The Freedom to Thrive campaign is going to be experimenting with a bold new tactic as a core component of our work: Deep Canvassing! On November 29th and 30th at 6pm, our partner People’s Action will offer a free online Deep Canvassing training, and that’s the best way you can learn the basics and help us build the foundations of this program. And join the Freedom To Thrive team Thursday, 11/17 at 6:30pm online or in-person at the People’s Forum to learn more.

Why Deep Canvassing? In spring of 2020, the United States experienced the largest uprisings for racial justice in our history, and tens of thousands of New Yorkers marched in the streets, demanding that we divest from an unjust and ineffective system of public safety that neither meets our needs or reflects our values.

Two years later our demands are unmet, and last Tuesday, fear-mongering by our mayor and so many others helped to create a “red wave” of Republican victories in New York State on election day.

To reverse this trend and build a movement to win real change in our broken system of public safety, we need to get past the tabloid media terror campaign and talk to everyday New Yorkers — a lot of them. And that’s what Deep Canvassing is all about. Alongside our partners, we’re hoping to have extended conversations with thousands of New Yorkers about public safety — what works, what doesn’t, and how we win.

In order to do that we’ll need a lot of you guys trained and engaged to have the hard, courageous conversations that will show our neighbors why our vision for the future is the way to go. We hope you’ll join us.