Strengthening Our Lives -SOL

Skip to content

You are here: Home

Building Power

Voter Registration

When people care about politics, they have strong beliefs on the opposition.

“Don’t register any of those dumb Republicans” they tell us. Or “Who do you work for? It’s the Democrats who are paying you right?”

They can even break relationships.

Once German told us that a couple was registering to vote and the woman registered Democrat. When he asked her boyfriend if he was also a Democrat, he said no.

“Mark Republican.”

The girlfriend was shocked.

“How come you never told me you were a Republican?” She couldn’t believe this new found information.

German finished registering them and left them… arguing.

We tell people our organization is non-partisan, and we are doing voter registration because we want to spread political knowledge to the community so they people can get involved.

One of the most common questions we tend to have is, “for what party they should register?” We are a non-partisan organization, but as individuals we have our own beliefs. To keep it non-partisan, we rather give them examples.

Barak Obama is a Democrat. The governor of California is a Republican. The last president was a Republican too.

Giving those examples bring up a lot of reactions.

“Ah, lets get rid of the ‘Govern-ator’. That good for nothing movie star! Put down Democrat.”

Or…

“Obama is running the country to the ground! Register me as a Republican.”

Then we have the “other” parties. The ones not many care about because they lack numbers and media coverage.

They are the Green Party, the American Independent Party, the Libertarian Party, and the Peace and Freedom Party.

It’s hard to come up with example for those parties. The only example I had was the Green Party’s Ralph Nader, but no one has heard of him.

I had to Google them, and found some interesting information you all need to find yourself.

But people do register for these parties. They either don’t know what it is but they like how the name sounds, or they actually know what these parties stand for.

-Jocelyn Gomez

Community involvement is key to democracy. Whether it be by a simple vote, or marching in the streets, it is required that we be active, as a republican, democrat or an “other.”

Walk the Talk Internship Program

Strengthening Our Lives (SOL) is pleased to announce that we are accepting applications for “Walk The Talk,” a Voter Registration Internship, for summer of 2009 in various locations through California. SOL is offering 50 paid internships as part of our non-partisan voter registration drives throughout California in an effort to encourage youth to learn essential leadership skills they can use in their careers while being part of a program that will change the politics of California.

Training the Next Generation of Political Organizers
This summer, Strengthening Our Lives (SOL) will kick off its inaugural Walk the Talk Summer internship program to begin to develop the talent and skill of a new generation of political field organizers. The Walk the Talk program will hire 40 students across the state to learn our high paced, high efficiency voter registration program. At the same time they will work on issues that affect their own communities. This program will be a critical part of SOL’s statewide expansion over the next few years as we look to find and train the next generation of campaign leads and coordinators through hands on and in depth field experience and mentorship.

Aqui en el Valle

Aqui En Fresno, Bakersfield, Kings, and Tulare

We are all too familiar with the gap that exists between who lives in our great city and who votes. The “have mores” make up a large share of the likely voters in Fresno and California in general while the “have nots” generally either are not registered to vote or rarely vote.

By targeting unlikely and new voters we have been able to successfully increase voter turn out. This increase in voter turn comes from the lower wage earners who feel a “pinch” a bit more and are more receptive to our issues and message.

As part of this effort we plan to register 75,000 new voters in Fresno, Kings, Kern and Tulare Counties. This plan represents the first phase of this effort. This phase 1 is designed to build our capacity and register 25,000 voters in 2008 starting with a mid year effort. This will give us the opportunity to organize voters so that the politics of the voters begin to change the politics of the candidates and then the politicians themselves. In doing so the coming together of ordinary people to begin to work together to build a better future will dramatically improve our capacity to organize for change and to take that battle to the ballot box.

A study commissioned by SOL in 2007 showed there are an estimated 167,531 unregistered and eligible Latinos in Kings, Kern, Tulare and Fresno County. So far we have registered [link here or show].

We will recruit and train a cadre of organizers who are efficiently skilled at registering new voters. The process for organizing this effort will also prepare us for an expanded SOL network that is skilled and familiar with our grass roots approach to political organizing. For more information contact Patricia Cardona at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

[widget}

Voter Registration

A BETTER LIFE IS POSSIBLE
We believe a better life is possible. That defines who we are. That is the faith that keeps us going, even in our most difficult moments.

…we came here because of the possibilities

We came to California in search of a better life. Some of us came from other states, some from other countries. And for some of us, our parents were the newcomers. Some 3 out of 4 of us are first or second generation Californians.

We came here because of the possibilities. We came because we could no longer endure the poverty, or accept being held back despite having gone to college. We came here to not live in fear – to leave behind the corruption and violence that plagued the politics we knew.

Those of us that were born here have had greater opportunities than our parents, but still we have often fallen behind. While our opportunities are greater, so are our hopes, and too often, so are our disappointments.

Often times we make mistakes. In those times we look to each other. Our families, our friends, and neighbors. But most times, we play by the rules. We have the American dream and we are told, “play by the rules, work hard, and you can do anything.” But that is often not the case.

We say at SOL, the role of government is to build bridges to our dreams and not obstacles to our aspirations. We want to work together to strengthen our lives so that our dreams and a better life is possible.

…we have lived lives of hard work and sacrifice

To achieve a better life we work hard. We work two and three jobs. We work Monday through Friday, and Saturday and sometimes Sunday. We work from dawn to dusk. We work when we are weary and when we are sick.

We live lives of sacrifice. To pay the rent we share out home with distant family and even strangers. We work so long hours, when we go to work our children are still asleep, and we return home only after they have already gone to bed. We work so often we too often miss life’s most cherished moments – our son’s first steps, our daughter’s first words.

Our lives have been an example for our nation’s politics

For too long our politics has dominated by cynics, people who did not believe a better life is possible. For too long our politics has been dominated by those who seek to take everything for themselves, rewarding no one but themselves.

The insurance companies reap ungodly profits, while millions suffer illnesses needlessly. Finance CEO’s make millions a week, while tens of thousands of hard working families are forced from their homes.

Our lives have proven there is a better way. If we work together we can ensure everyone has a doctor. If we work together we can create jobs that pay enough to raise a family. If we work together we can ensure that our children’s school can help them live even better lives.

As we become a major part of this country’s population, we need to become a major part of this country’s political audience, voice, and power.

Unfortunately, we are too often those least likely to vote, and thus those least listened to by the political system. But the possibilities are great. In California we could help lead the state back to a period of shared prosperity and a new golden age. Aside from the lost to 3,000,000 eligible for citizenship look below for our potential power