On-going Outreach to Find and Encourage Others to Stand Up With Us

The initial Stand Up Nebraska Campaign efforts to reach out to concerned Nebraskans via newspaper ads calling on Congress to “Defense of Our Democracy” were very successful. In both Scottsbluff and Lincoln, concerned Nebraskans were eager to step forward and publicly lend their names and financial support for these ads. We found that many Nebraskans are very concerned about the threats to our democracy and were grateful for ways to join with others and publicly express their concerns.

In a short period of time, Scottsbluff folks were able to recruit about 200 Panhandle folks to publicly lend their names to an open letter calling for Congress to act. Half-page ads were published in both Scottsbluff and Omaha papers. In Lincoln, over 1,000 folks also quickly stepped forward to publicly endorse this open letter calling for Congress to Defend Our Democracy. Full-page ads, with over 1,000 Lincoln-area names, were published twice in the Lincoln Journal Star. After these ads were published, over 700 folks have reached out and publicly endorsed to these open letters calling on Congress to act via an online endorsement form. There is now a total of over 2,000 folks scattered across the Nebraska who have publicly endorsed the open letters calling for Congressional action.

These open letters calling on Congress to act have proven to be very successful outreach and organizing tools. Many Nebraskans are very concerned about threats to our democracy. They are eager to find productive ways to join with others to express those concerns. The signature ads visually demonstrate the broad concern about these threats and they also show concerned folks that they are not alone. These ad campaigns allow to find each other and build a base for future collective pro-democracy action. The open letters also to remind us, and our fellow citizens, that our members of Congress have taken an oath to defend the Constitution — it is their job and we need to hold them accountable!!

Based on the proven success of these open letters in two very different localities, we feel that using this open letter too to reach out to other Nebraska cities is likely to be successful We are currently planning to try 1/4 page ads in newspapers in Omaha, Kearney, North Platte and Norfolk.

Combined 1/4 page newspaper ads in these four papers will cost approximately $4,000. If you think this outreach strategy is a good one, we would appreciate any support you might provide.