Planned Parenthood Advocates of Nebraska

Voters of Nebraska staff operated a sophisticated digital program that generated 23,326 website visits, 16 blogs, 609 new facebook followers, 224 new twitter followers, 785 new instagram followers. During fy22, 332,712 emails were sent to supporters asking them to take action on behalf of Voters of nebraska.fy2023 was the first year that ppvn was operating without the legal backstop of roe v wade. This landmark overturning of rights drastically changed the discussion about abortion in every facet of ppvn's work. (continued in schedule o)we saw this impact through the engagement of supporters and volunteers throughout the work, during the anti-abortion tactics in the legislative session, and in our work to elect staewide candidates that would stand up and fight for sexual and reproductive healthcare. With the supreme court decision in dobbs v jackson women's health services coming just before the start of the new fiscal year, support for ppvn was at a record high and ready to grow. We started the fiscal year with 40,438 supporters and ended with 50,452, an increase of 25%. These supporters volunteered just over 4,000 hours of volunteer work to support the mission of ppvn (a 133% increase over the previous fy). In fy23 we received our first small grant to start the raiz program in Nebraska. Raiz is latine organizers working with the latine community to build a world where everyone can get the health care and decide is best for their body in their own community. We also worked to rebuild our gen action programs on Nebraska campuses after they struggled to maintain a presence during the pandemic. Both of these programs were in their nacent stages in fy23, building the foundation necessary to measurably grow these programs in fy24. In the 2022 election Voters of Nebraska endorsed 19 candidates, including 14 candidates for legislature, more than ever before. We helped re-elect four Planned Parenthood champions, three to the legislature and one to the state board of education. Despite historic political headwinds, we maintained the number of Planned Parenthood supporters in the legislature, including wins in two close legislative races where our endorsed candidates won their races by a combined 300 votes. As usual, ppvn supporters turned out to vote at a high rate - 74% of our supporters voted in the midterm election compared to 55% of Voters overall. To accomlish this work we made over 98,000 phone calls, sent over 186,000 mail pieces, and engaged over 250,000 people through digital ads. In addition to working with endorsed candidates, ppvn provided education and encouraged voter participation in parts of the state that did not have an endorsed candidate. Once again, Voters of Nebraska worked tirelessly during the 2023 legislative session with a particular focus on keeping abortion legal and accessible in Nebraska. Our most significant effort was spent defeating lb 626, a proposed six-week abortion ban that was introduced on the first day of the session. Ppvn made a total of 56,196 phone calls, connecting with 23,331 supporters, resulting in 7,771 calls made to state senators in opposition to this bill. We also worked closely with our coaltion partners to recruit testifiers for the debate. There were an estimated 300-350 people that came in person to testify against the six-week ban, with over 100 of those recruited by ppvn. Ther were an additional 1,400 that submitted opposition online. Hundreds came to the capitol for debate of the bill, encouraging senators to oppose this ban on virtually all abortions in the state. The bill was debated for eight hours and ultimatly was defeated through a filibuster by just one vote. Ppvn held their first fully in person lobby day since 2019 this year. Over eighty supporters came to talk to their senators and ask them to oppose lb 626. We had representation from 33 of the 49 legislative districts. They met first to learn more about the process of lobbying their senators and information about the bill they would lobby about. Then supporters headed to the capitol and attempted to speak to almost all of the senators in the body (some senators were not present that day and some refused to come out and speak to their constituents). Finally, they returned for lunch and to speak with four supporter senators about what came next.