Support the Heartland Fund Slate!

The Rural Democracy Initiative’s Heartland Fund addresses offers a coordinated  and long-term strategy to address the imbalance in funding for rural organizing and civic engagement . This investment imbalance must be addressed if we are to bridge the growing and often hostile urban-rural divide in America that blocks progress that would benefit our hardest hit communities.

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ARIZONA: RAZE
RAZE works with communities of color, young people, women + working class/poor people in Pinal, Yuma, Pima + Coconino counties in Arizon.

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GEORGIA: Black Male Voter Project/GeorgiaBMVP works with the more than 50% of registered Black male voters who have not voted in the last five elections because they don’t see elected officials doing anything that helps their lives.

 

MICHIGAN: We the People MIWe the People works in small towns/cities + sparsely settled areas in central, western + Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

 

MONTANA: Native Voices
Native Voices focuses on the 9% of Montana voters who are Native American, living on 8 reservations and in cities.

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NORTH CAROLINA: Down Home North Carolina

Down Home North Carolina is an organizing project led by the working people of North Carolina’s small towns and rural communities to grow the good in their communities. They aim to build a multiracial coalition across working families in central and western North Carolina including Alamance, Cabarrus, Haywood, Jackson, Johnston, Granville, Watauga, and Madison Counties.  In 2022, Down Home ran one of the largest canvassing operations in the state, and successfully won and defended state house and congressional seats. After a landmark year, Down Home’s field program is digging in to learn the lessons from the last cycle, with a goal of articulating and implementing a mature, integrated organizing model that maximizes the benefits of year-round and off-cycle organizing. Through the statewide Co-Governance Working Group, Down Home’s members will prepare for 2024 by mapping the critical constituencies in key districts and ensuring that year-round issue campaigns are targeted to maximize their political strategy. They hope to apply this new ‘Field 2.0 model’ to these races, working to train and prepare their membership for 2024. 

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OHIO: Rural Organizing/OhioRural Organizing ia a communications and digital media hub reaching the 83 of 88 Ohio counties that are more than 50% rural; 65 counties are more than 90% rural.

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PENNSYLVANIA: PA United
PA United works in the rural counties of western Pennsylvania that provided the winning margin for Biden in 2020.