NewGround’s Executive Director, Aziza Hasan, is concerned about voter engagement. Check out her opinion piece in the Sacramento Bee on addressing the matter at hand and reflecting on NewGround’s inception as a lesson in stimulating voters.

Aziza recalls the foundational practices upon which NewGround was constructed with the full knowledge that their catalysts can still be readily seen today around the issue of voter engagement.

“We wanted to persuade people to do something out of the ordinary, something that felt awkward – even frightening. Our whole process was based on the willingness to wrestle with discomfort. How could we make them believe there was value in that?”

The answer to this question was direct conversation. Each and every concerned individual had to have their concerns and frustrations addressed “head-on,” for as Aziza puts it, “there is no substitute for one-on-one conversation.”

You can read the full article here, and you can find Aziza’s contributions to the Sacramento Bee Influencer series here.