Submitted by Adrian Garcia
Brainstorming Session Summary
A summary of the brainstorming session hosted by Sierra Brennan.
What is something the party does well?
This question was asked in the context of the state and local Democratic parties, because we have little say over the national agenda, and the consensus was that the party does a pretty good job over all. We work well under pressure, have good candidates, good values, and a respect for the overall democratic process. In addition, many members voiced conditional compliments to the party, such as Governor Shapiro getting the I-95 bridge built in a week, but not applying the same energy to anything other important projects in the state.
What is something the party does not do well?
Again asked in the context of the state and local party, many felt that individual chapters are isolated from one another, the working class, and rural voters. Information silos exist where one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing, and neither is informing the voters (unless it is an election year). There is also a lack of local vision, instead opting for a “wait and see” approach as the counties gradually swing left as population density increases. Though a large issue on the national level, the party doesn’t have a unified message and instead opts to run on “the Republican Party candidate will be worse”.
How do Young Dems do well?
Not limited to just SCYD, the state level Young Dems organization and young democrats as individuals are remarkably motivated and have a deep desire to collaborate, despite the lack of mentorship from the “elder” Democratic clubs. Through use of technology and word-of-mouth, we are able to disseminate information to large groups of people, and we encourage younger voters to be involved (the youngest in the room in this meeting was 18). When the occasion arises, we have also proven able to “brute force” our way through poor communication and get it done without letting egos or personal differences get in our way.
This isn’t to say that we are wholly different from the other Democratic clubs, we are also a lot like them in good ways. We are able to function with a variety of viewpoints, and as a result, are welcoming to near everyone. We try to have our meetings during accessible hours, knowing that large portions of our membership have jobs and children. Above all, we are remaining present in our communities and try to help any way we can. To take a point from a future section, many of us have personal goals to become even more involved in our communities in the coming year.
How would we like to change?
Many felt that the local party chapters and other left leaning organizations lack coordination and cooperation, that we’re all on the same side, but we don’t move as one. For SCYD specifically, we need to increase the number of things we actually get done, as we have a bad habit of signing up and not showing up. An example of the previous issue is that many expressed interest in knocking doors and making calls in the 2024 election season, but very few actually did. Leadership also has a few takeaways, namely that communication should be clearer, and we need to do a better job at onboarding new members. Currently, members are dumped into a Discord server with no further direction or information.