Next Steps in The Battle for Democracy
When Khalilah Worley of Greater Cleveland Congregations (GCC) joined me for last Sunday’s Dean’s Forum, she shared something striking: even as GCC has had great success on particular issues, the tide of voter disengagement in Northeast Ohio has risen steadily. Voter depression, as she called it, is real, and is holding back the communities of Greater Cleveland.
They discovered that careful relationship building with neighbors over time, what GCC calls “deep canvassing”, has a remarkably high rate of engaging voters and actually getting them to the polls. Regardless of how they vote, the important thing is that, by exercising that hard-won right, our democracy becomes that much healthier, and our community is given a greater chance for renewal and growth.
I invite you to join me in supporting GCC’s Battle for Democracy by becoming a neighborhood captain. Those who volunteer will be given training and points of connection in a given neighborhood in Cleveland or inner-ring suburb and will be given the chance to get to know our neighbors better, while inviting them to participate in the democratic process.
Ideally, we hope that volunteers can let me know by Tuesday, February 20th, that they’d like to do this (the same day as GCC’s next community action). The neighborhoods where GCC is focusing are Central, Slavic Village, Lee-Harvard, Mt. Pleasant, and Fairfax.
On another note, you may have seen in your inbox something new this week: The Congregation Corner from Trinity Cathedral. We are shifting our monthly newsletter Cathedral Connections to a quarterly publication to better tell the in-depth story of Trinity Cathedral, and we’ll be using this short monthly Corner newsletter to keep you up-to-date on the many things that are happening at Trinity…so that you can be sure to plan to be with us!
The Very Rev. Bernard J. Owens