2023 Civic Voices Fellow Action Project
To educate community members and help them make an informed vote, we supported our Dallas County and Tarrant County Civic Voices fellows in building 17 stakeholder coalitions (up from four last year) and leading get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts for 39 school board races across North Texas. Our fellows:
Collected and disseminated candidate questionnaires in English and Spanish.
Shared student outcomes by district and trustee roles and responsibilities.
Hosted coalition meetings, candidate forums, and information sessions.
Election Tools and Resources: 3,000 voters visited our election hub to review candidate questionnaires and other resources to help them make an informed vote!
Following are samples from our 2023 Fellow Action Project:
Fellow-Led GOTV Efforts
One of our incredible Tarrant County fellows, Jandel Crutchfield, launched “School Board U” this spring as her action project. With 335 members (and counting) in the coalition’s Facebook group, Jandel is leading a vital conversation about school boards in both English and Spanish. In addition, her coalition organized a candidate forum and another GOTV event to inform and engage the community.
North Texas Candidate Forums and Community Coalition Events
From happy hours to candidate forums to virtual presentations and discussions, our fellows hosted a variety of community events designed to engage and inform their communities ahead of the May 6, 2023 school board elections. School boards are responsible for educating hundreds of thousands of children and oversee billions of dollars in North Texas, yet turnout for school board elections is often less than 10% of registered voters and few people understand the roles and responsibilities of trustees. Therefore, it is critical to inform the electorate about school board elections and inspire them to vote!
Additional School Board Election Hub Resources
Our fellows shared county and ISD-specific voter information with community members, view them at leadershipisd.org/candidates.
Our fellows also shared data tools and other resources with community members, including our Dallas County and Tarrant County district maps.
Example: Tarrant County District Map
Tarrant County is Texas' third-most populous county with over 2 million residents, including 350,000 public school students. Of this student population, 68% are students of color, 55% are economically disadvantaged, and 20% are English language learners.
All students in Tarrant County are not receiving an equitable education, with massive discrepancies between districts. For example, only 37% of students in Lake Worth ISD graduate college, career, or military-ready compared with 93% of graduates in Carroll ISD. Across Tarrant County, only 54% of students who began 8th grade in 2008 enrolled in college and a mere 23% graduated.
