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Madeleine Para WI Climate Voter Campaign

Phone banking script training for WI CCL, Wed. July 17th 7-8 pm CDT

Calling all phone bankers! It’s time to get ready to call 30,000 low-voting environmental supporters in our state to help them vote on August 13th. Brandyn Keating will review and help us practice the script that we’ll be using when we start making calls at the end of the month.

register for Script training

We encourage you to attend live if you can, however if you are unable to attend we will also train people in the first half hour of each phone banking session, and the recording of this more in-depth training with Brandyn will be available on our cclwi.org website afterwards.

Anyone wanting to try out phone banking or get advance practice with the automated dialer system is encouraged to participate in CCL national phone banking sessions on Wednesday nights. (Note: If Wednesday nights don’t work for you, Environmental Voter Project offers many more phone banking sessions you can sign up for here!) 

Learn more about our Wisconsin phone banking on our website, including the dates we will be making calls.

Madeleine Para Strategy/plans, WI Climate Voter Campaign

Vote No: August 2024 Constitutional Amendment Questions

Wisconsin’s ability to take advantage of the federal climate funding which CCL worked so hard to pass in 2022 is deeply threatened by two constitutional amendments that will be on the ballot August 13th. 

You may remember our action alert in February, when the state legislature was voting on the proposals. We polled all our groups and determined that Wisconsin CCL opposed the amendments. Unfortunately the language passed and will be on the ballot as two amendments. We originally thought it would not be on the ballot until November, however we now know that it’s on the August 13th primary ballot. 

These amendments would shift control over federal funds received by the state from the Governor to the State Legislature. Currently under state law receiving and spending federal money is delegated to the executive branch. The amendments would require legislative approval, which would hugely slow down or even eliminate our access to federal funds. This could affect all kinds of programs, including emergency assistance, health care, transportation, criminal justice–and the environment. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act provides massive federal funding for clean energy development, green jobs, and climate resilience.  The proposed amendments could severely jeopardize Wisconsin’s timely access to those funds and our transition to a clean energy economy.


You can read the wording of the ballot amendment questions on our website, and find lots of resources there. Please be sure to vote No on both amendments and tell everyone you know to vote NO in the primary on August 13th.

Madeleine Para Events, WI Climate Voter Campaign

Courageous Voter Conversations Team Check-in, Thursday June 20 – 6:45 CDT

Note: the June 6th check-in has been cancelled because it’s so close to the national conference. Join our next support check-in meeting on Zoom Thursday June 20th from 6 to 6:45 Central. We are holding these every other Thursday (except July 4th). The dates are May 9, May 23, June 6, June 20, July 11, July 25, and Aug 8. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PRE-REGISTER FOR THIS MEETING! To get the Zoom link, go to cclwi.org/calendar-for-CCL-Wisconsin and click on the event on the June 20th calendar page.

These meetings are for everyone who is or intends to be holding conversations with people in their personal networks who are environmental supporters but don’t vote regularly. Paticipants have loved them!

We know that conversations with the people around us are important, and yet it also can be hard to do. We are all learners in this undertaking so the Zoom check-in lets us share what we are learning, practice our techniques, set personal goals and cheer each other on! If you missed the training, you can watch the videos and learn more at the check-ins. [Note: We are not recording the check-in meetings]

Conversations with people in our social networks make a difference because:

  • We can reach people that aren’t registered, aren’t on campaign lists, or don’t respond to phone calls from unknown callers.
  • We can take more time to listen and respond to them, and talk more than once.
  • We learn communication skills that are useful throughout our advocacy work and lives.
  • We start or deepen relationships in our community

You can get more information on our team page on our cclwi.org website. 

Madeleine Para Events, WI Climate Voter Campaign

Register for Wisconsin Night at CCL national’s phone banking, Wednesday, May 29th, 6 – 7:30 pm

Join co-hosts Jun Gesteland and Madeleine Para when they host our fourth Wisconsin Night phone banking session on 5/29 at 6 pm CT! No experience is required–they will train you. In the session, we will join other phone bankers from across the country to take part in a campaign for another state that has an upcoming election. At the end, we will have a brief team meeting to share our thoughts. These sessions will prepare us for when we run our own Wisconsin-focused phone banking sessions during the primary and presidential elections.

Register here

If Wednesday nights don’t work for you, you can sign up for other phone banking sessions on the Environmental Voter Project’s (EVP’s) website. If you have questions or would like to join our phone banking team, please contact jun.gesteland@gmail.com.

Madeleine Para Events, WI Climate Voter Campaign

Courageous Voter Conversations Team Check-in, Thursday May 23rd 6 – 6:45 CDT

Join our support check-in meeting on Zoom Thursday May 23rd from 6 to 6:45 Central. We are holding these every other Thursday (except July 4th). The dates are May 9, May 23, June 6, June 20, July 11, July 25, and Aug 8. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PRE-REGISTER FOR THIS MEETING! To get the Zoom link, go to cclwi.org/calendar-for-CCL-Wisconsin and click on the event on the May 23rd calendar page.

These meetings are for everyone who is or intends to be holding conversations with people in their personal networks who are environmental supporters but don’t vote regularly. 

We know that conversations with the people around us are important, and yet it also can be hard to do. We are all learners in this undertaking so the Zoom check-in lets us share what we are learning, practice our techniques, set personal goals and cheer each other on! If you missed the training, you can watch the videos and learn more at the check-ins. [Note: We are not recording the check-in meetings]

Conversations with people in our social networks make a difference because:

  • We can reach people that aren’t registered, aren’t on campaign lists, or don’t respond to phone calls from unknown callers.
  • We can take more time to listen and respond to them, and talk more than once.
  • We learn communication skills that are useful throughout our advocacy work and lives.
  • We start or deepen relationships in our community

You can get more information on our team page on our cclwi.org website. 

Madeleine Para Events, Uncategorized

New Wisconsin CCL At-Large Chapter Launches May 20th!

Wisconsin has chapters all across the state, and we’re proud of that! And yet we also know that there are people who are too far from a local chapter to feel connected or be involved with one. The new At-Large Chapter will provide a home base for climate-concerned people anywhere in the state and help them find their best way to take action. 

If that sounds like you or someone you know, here’s how it will work:

  • Meet once a month on Zoom for an hour.
  • Get help to plan out your own actions that you can take during the month that fit your time/resources.
  • Connect with other people around the state who feel like you about climate change, and help each other get into action.
  • Spend an optional fifteen minutes after the meeting ends actually taking your next steps. It’s called co-working on Zoom, and it’s terrific!
  • Learn how to integrate your climate actions into your life.

The chapter will be led by Madeleine Para, CCL president emeritus. Here’s what she has to say about why she is excited to do this:

 “Now that I’m retired from the staff I get to do the things that are most fun for me. And what is most fun for me is being with people who want to make a difference on one of our biggest challenges, and helping us all find a path forward. So that’s why I offered to launch and lead a CCL chapter for all the people in our state who don’t have a local chapter near at hand and don’t have the energy to start one. In the Zoom era we can come together from everywhere in the state!”

Our first meeting will be Monday May 20th at 6pm. 

If you are interested in joining this chapter, please fill out this very short form. 

Jun Gesteland (he/him) WI Climate Voter Campaign

My Thoughts On Phone Banking

Hi! This is Jun, a volunteer with the Environmental Voter Project. The New York Presidential Prima–

*click*

Ugh, another hang-up.

Phone banking can get frustrating. Personally, as a recently graduated over-achieving high school student, I have always been accustomed to working hard and being praised for my results. I was not used to getting rejected over and over again. Getting hang-ups repeatedly, therefore, was a new experience when I started phone banking. Over time, though, I’ve understood that frequent hang-ups, wrong numbers, and talking to people who have moved are all normal. Now when I get hung up on, I don’t think much of it and move on to the next call. I can always reassure myself that, even if I don’t get to have a real conversation with anyone, I’m still helping by cleaning up the phone banking list (i.e. removing wrong numbers and people who have moved).

In fact, I find phone banking to be fulfilling; I am using our democratic system to help make a real impact in the climate movement. Phone banking allows us to reach out to people with our real voice—not with robocalls or automated emails. I think there is something special about a real human encouraging you to vote that a robot cannot provide. I especially enjoy the sense of community phone banking gives me—something many have struggled to find after the pandemic further isolated us in our own digital worlds. My favorite part about phone banking sessions is the debrief, when phone bankers share stories about their calls. During the debrief of our second Wisconsin Night on 4/3, I enjoyed talking about my calls, empathizing with others’ frustrations, celebrating victories, and sharing advice with other Wisconsin phone bankers. The debriefs remind me that I am not alone in climate advocacy and that no matter how many hang-ups I receive, and no matter how small my personal successes may seem, together, we are making real change.

When I say, “real impact” and “real change,” I mean it. Phone banking is an efficient, effective, and economical method of outreach. Over the past nine years, the Environmental Voter Project—a CCL partner and the organization we are using to train CCL WI members—has used phone banking to contact 10.5 million environmental non-voters across the US and mobilize over 1.8 million of them to vote in every federal, state, and local election. 

For phone bankers looking for advice, here are a few tips:

  • Smile! Smiling can help uplift your tone and put the person you are calling at ease. 🙂
  • Receiving many hang-ups is normal. Try not to take them personally. After all, we all have busy lives and receive spam calls frequently. 📞
  • Take your time. In between calls, take as much time as you need to review the script, stretch, get a snack, get some fresh air, etc. Consider chair dancing to lift your spirits when you are frustrated! 🪑💃

Find information about our third Wisconsin Night here!

I hope you can join us in making a difference in this year’s election season! Our past three Wisconsin Nights have been huge successes—Wisconsin volunteers have joined other phone bankers from across the country to have hundreds of conversations! Join me and Madeleine Para as we co-host the next WI Night Phone Banking session on May 29th at 6 pm CT! Register here.

Resources

Feel free to contact me (jun.gesteland@gmail.com) if you have questions or would like to join the phone banking team!

Madeleine Para Events, WI Climate Voter Campaign

Courageous Voter Conversations Team Check-in, Thursday May 9th 6 – 6:45 CDT

Starting May 9th, join our support check-in meetings on Zoom from 6 to 6:45 Central every other Thursday (except July 4th) until the primary election in August. The dates are May 9, May 23, June 6, June 20, July 11, July 25, and Aug 8. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PRE-REGISTER FOR THIS MEETING! To get the Zoom link, go to cclwi.org/calendar-for-CCL-Wisconsin and click on the event on the May 9th calendar page.

These meetings are for everyone who is or intends to be holding conversations with people in their personal networks who are environmental supporters but don’t vote regularly. 

We know that conversations with the people around us are important, and yet it also can be hard to do. We are all learners in this undertaking so the Zoom check-in lets us share what we are learning, practice our techniques, set personal goals and cheer each other on! If you missed the training, you can watch the videos and learn more at the check-ins.

Conversations with people in our social networks make a difference because:

  • We can reach people that aren’t registered, aren’t on campaign lists, or don’t respond to phone calls from unknown callers.
  • We can take more time to listen and respond to them, and talk more than once.
  • We learn communication skills that are useful throughout our advocacy work and lives.
  • We start or deepen relationships in our community

You can get more information on our team page on our cclwi.org website. 

Madeleine Para WI Climate Voter Campaign

Register for Extending and Debriefing our First Courageous Voter Conversations, Thursday April 25, 7 – 8:30 p.m.

This is last in a three part series to train ourselves to have effective conversations with potential climate voters in our social circles. Share your experiences of your first conversations, learn from others, and get your questions answered as you plan your next steps. We look forward to hearing YOUR questions and experiences so far. If you can’t join us live, the recording will be available a few days later.

REgister here for Workshop #3


If you missed the first two workshops, you can listen to the recordings beforehand. These communication skills are useful in many places in our lives! Our goal this election season is to listen with compassionate curiosity and help people activate their own values and reasons for being an environmental voter. Our facilitator is Brandyn Keating. She is the CEO of YOUnify and has years of experience with voter engagement and deep canvassing.

Next steps:

  • Sign up for the Courageous Voter Conversations team to receive future notifications. 
  • Listen to Workshop #1: Effective Voting Conversations with your Social Networks. 
  • Listen to Workshop #2: recording of Workshop #2: Effective Conversations using the BRAVE technique.
  • Starting May 8th join our support check-in meetings on Zoom from 6 to 6:45 Central every other Thursday (except July 4th) until the primary election in August. Save these dates and watch for updates: May 9, May 23, June 6, June 20, July 11, July 25, Aug 8.

With all the discord surrounding our politics these days we know that there are lots of environmental supporters who need some extra inspiration and support to vote. Through conversation and personal networking, we can reach many people who are otherwise going to be missed by the campaigns. In a state like Wisconsin, every vote counts!

Madeleine Para Events, WI Climate Voter Campaign

Register for Wisconsin Night at CCL national’s phone banking, Wednesday, May 8th, 6 – 7:30 pm

2024 may be the most vital election year yet for our planet. With phone banking, we can mobilize hundreds of environmentalists to vote.

Please join and support Wisconsin CCL member Sam Moon, who will host our third Wisconsin Night phone banking session on 5/8 at 6 pm CT! No experience is required–Sam will train you. In the session, we will join other phone bankers from across the country to take part in a campaign for another state that has an upcoming election. At the end, we will have a brief team meeting to share our thoughts. These sessions will prepare us for when we run our own Wisconsin-focused phone banking sessions during the primary and presidential elections.

Register here

If Wednesday nights don’t work for you, you can sign up for other phone banking sessions on the Environmental Voter Project’s (EVP’s) website. If you have questions or would like to join our phone banking team, please contact jun.gesteland@gmail.com.