Who Are We
Nonpartisan organizations have been meeting since December 2021 to learn about what it would take to successfully establish an IRC in NC. While we ultimately must pass an IRC bill through the NC General Assembly and a statewide ballot initiative to put one in place, the groups are coalescing around a one year work plan focused on strengthening the legislative foundation and the political will for an IRC. This would involve introducing and building public education and support for two marker bills — one on incremental policy changes to support more fair maps and one updated “Gold Standard” redistricting bill that ensures racial and partisan equity.
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All organizations involved have signed this Memorandum of Understanding.
Core Values
Race equity lens
We continually consider how racism and systemic barriers have impacted our communities. We incorporate fairness and equity into fair maps, we consider the way communities are kept together, and how we can unify our coalition space with those who may not share our background.
Transparency, honesty and integrity
We share information openly. This means we are truthful about the best practices, opportunities, and challenges we are facing as a coalition, in our organizations, and in our communities.
Being real with people, and being about the people
We seek to give people a real sense of the power they have in a situation and the potential of their actions to influence the power dynamic. We organize people in a way that changes conditions for our communities.
Centering strategy and impact
We work intentionally to minimize reactivity, and center our organizations and communities we work with. We consider how our goals impact various parts of the state both locally and statewide.
Not loyal to the politics, but loyal to the people
We connect the work of redistricting to the issues people are facing on the ground. Food insecurity; environmental justice; homelessness - these are some of the ways redistricting intersects issues, and why redistricting is a starting point to getting things done.
Accessibility
We center accessibility in all aspects of our work. We do not make assumptions about people's knowledge levels and continually work to make sure that our resources are easy to access. This accessibility includes language access, physical ability, and creating an open space for our partners.
Sustainability
We approach our work with passion, joy, intentionality, and sustainability. We must take care of ourselves and each other in order to build and sustain motivation and energy long-term. We do this work because we are invested in changing the material conditions of our families’ and communities’ lives while caring for ourselves.
Being kind with a spirit of joy
We understand that the work can be draining, we seek to build spaces that celebrate our victories and approach our partners with compassion - particularly when working across differences in identity and power.
Organizations committed to a community-led Independent Redistricting Commission in North Carolina:
Action NC, Black Voters Matter, Blueprint, Common Cause, Community Ventures, CROWD Fellows, Democracy NC, Eastern Cherokee Organization, El Centro, El Pueblo, Hispanic Federation, Friends of the Earth, Indivisible, League of Women Voters NC, NC Asian Americans Together, NC Black Alliance, NC Counts, NC Voters for Clean Elections, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, Raleigh Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, Robeson County Sustainable Development Co-op, Social Change, Southern Coalition for Social Justice
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