Nebraska Civic Engagement Table

Nebraska Civic Engagement Table is a service-oriented organization focused on providing direct core support and capacity-building training and resources to nonprofit members. We help nonprofits that provide direct services to, or advocate for, underrepresented communities to create, expand, and sustain Civic Engagement and nonpartisan voter outreach programs. We also help our member organizations build the organizational capacity needed to support grassroots advocacy and voter Engagement initiatives, in addition to their other programs. We strengthen the nonprofit community through collaboration, leadership development, and professional training and resources.our network has designed these efforts to ensure long-term sustainable impact. Through programs such as organizer school; capacity, data, and resources to help our members engage communities in Civic Engagement and nonpartisan election education; and our policy training program called lobby school. Organizer school is a comprehensive training program that hires organizers to be placed with a member organization to grow the culture of Civic Engagement. Participants build key skills in data, communications, gotv, and organizing tactics. We have a staff member placed with two unique member organizations to increase capacity and ensure sustainable organizing presence in communities throughout greater Nebraska. Participants of this program support election education and outreach, support the missions of the organizations placed with, and organizer their communities to respond to local and state policy issues. The program also aims to develop and grow the leadership pipeline in these geographies. In 2023, we transitioned two original staff in these roles who took on larger leadership roles in the network, and onboarded and trained two new team members, expanding the leadership pipeline further. In 2023, we helped our network advocate around the implementation of voter id, which directly and disproportionately impacts the communities our network serves. The end result was one of the least restrictive voter id laws in the country being passed at the unicameral with broad coalition participation. We helped our coalition develop education and outreach materials in multiple languages. These will be distributed in 2024. We also supported member organizations participating in their local municipal elections in 2023, convening a coalition and ensuring compliance in activities while providing data and communications support.lobby school takes a 360-approach to movement building by connecting elections and grassroots efforts to policy work. It is designed to expand the existing advocacy infrastructure and build power within Nebraska's non-profit advocacy organizations. Through this program, we are building the bench of policy experts that can advocate for a truly representative and inclusive democracy for all. Participants gain essential skills to participate in lobbying efforts to fight for community interests that are not often represented by the traditional roster of professional lobbyists including those of rural and bipoc nebraskans. Training is facilitated by policy experts who share learning from years of hands-on experience. This sharing is strengthened through mentorship pairs based on issue areas to provide additional support in strategy development and as guides through the legislative process. In addition to guidance from experts, participants engage in a collaborative space where they can build connections among peers in their industry. This collaboration is integral to the strength and success of the lobby school program. In 2023 we graduated 13 participants and started recruitment and training of 13 new participants starting in the fall of 2023. Several pieces of legislation were introduced and passed with technical support our Nebraska Table experts.