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NCAI launches refreshed Get Out the Vote campaign, offers mini grants to boost Native turnout
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Summary
The National Congress of American Indians unveiled a short-term campaign that includes a launch video, trusted-messenger spots and a mini-grant program for tribal governments and Native-led nonprofits to fund local turnout, outreach and data tools. NCAI said materials will be on nativevote.org.
The National Congress of American Indians on the webinar described a refreshed "Get Out the Vote" effort that will deploy a launch video, trusted-messenger videos featuring celebrities and a suite of toolkits to help tribes and Native organizations register and mobilize voters.
Larry Wright Jr., executive director of NCAI, said the organization created an affiliated foundation to tap philanthropic dollars and will offer mini grants to tribal governments, Native-led 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations and Native-led coalitions to support local civic-engagement projects. "We want to be the gatekeeper," Wright said, and to direct philanthropic funding that the foundation will steward to communities with the greatest need.
The mini grants are aimed at activities several participants discussed during the webinar: outreach campaigns, youth and elder engagement, rides to the polls, strategic coalition building, and development of data and communications tools. The webinar presentation directed listeners to nativevote.org for the grant application tab and other resources.
Dr. Paiment (campaign lead with Kauffman and Associates) framed the work as a short contract with potential follow-up, listing the campaign deliverables: a launch video, trusted-messenger videos, refreshed website content and printed or promotional materials for local activation. "The deliverables of this contract include a launch video and trusted messenger videos," Dr. Paiment said.
NCAI staff urged applicants that the grant process is designed to be straightforward and that small applications will be considered; Wright said the foundation is committed to spreading funds equitably across regions. Application materials and an NCI voter action kit with step-by-step resources for checking registration, finding polling places and identifying voter-deadline rules are posted on the site and will be updated.
The webinar closed with a pledge to continue updating nativevote.org as new partners, messaging and celebrity videos become available; Wright said the foundation will try to supplement local efforts rather than supplant them.
Next steps: nativevote.org contains the mini-grant application tab and outreach materials; NCAI said it will continue to publish resources and roll out the trusted-messenger content in the coming weeks.
