Computer-Assisted Mapping and Organizing Project

New Technology Infrastructure; Training; Strategic Technology; Technology Assistance

www.nwfco.org

$10,000

NWFCO seeks to take its organizing and research/communications activities to the next level by introducing a Geographic Information System (GIS), which will allow us to expand our base, target voter registration and mobilization activities, and develop highly sophisticated research materials to propel our issue campaigns forward. Our grant request includes allocations for the following components:

1. Purchase of a dedicated GIS workstation with strong processor and graphics card, as well as ample memory and hard drive.
2. Software acquisition and training for GIS work (including desktop GIS packages and graphics editors).
3. Staff and leadership training and consulting support to develop the use of GIS technology at NWFCO and within our network of grassroots organizations.

Purchase of a dedicated GIS workstation with strong processor and graphics card, as well as ample memory and hard drive. GIS processing is computer-intensive, with respect to both graphics and processing power and hard drive space. For this reason, NWFCO would like to dedicate a workstation for the purpose of supporting GIS work. This workstation will be installed in NWFCO's office in Seattle.

Software acquisition and training for GIS work (including desktop GIS packages and graphics editors). NWFCO’s Communications, Research, and Technology Associate, Dennis Osorio, will identify and acquire the most appropriate GIS software for the needs of NWFCO and our partner organizations. This software will enable NWFCO to conduct geographic analysis for organizing and research purposes. Dennis will also design a training program to enable him to implement and use the software, identifying potential technical assistance providers as needed.

Staff and leadership training and consulting support to develop the use of GIS technology at NWFCO and within our network of grassroots organizations. To help our partners integrate GIS technology into their base-building and campaign work, Dennis will develop and implement a curriculum to introduce organizers and grassroots leaders to GIS and its possible uses. He will lead them through a process of setting priorities for use of the technology in base-building and campaign activities. The outcome of this process will set the framework for NWFCO’s GIS projects. In addition, Dennis will train NWFCO’s policy/research team in the use of GIS technology and how it can be used to create reports and materials that support NWFCO’s (and our partner organizations’) issue campaigns. The use of GIS technology for research reports and materials will be guided by the framework set by grassroots leadership.

The Computer-Assisted Mapping and Organizing Project will help NWFCO create an even stronger and more diverse base of low-income leaders, target our outreach activities, and project progressive values and ideas into the public conversation on economic and racial equity issues.

The Northwest Federation of Community Organizations (NWFCO) works to develop strong state-based, grassroots organizations, build progressive power, and achieve systemic change. Founded in 1993, NWFCO is a regional network of four grassroots organizations: Idaho Community Action (ICAN), Montana People’s Action/Indian People’s Action (MPA/IPA), Oregon Action, and the Washington Community Action Network (Washington CAN – formerly Washington Citizen Action). In addition to directly supporting the work of our affiliates, NWFCO partners with national organizations and grassroots groups around the country to win institutional change promoting the dignity and rights of all people.

In the thirteen years since our founding, NWFCO has trained hundreds of community leaders who are taking action and making change for their communities. With our strong organizing, policy, and communications teams, NWFCO centralizes the tools, capacities, and alliances that transform grassroots leaders’ investment into the power to effect policy change. Working hand-in-hand with our partners, we make grassroots victories possible through the following investments:

 On-the-ground base-building and field support
 Campaign strategy and implementation support
 Leadership development and training
 Research and policy support to bolster grassroots campaigns
 Communications assistance
 Organizational development and capacity-building

At NWFCO, base-building and leadership development goes hand-in-hand with our research, policy, and communications work. Each of the partner organizations with which we works organizes low-income people and develop grassroots leaders to alter the relations of power, build progressive power, and achieve institutional change. NWFCO’s field organizers work onsite with community organizers to build strong membership bases and develop grassroots leaders who take charge of campaigns.

In support of the efforts of these leaders, NWFCO develops policy proposals that effectuate our commitment to health, well-being, and economic security of all people. To propel these proposals forward, we design and implement participatory research protocols that turn grassroots leaders into the researchers who document the problems they are seeking to address. This research then becomes the basis for cutting-edge reports used to raise public awareness of the problem and the proposed solution and frame the issue in terms of progressive values. With these tools in hand, these leaders take charge of campaigns to change the policy landscape.

Advancements in open-source GIS packages (such as GRASS GIS and Quantum GIS) have made GIS more readily available and independent of specific manufacturers. This opportunity will help NWFCO take our work to the next level in the range of areas in which we work. As we work with community organizers to develop member outreach recruitment plans, we will draw on GIS software to help us target that work, focusing particularly on building increasingly diverse, multiracial organizations. Our partner organizations also engage in civic participation work, including voter registration and mobilization, and GIS software will allow them to target their efforts in low-income communities and communities of color. The GIS software will allow community organizers to hone and refine their targeting to make most effective use of their limited resources.

The technology will also help NWFCO take our research, policy, and communications work to the next level of sophistication. By adding a geographic perspective, on a range of issues, we will be able to identify regional differences, allow for distance/proximity studies, and recognize impacted populations on a number of different issues. Through GIS, we will be able to uncover new and potentially shocking information about how economic and racial inequities affect people in the United States. Examples include differences in access to health care, disparities in utility rates, and barriers to public benefits. This information will be integrated into NWFCO reports and media materials.

By adding mapping technology to our repertoire of research/communications capacities will also be able to deploy a new and compelling format for presenting information and framing issues – the images we will be able to provide in reports (as well as press releases and other materials) will be a powerful tool for drawing media attention and sparking public conversation.

The Computer-Assisted Mapping and Organizing Project will be coordinated by NWFCO's Communications, Research and Technology Associate. He is an alumnus of the University of Washington and majored in Geography with a concentration was in GIS. To date, he has begun research on potential software based on capabilities and ease-of-use, as well as identifying potential providers of technical assistance.

Under Communications, Research and Technology Associate’s coordination, NWFCO will engage in the following activities to support the use of the technology:

- Train other NWFCO policy staff on the use of GIS software to integrate it more fully in the policy department’s overall work and ensure that knowledge of the software is spread throughout the organization.
- Implement a curriculum among organizers and grassroots leaders to open discussion of the uses of GIS technology, leading to a priority-setting process.
- Research and make periodic upgrades to hardware and software.
- Draw on contacts in various fields for consultations regarding appropriate software, data acquisition, and cartographic products.
- Produce research reports that build buy-in among grassroots leaders, who see how GIS technology can present a compelling picture for our campaigns.
- Use GIS technology on NWFCO’s website, making NWFCO the go-to source on GIS-based research on our issues (for media and others) and creating buzz among grassroots groups around the use of such technology and its promise for community organizing.

NWFCO will evaluate the success of the Computer-Assisted Mapping and Organizing Project by asking the following questions:

1. Has NWFCO’s grassroots leadership developed an understanding of the promise of GIS and set priorities for research and analysis conducted with GIS software?
2. Has the NWFCO policy team learned how to use GIS software and integrate it into our research activities?
3. What impact has GIS had on base-building among our partner organizations? Has GIS contributed to building more diverse multiracial organizations?
4. What impact has GIS had on voter registration and mobilization work? Has it allowed organizers to target their efforts more efficiently?
5. How many reports has NWFCO produced using GIS? What range of issues have we conducted research on using GIS?
6. What impact has GIS had on our media outreach? Has GIS helped us project progressive values into the public debate on economic and racial equity issues (such as universal access to health coverage, immigration reform, access to living wages)?
7. Have we been able to maintain a GIS that is up-to-date?