Voters Not Politicians is known for our army of dedicated volunteers, often seen out and about with clipboards and literature in hand. But volunteers play a big role behind the scenes as well.
Jeffrey Hoang, a student at Eastern Michigan University, volunteered to assist our Communications team this spring, and made his impact on VNP in just a few short weeks, all from behind his computer screen!
Jeffrey is a senior at Eastern Michigan University who will graduate this spring with a double major in political science and communication. As a native Michigander with a passion for democracy, when Jeffrey was asked to choose a nonprofit organization to support as part of his capstone project, he quickly reached out to Voters Not Politicians to offer support to our communications team!
It is always important to have a strong communications aspect to any work meant for the public good. Specifically for voting issues, the only way to address them is through participating in democracy which requires mobilizing big groups of people in support. Politics is not a big priority in most people’s busy lives with family and work. The job of political communication is to grab attention and efficiently inform voters.
As a communications intern for VNP, Jeffrey took on various tasks to support program goals for both VNP and Voter Ed Fund. This included creating social media content, drafting press releases, and reaching out directly to media outlets.
One of my first projects was to create social media graphics to inform voters about the Michigan Voting Rights Act. It was a fun process making the graphics and learning about the types of text that are needed for social media posts. Best of all though was hearing about the positive feedback others gave about my work and seeing it officially go up on the website. It all felt very fulfilling and meaningful!
Working as a volunteer with Voters Not Politicians, Jeffrey gained a lot of experience and confidence in his skills and abilities as he prepares to start his career and journey into activism through political communication. He also got some surprising behind the scenes insights into how much power a grassroots movement can build when it’s fueled by the people, not politicians.
The most surprising thing about working with Voters Not Politicians is realizing how bare bones and grassroots it is. I have always seen them as this impressive statewide organization that was able to pass huge reforms in Michigan. This important work was not because of some powerful lobbying group though, it was powered through passionate volunteers!
