POWER Clergy Leaders To Go Door-to-door One Week Before The Primary

PHILADELPHIA - May 12, 2014 - PRLog -- POWER’s ambitious Voter Engagement Campaign is moving into high gear one week before the May 20th primary. On Tuesday May 13^th at 10am and again at 4pm, POWER clergy leaders will hold a prayer vigil and neighborhood canvass starting at Harold O. Davis Baptist Church located at 4500 North 10^th street in Philadelphia’s Logan neighborhood. After praying, the clergy leaders and volunteers will fan out in the neighborhood knocking on doors of homes on and around Roosevelt Boulevard. Here’s a list of the clergy leaders leading the vigils and neighborhood canvasses on Tuesday’s (5/13):

10am:

Rev. Frank Pennington, United Church of Christ, affiliated with Living Water UCC Church in Oxford Circle and retired Phila School District teacher

Rabbi Avi Winokur, Society Hill Synagogue

Rev. Ernie Flores, Pastor of Second Baptist Church of Germantown

Bishop Dwayne Royster, Living Water UCC and POWER Director

4pm:

Rabbi Lauren Grabelle-Herrmann, Kol Tzedek Synagogue and mother of PSD students

Rev. Jarett Kerbel, Pastor of St. Martin in the Field Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill (and co-chair of POWER board)

Rabbi Julie Greenberg, Congregation Leyv-Ha-Ir/Heart of the City

Rev. Ben Krey, Pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Lawncrest neighborhood.

Bishop Dwayne Royster, Living Water UCC and POWER Director

In addition to neighborhood canvassing, POWER volunteers are also holding daily phone banking at individual congregations in an effort to get voters to the polls. The phone bankers are using a new, sophisticated voter targeting and engagement tactic used by successful political campaigns. It’s called the Voter Activation Network, or VAN, database and predictive dialer phone technology to target voters who do not vote frequently, but who are likely to support two of POWER's areas of focus: school funding and boosts in minimum wage laws.

In addition to neighborhood canvasses and the new high tech VAN phone banking techniques, POWER volunteers are also taking part in more traditional community mobilization strategies including house meetings, congregational gatherings, and community forums. There have been announcements during worship services and faith leaders have delivered sermons emphasizing the importance of voting.

So far POWER congregations have connected with more than 20,000 Philadelphians and have gotten commitments to vote from residents who don’t normally vote in primaries. POWER's success has captured the attention of its parent organization, the PICO National Network. PICO is viewing POWER's work on Voter Engagement as a model for other
affiliates across the country. A team of PICO national staff members are in Philadelphia studying POWER's voter engagement campaign and will use their observations to teach the 40+ other affiliates, nationwide, about best voter outreach practices.

"We will not rest until we convince every unlikely voter in Philadelphia that their vote counts," says Bishop Dwayne Royster, Executive Director of POWER. "As people of diverse faiths, races, and ethnic backgrounds, we are united to ensure our laws and policies and structures serve the poor, not hurt the poor. We do that through the voting booth."

POWER is encouraging voter participation in general. However, POWER's two areas of focus include making sure Pennsylvania's governor establishes a fair funding formula for our schools (#FullFairFunding). POWER is also campaigning to get voters to vote “yes” on referendum #1 to strengthen the City’s minimum wage law (#YesOnOne). POWER – along with labor local SEIU32BJ and other allies – have been pushing for expansion of the 21^st Century Minimum Wage Standard, which requires a $10.88/hour wage to workers on city contracts. POWER and its partners argue that firms regularly, and unfairly, skirt that requirement by subcontracting out large parts of their contracts. If passed, the referendum would strengthen the Executive Order signed by Mayor Nutter, closing the loopholes, and making the higher wage standard permanent.

For more information about the neighborhood canvassing on Tuesday May 13^th, or POWER's voter engagement campaign in general, go to http://powerphiladelphia.org or call POWER at (215) 215-232-7697. All media inquiries should be directed to Leslie Patterson-Tyler by calling (609) 247-2632 or email Leslie@TylerMadePR.com.