How Swing Left College Is Moving from Campus to Digital Organizing

I’m Nia Bentall, Swing Left’s College Programs Director. With the help of my team, I’ve been working to ensure that Swing Left’s student volunteers are well-supported during this jarring and unexpected transition as a result of Covid-19. As schools close and students are forced out of college campuses across the country, our top priority is making sure our Swing Left community members are safe and healthy.

Right now, a lot of students are adjusting to the challenges of online classes, working to secure stable housing and income, caring for loved ones, and facing the heartbreak of not having the graduation they had hoped for. On top of all this, college students who are claimed as dependants have been left out of Congress’s COVID-19 relief package.

We understand that for many folks, organizing for the 2020 elections has taken a back seat while transitioning to our new reality. For others, this public health crisis further underscores the need for bold change in our government. November 3rd presents the chance to create another reality — our chance to take back the Senate, win the presidency, and flip the script in our states.

These are ambitious goals, no doubt. But just as we’re flattening the curve with our actions, we also continue to have real power to impact the elections, despite the new challenges we face. We’ve developed these college-specific resources so you can continue to make a difference in the ways that work for you. Here are some options for effective, virtual actions you can take between now and November:

1. Write letters to voters in Super States: Writing letters is one of the most effective ways to turn out voters, and our friends at Vote Forward have made it incredibly easy to do. You’ll need access to a printer, paper, stamps, envelopes, and a pen to get started. (If you don’t have envelopes and stamps handy, you can write your letters now and prepare them later.) Check out this guide for writing letters with Vote Forward, individually or in virtual groups. You can also sign up to host your own letter writing party, or join our weekly letter writing party.
2. Check out Swing Left’s Take Action tool: We’ve updated our Take Action tool to help connect volunteers with virtual opportunities and educational content on Swing Left’s 2020 strategy.

Resources to help your virtual organizing efforts:

1. Join our Slack community: The Swing Left College virtual organizing community on Slack is a space for all Swing Left College staff and student leaders to connect with peers across the country, share organizing experiences, collaborate on new ideas, and generally support each other. Email College@SwingLeft.org to request to join.
2. Meet with your group via Zoom: Zoom is a video conferencing service that makes it easy to organize meetings for your group. We’re offering Swing Left’s Zoom Pro accounts, free of charge so you can host virtual organizing events like group meetings, letter writing parties, or phone banks. To request the use of a Zoom Pro account, just email college@swingleft.org with “Zoom account request” in the subject of your email. Please give as much notice as possible, but at least 48 hours, before the time you’d like to use the account.

Swing Left Fellow Laeo (top right) leads a training on how to call voters in Wisconsin from home.

Organizing in this environment is unprecedented and uncomfortable, and we’re figuring this out together. If you’re looking for inspiration, here’s what some of Swing Left’s College Network and Fellowship program students have to say:

• From Sophia in California: “It’s difficult to organize in this environment for a lot of reasons, but for college students COVID-19 has been particularly impactful: most of us just lost our jobs, and some of us are now homeless, in abusive households, or sick. Our focus as organizers should be on taking care of each other during this scary time.”
• From Paola in Texas: “As a senior in college, this is not how I envisioned my last semester, having to evacuate from NYC after my mom and I sacrificed so much to get me there. I did not expect having to finish my semester from home, helping my mom make ends meet after her boss suspended her without pay. Like you, I’ve been following the news. I saw my Lt. Governor in Texas say that our grandparents are willing to sacrifice their lives for the stock market. I saw Trump call coronavirus a hoax. I saw Dr. Fauci facepalming at the lies and nonsense of the administration. I anxiously read reports of medical professionals running out of personal protective equipment (PPE). But more importantly, I read about Elizabeth Warren fighting to include anti-corruption measures in the coronavirus relief package. I saw Bernie Sanders fighting to protect unemployed workers, like my mom. I saw Nancy Pelosi, time and time again, bringing our interests to the table. That’s what keeps me going, that’s why I organize. Because in moments of crisis like these I want the people that have my interests in mind.”
• From Meredith in Washington, D.C.: “When everything in our lives has been turned upside down, organizing with the Swing Left community has been a constant for me. When I talk to volunteers about taking action, I center community because staying connected to each other and our common goal of taking back all houses in 2020 reminds me that I am not alone in believing in a better future.”
• From Matheo in Florida: “For me, the biggest thing keeping me going during this time of isolation is the constant reminder that we need to be better. From the White House to every state legislature, it is more evident now than it has ever been that we need responsible and accountable leadership. I’m staying focused on our goal of electing Democrats up and down the ballot to ensure that we have a better America for my generation, and for those to come.”
• From Anna in Ohio: “I think in times of crisis people want to be able to do something. Swing Left was created in the wake of the 2016 election and the overwhelming response it received proves this. In a pandemic, there’s not much we can do — except stay home — so I think having another tangible, important goal to work on, like registering voters and getting out the vote, gives people a purpose. Personally, it feels really good to know that I am able to help students continue to organize during this time, especially as we’re seeing that who’s in office really does dramatically affect these events and people’s lives.”
• From Holly in California: “It’s important to remember that there’s no “normal” environment for organizing — we have to be constantly adjusting to new circumstances and world events, and sometimes those new circumstances are even more reason to do what we do. In times when the whole country is scared, it’s up to us — more than ever — to step up and try to make change, even when we don’t have all the answers.”
• From Madeleine in Georgia: “It’s easy to feel scared, lonely, and helpless when our lives are turned upside down. But virtual organizing with Swing Left is helping me feel connected, hopeful, and like I can make a difference. Through the College Network, I get to stay in touch with student leaders across the country through Slack channels and Zoom calls as we all figure out what campus organizing means when we’re not on campus anymore. I can call voters to turn a Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin blue and write letters to register new voters in the Super States. I can’t solve a pandemic, but I can organize students to make sure we don’t lose momentum in our fight to elect a better government this November.”

I hope their words resonate with you as much as they do with me. And when you’re ready to get back into action, just know that we’ll be here to guide you. In the meantime, keep in touch! We’re all in this together, and we’ll get through it by staying connected and supporting each other.