2024 Webinar series

The same communities that face the greatest barriers to securing stable, accessible, affordable homes also face the greatest barriers to voting. This webinar will kick off the Our Homes, Our Votes: 2024 webinar series with an overview of the connection between housing justice and political participation, the effectiveness of nonpartisan voter engagement campaigns, and why housing and homelessness advocates should get involved in the 2024 election cycle.

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Click here for the webinar recap, recording, and presentation slides.

With the November 2024 elections just six months away, now is the time for housing organizations to launch their nonpartisan election initiatives. This webinar will walk through key considerations for planning a strong voter and candidate engagement campaign. Courtney Cooperman, project manager of Our Homes, Our Votes, will discuss the essentials of keeping your campaign nonpartisan. Morgan Murray, voter engagement programs manager for the League of Women Voters, will share tips for launching a successful initiative that encompasses voter registration, education, and mobilization. Eddy Zerbe, deputy director of Students Learn Students Vote, will present on the nonpartisan Civic Holidays as an organizing tool for election season.

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Click here for the webinar recap, recording, and presentation slides.

Because renters move more frequently than homeowners, they must update their voter registration more often, which imposes yet another obstacle to casting their ballots. The first step to empowering low-income renters to vote is providing accessible voter registration opportunities. This webinar will review strategies to incorporate registration into your organization’s day-to-day activities and organize designated voter registration events.

No organization needs to reinvent the wheel when launching their nonpartisan election initiatives. This webinar will explore the value of community partnerships that can increase your organization’s capacity to register, educate, and mobilize voters.

Tenant leaders are trusted messengers that can effectively register and mobilize their neighbors to vote. Join tenant and resident leaders to hear about their experiences registering, educating, and mobilizing voters in their buildings. Panelists will discuss how to develop messaging that builds trust and generates enthusiasm about participating in the political process, successful tactics for reaching first-time voters, ways to ensure that low-income renters have the resources and information they need to vote, and how to organize residents to become leaders in their own communities’ election engagement efforts.

People experiencing homelessness, service providers, and election officials often face uncertainty about the process of voter registration for those without a permanent address. This webinar will discuss how people experiencing homelessness can exercise their voting rights and overcome the obstacles to making their voices heard in the political arena. Experts will discuss best practices for unhoused voters, shelters, and other agencies supporting people experiencing homelessness.

Transportation barriers are one of the most common reasons why people do not turn out to vote, and lack of accessible transportation to the polls disproportionately disenfranchises low-income renters. This webinar will spotlight the impact of voter transportation programs, share opportunities for your organization to partner with existing nonpartisan voter transportation initiatives, and offer inspiration for those seeking to launch their own transportation to the polls.  

Affordable housing providers—including PHAs and HUD-subsidized providers—are in a strong position to register, educate, and mobilize their residents to vote. This webinar will feature providers that are employing creative strategies to promote civic engagement and get out the vote in their communities.

Too often, affordable homes are ignored in the public debate leading up to elections. To elevate housing as an election issue, candidates for elected office must understand that the issue of affordable housing is important to voters. This webinar will explore the most common methods to get candidates to discuss housing solutions on the record—including candidate questionnaires, forums, site visits, and town hall meetings—and legal considerations for nonprofits. The discussion will also feature ideas for social media and conventional media engagement with candidates, such as op-eds and Letters to the Editor.

Civic Holidays are nationwide, nonpartisan days of action to strengthen and celebrate our country’s democracy. Thousands of nonprofits, schools, businesses, local governments, and other organizations unite each year to promote civic participation through the four Civic Holidays: National Voter Registration Day, National Voter Education Week, Vote Early Day, and Election Hero Day. This webinar will cover how to plan an effective Civic Holidays activation and the resources available from national partners to support this work.

To cast their ballots with confidence, voters need trusted information about where, when, and how to vote. Voters should also have access to information about who and what is on their ballot—both candidates and ballot measures—and why their vote matters. This webinar will cover the essential aspects of a nonpartisan voter education campaign that encompasses the who, where, when, what, why, and how of voting, including the stakes of voting for housing justice.  

The rise of election misinformation and disinformation poses a threat to the democratic process and has a disproportionate effect on low-income voters. This webinar will cover the basics of misinformation and disinformation and share strategies that housing organizations can employ to counter the threat of voter misinformation and disinformation targeted towards their communities.

In the past decade, the Supreme Court has rolled back key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, opening the door to deliberate voter suppression tactics. These tactics tend to disenfranchise members of the same communities that are at disproportionate risk of housing insecurity and homelessness, which include returning citizens, people of color, and people with disabilities. This webinar will cover the state of voter suppression laws and ways that housing and homelessness organizations can empower low-income renters to overcome obstacles to the ballot box.

Election Day is an all-hands-on-deck effort to get voters to the polls—the culmination of months of voter registration, education, and mobilization activities. Panelists will review the most effective Election Day Get Out the Vote (GOTV) tactics, such as coordinating rides to the polls, hosting community walks to the polls, bringing snacks and music to keep people in line at busy polling locations, recruiting volunteers to follow up with those who have not yet voted, and hosting post-election celebrations.

Housing and homelessness organizations have an important role to play in voter protection: ensuring that every voter’s right to vote is respected and their ballot is counted. This webinar will share resources and strategies that nonprofit can employ to ensure that voters know their rights and participate in voter protection initiatives on Election Day.

 A successful nonpartisan voter engagement campaign does not end on Election Day. After the election is over, housing and homelessness organizations should evaluate the impact of their activities, leverage the power of low-income renters as a voting constituency, and establish relationships with newly elected officials. This webinar will cover strategies to hold elected officials accountable to their campaign promises and advocate for long-term, systemic change to increase voter access.