You are currently the Communications and Events Associate for Demos. For the readers who are not familiar with Demos, can you explain more about the organization and your role?
Demos is a national non-partisan public policy organization that combines research with advocacy--melding the commitment to ideas of a think tank with the organizing strategies of an advocacy group. Demos’ work spans four overarching areas, including ensuring a vibrant and inclusive democracy dependent on full participation and civic engagement in all areas of democratic decision-making; an economy where opportunity is broadly shared and disparity is eliminated; a strong and effective public sector with the capacity to plan for the future and provide for the common good; and finally promoting new, fresh and innovative ideas in the public debate.

My role specifically overarches all of the program areas in promotion, media and public relations for Demos related books, publications and e-journals, as well as event planning and coordination for our national Demos Forum: Ideas for Change event series, which features leading scholars, authors and public policy leaders, and engages a wide range of audiences including media, public officials, business and labor leaders, academics, advocates and philanthropists.

Before Demos, you were a Community Organizer for Coalition for the Homeless (CFTH), what was that experience like?
My experience working in local grassroots organizing and advocacy-based groups has been essential to my work and vision in thinking of, writing about and engaging with movement building strategies on a national level. Unlike most cities across the United States, as a result of litigation brought forward by the Coalition for the Homeless, New York has a legal mandate to shelter residents, and CFTH is court appointed to monitor the single-adult shelter system to uphold its standards to regulations. My role as an organizer was to ensure that these standards were being met, that residents understood that they, indeed, have rights and to develop the leadership of residents to demand accountability for these rights as well as mobilize and advocate for better shelter conditions and affordable housing policies on the city and state level.

I learned invaluable lessons as an organizer and often miss working on the front lines-- learning lesson after lesson each day from amazing people. From honing my listening skills, sharpening perspectives on effective outreach and engagement, developing the leadership of community members to learning the necessity of patience and grounding, the experience is one that stays with me everyday, and continues to inform my work at Demos, particularly around election reform as one component of building political power as an organizer at CFTH also involved electoral engagement and mobilization in the shelter system. This work is integral to my work today, for example, as we filed a lawsuit in Cleveland, Ohio charging that that Ohio's Secretary of State, Kenneth Blackwell, and the Director of its Department of Job and Family Services (DJFS), Barbara Riley violated the rights of thousands of low-income Ohioans by failing to provide voter registration opportunities in public assistance offices as required by the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).

You have had articles published and most recently you co-wrote an editorial that was published in Newsday. What were the thoughts behind writing the article, and may you explain what the article is about?
The article is, actually, in many ways a bridge between my work on the local and national level. The idea behind the op-ed was to demonstrate how many of the issues that organizations are working on--of racial and economic equality, criminal justice, drug reform and housing advocacy--are connected in a number of ways, including elections. While the media has been abuzz focusing on the theme of “stolen elections” as a 21st century phenomena, many of us know that there is a long history of disfranchisement and erosion of political power, particularly for low-income communities of color. The op-ed outlined some of my experiences in organizing “Get out the Vote” (GOTV) campaigns in the shelter system in 2004, including outreach efforts to inform residents about their legal right to register to vote if they lived on the streets or in shelters, filling out registration forms and mobilizing teams to bring residents to and from the polls to ensure that they were not disfranchised from the election process. The article addresses, not only the various ways in which people are disfranchised because they are homeless, but how this also overlaps with the collateral consequences of incarceration for felony convictions, including voter and housing disfranchisement laws--and the resulting cyclical and compounding impact on the political and economic power particularly in low-income communities of color. The state releases almost 30,000 prisoners each year, and most people return to their home communities--a large number to Harlem, the South Bronx, Central Brooklyn and Jamaica—which significantly mirrors the New York City neighborhoods that have the most families who reside in the city’s homeless shelters.

What issues do you believe are not being properly advocated today? And, in what ways can we improve the way we communicate pressing social issues that get results?
I think there are a number of local, state and national groups that are doing amazing work, advocating on a number of issues—from local groups like Families United for Racial and Economic Equality’s (FUREE) fight against closure of child day care centers to large scale mobilizations throughout the country for comprehensive immigration reform.

From immigrant rights to a revisioning of our electoral system, fighting for our airwaves, national health care, ending corporate personhood, living wages and benefits to opposing voter ID legislation—there is a plethora of activity that deserves and is receiving attention.

One that I think deserves more is challenging the growth and expansion of the prison industry which has skyrocketed in the last few decades due to mandatory minimum sentencing, public policies and arcane drug laws that have resulted in disproportionate incarceration of low-income people and people of color for non-violent drug offenses, and the residual consequences that felony convictions have on the lives of millions of people in our country. Patchwork state policies barring people from public housing, employment, vocational licenses and drivers licenses have resulted in advocates navigating through a warped quilt of policies and activities that must be fought state by state, and agency by agency.

We have the highest rates of incarceration in a country that has amassed the greatest social, political and capital wealth in the world—and that rate is only predicted to increase. Internationally, the world has looked on in scorn, with the United Nations Human Rights Committee this past July charging that U.S. voter disenfranchisement policies are discriminatory and violate international law.

In today’s social media landscape, I think it’s important for organizations to think broadly about the variety of tools available to disseminate information, and to take advantage of the resources available—from Spin Academy’s media trainings to framing analysis by The Opportunity Agenda and Praxis Project—to help think through what communications strategies align with the goals and objects of one’s projects. Too often I have heard organizations lament that they exert a great deal of energy building cases and campaigns leading up to important landmark dates, yet receive little coverage because they did not organize these efforts with a media or press strategy. Taking the time to build relationships with reporters beforehand, develop talking points and press releases, focusing on solutions when possible and organizing press conferences inevitably leads to greater impact. As well, organizations who take advantage of the many possibilities of social media today--whether its viral campaigns on the internet (email, blogs, video (you tube), or podcasts) or placing op-eds and radio interviews in traditional media--will find that they are able to develop a broad range of strategies to communicate the issues that are important to them to a variety of audiences.

How does politics play a hand in the non-profit industry, and what can be done to improve the communications between politicians and non-profits organizations?
I think it is useful and that organizations--whether local, state or national--think about communications and media strategies that ultimately reflect their goals and target audiences. Of course, not all organizations are necessarily focused on reaching politicians. With that said, I think communications with politicians—whether it’s through a briefing paper, lobbying on the hill, civil disobedience or writing letters to representatives--takes varying forms for organizations depending on the political moment, the issue that is at hand and the stakes. One of the pitfalls that many of us fall into is not thinking about broader framing and analysis to get the larger--rather than meta--issues and values into the public debate. Too often organizations want their name in the papers, but ultimately most reporters, while they may be interested in your issue, are not as invested in citing your organization. Yet, injecting the issues into the public debate inevitably leads to positive returns for organizations working to advance a progressive agenda.

For those who are thinking about having a career as a journalist, or community organizer, what are some things they need to know, that you have learned at the start of your career? I would say like most things in life, humility, passion, the ability to truly listen to constituencies and being open to learning—including from our mistakes—are important building-blocks in almost all positions. I think one of the hardest lessons I have had to learn is balance, and honoring my strengths to be effective—the sooner we really listen to, and know ourselves, the more successful we are in being change makers.

Any last words?
Thank you to YNPN and Mae Smith for the spotlight—special thanks to all of my mentors and peers who have been integral to my work and growth and Shana Tovah—a sweet, just and happy new year to all who celebrate—may it be filled with peace, justice, freedom and liberation.

To read Cole’s editorial, Impending "Realness:" Transgender Communities Dealt a Blow by REAL ID