For this election season, Kids Forward has launched Race to the Polls, a campaign that encourages voters to talk about race and to vote for candidates who will work to advance racial justice during the election cycle and beyond.
“We want to move Wisconsin a step closer to being a state where everybody is thriving and that includes communities of color,” Chet Agni, Communication and Development Associate at Kids Forward, tells Madison365. “We want to create a space where people can talk about candidates and talk about solutions for our future that will be better for everyone and make sure that people are prioritizing racial justice as they campaign across the state.”
Race to the Polls is more than just a campaign — it’s a movement to make racial justice a priority during the election cycle and beyond.
“This is not something we want to end on Nov. 6. Just as much as we want to see Wisconsinites talking about racial justice in relation to the polls and in relationship to voting, we know that it’s more than just election day,” Agni says. “Once people are in office – no matter who they are – all of us need to be fighting to make sure those people are held accountable to the issues and needs of Wisconsin.”
Kids Forward (formerly the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families) advocates for effective, long-lasting solutions that break down barriers to success for children and families in Wisconsin. Every election cycle, Agni says, Kids Forward has done an electoral advocacy campaign.
“Working in policy, we know the connection between elections and voting and electing lawmakers that care about kids,” he says. “Usually our electoral advocacy campaign is centered around kids and voting with kids in mind because kids can’t advocate for themselves at the polls.”
This year, Agni says, they wanted to do something a little different. “Given what has been going on in our nation and our state and the growing conversation around disparities and the mistreatment of people of color, we felt like we needed to do something more and we wanted to prioritize racial justice in our campaign work this year,” he says.
The goal of the campaign is to move Wisconsin a step closer to becoming a state where everyone is thriving, specifically communities of color. Home to some of the most shocking racial disparities in health, education, child welfare, criminal justice, employment, and income, Kids Forward feels that it is time that Wisconsin citizens and elected officials prioritize racial justice.
“We know that candidates across our state shy away from talking about these really important issues facing communities of color because they are complicated and people think that they are too hard,” Agni says. “But we really need to address these issues.”
Lawmakers must stand up for racial justice and advance policies that promote racial equity, Agni says. The campaign hopes to support and amplify the work people of color and organizations committed to racial justice have been doing for many, many years.
“As public policy and advocacy organizations, we see the importance of centering the voices and needs of communities of color in our public discourse,” Wenona Wolf, communication and development manager at Kids Forward, said in a statement. “Through our data and policy analysis, we find over and over that alarming racial disparities exist between Wisconsin’s white population and its African American, Asian American, Latinx, and Native American populations — which stem from hundreds of years of inequitable policies.
“Everyone must play their part in making Wisconsin the best place for every child, every family, and every community — including us,” added Wolf.
The “Race to the Polls” campaign is a special project by Kids Forward and its Race to Equity project and the Wisconsin Budget Project.
“We’re not highlighting specific people or their policies,” Agni says. “We just want to provide a space to talk about these things and pushing all of our lawmakers to engage with communities of color and pushing voters to demand that from candidates who are running for office, as well.”
The campaign plans to create digital spaces to have conversations about race and elections, provide voters with questions to ask candidates, and provide research and data on policies being discussed throughout the election cycle.
“We have our social media pages on Instagram and Twitter and Facebook. We have our website and we’re hoping to do various digital campaigns like Facebook Live and Twitter conversations,” Agni says. “If somebody comes from a community that is underrepresented, they can talk about what their community needs. We really want people to be able to share their stories. We want to amplify the voices of people of color and organizations who have been doing this work already.”
Citizens can sign a pledge and make a commitment to voting in the mid-term elections and voting for candidates who will prioritize racial justice.
“That’s one of the focal points of our campaign – signing the pledge to commit to voting in Nov. 6 and commit to voting to candidates who prioritize racial justice,” Agni says.
“We are really excited about this campaign. It’s unlike anything we’ve ever done,” he adds. “We’ve been planning it since April of this year. It’s a long time coming. It’s something we think everybody should be talking about.”
More information about the campaign can be found at www.racetothepolls.org.
