvath is officially the youngest chair of the LA Board of Supervisors at 41 years old. She’s been leading on work to fight homelessness, increase renter protections, and create a comprehensive water plan.
100% of the people in this photo are RFS alum — Durham County Commissioner & newly elected chair of the board Nida Allam and newly elected mayor of Durham Leonardo Williams. You love to see it.
Ngoc Vuong was elected to a local school board in Wichita, KS, making history as the first Vietnamese American elected official in his county. At just 23 years old, his experience in the school system makes him a valuable voice. He says: “We need people who’ve been through the good, bad and ugly of life, as recently as possible, in these halls and spaces of government. For me, it’s important that when our families and students look at our schools, they see themselves.”
Read this extensive interview about what Roberto Alves, the first Democratic mayor in Danbury, CT in over 20 years, has in mind for his city.
In Madison, Ald. MGR Govindarajan and Juliana Bennett have been leading on plans to turn part of a main thoroughfare into a pedestrian space — streets should prioritize people, not cars!!
Atlanta City Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari is introducing an ordinance that would standardize the city’s petition review process for ballot referendums — part of a larger effort to stop voter suppression around an upcoming ballot referendum on a police training center.
Alum Alyia Gaskins announced her campaign for mayor of Alexandria, VA!
Alum Rhonda Hart, who came up short in a school board race a few years back, is now running for Congress in Texas! For Rhonda, this is personal: Her daughter was killed in a school shooting in 2018.
In related reading:
2024 is going to be the Year Of the States. (And, we’d argue, the year of local elections, too.) Simply contesting state legislative races can increase turnout for the top of the ticket anywhere from half a percent to over 2% in that precinct. That can be the margin of victory!
We are so grateful to Open Society Foundation for their sustained multi-year commitment to our work as part of their new $50 million program to support civic engagement among young people and women (of which we do both!)
We have one more final endorsement class coming this week before the year ends — stay tuned! Thanks for making this all possible.
- Amanda
Amazing news all around! Curious: if folks give to the general RFS fund can that be used in your School Board campaign? Or do we have to specifically earmark our money for that?