Unlikely voters to be targeted

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative received a $30,000 grant to help the organization persuade unlikely minority voters in the area to participate in the election.

The agency received the grant from Public Interest Projects, a social justice and human rights organization, for the effort.

MVOC has knocked on more than 6,000 doors and made more than 2,000 telephone calls to contact unlikely black and Latino voters to urge them to vote.

The MVOC is targeting 21,832 voters with a goal of getting at least 7,721 unlikely voters to the polls.

“This grant will allow us to have 20 people phone banking every night from now until Election Day,” said Kirk Noden, MVOC’s executive director. “It will also allow us to send more pieces of targeted mail, hire additional canvassers, and pay for a dozen churches to offer free rides to the polls for early voting and on Election Day. The funds couldn’t have come at a more critical time as we make a hard push to move voters.”

With this grant, the MVOC has $80,000 for its Get Out the Vote program aimed at increasing voter participation among infrequent voters.

The MVOC is a community organizing agency.

with the primary goal of bringing groups throughout the community together to increase the quality of life in the Valley’s urban neighborhoods.