My Stake in the {R}evolution
2016 was a wild year. Politically, the failure of moderate politics and policies was made clear with the election of Donald Trump. This election rendered, in stark terms, what folks who believed in human rights and basic dignity were going to face probably for the rest of our lives:
Misplaced anger and a lot of hard work.
At the same time, my professional life collapsed: A program that I helped create and bring to the national stage – incorporating the experiences of young people involved in the juvenile legal system – ended. I thought this was a program I was going to be able to expand and bring to other jurisdictions. Instead, this program ended, and I was forced to re-evaluate my role and relationships in my career.
I had to find an outlet for my political and professional anxieties.
So I turned to community organizing in the public sphere, and R in the professional. I had come to the conclusion that the only way to deal with the rise of fascism was to get more involved with my neighborhood in Chicago. With my day job, I found that I could analyze the data we collected from young people and their families and push for broader systemic changes.
Neither organizing nor learning R changed things quickly. It took me nearly two years to find a good organizing home, and while I quickly came to see the need for public sector data science, the criminal legal system forces change to come slowly. I kept up with both, bringing R to my job and throwing down for my community, when it hit me: Organizers needed data too.
The 2022 election cycle here in Chicago is when it became clear to me that data is an important tool for organizers.
We won two major victories in Chicago – the defense of the pre-trial fairness act and the election of Brandon Johnson – because we used data to multiply our impact on the doors in turn. I helped in these fights: cutting turf in Van, adding responses in Minivan, and training others to share our message has helped to make my city better.
These victories cannot be flashes in the pan. This is why I asked Kylah to start this blog: To keep building data power on the left. Our stake is clear: If we don’t build up data know-how on the left, our candidates will lose, our friends, neighbors, and families will suffer, and our organizing will leave power on the table. My personal stake in this fight is also clear: This is work I know has the ability to make the work of every other organizer more effective, and if I want to make my organizing home the strongest data player in Illinois, then I have to keep sharpening and sharing my skills with others.
This entire work is collaborative – and if you’re here then you (probably) share our values. I am so excited to share what I know and learn with everyone, and I know that together we will build a better world.