Service Politics Grows Up

Nearly three years ago, Democrats Work was launched with a simple goal: build a new service-based approach to politics. That meant making community service a big part of political activism -- not something divorced from political goals, but rather integral to the success in achieving them. This weekend, the "service politics" movement grows up and goes big.

On Saturday, the Democratic Party -- through the new Organizing for America project -- will hold the grassroots-powered National Day of Health Care Service. (You can check it out here: http://my.barackobama.com/HCservice.) The message is simple: while we fight for health care reform in Washington, D.C., we can also bring about change in our communities right now through service.

This is a big step for the DNC/OFA and an experiment worth trying. Health care reform may not be as easy to link to service as, say, the environment or education may be, but those who participate will get hands-on experiences and build relationships that won't come from television ads, town hall meetings, phone banks, or other "traditional" political activities.

We have come a long way from the days of begging local party organizations to try community service and schedule a few projects. The Georgia Democratic Party now has its own program called Georgia Democrats Work. Democrats from Northwest Arkansas to Auburn, Washington have embraced the approach. And rightfully so.

In October 2007, Democrats Work launched a pilot project in Arapahoe County, Colorado -- a hotly contested battleground -- to measure the effect of its Democrat-branded community service programs in targeted precincts and among targeted groups of voters. Fifty precincts were randomly divided into treatment and control groups. Democrats Work contacted voters eight times in the treatment precincts -- with a combination of mail and phone calls -- with information about the upcoming service opportunity and touting the success of past events over the course of a year. Afterwards, the organization measured the effect of the service-based approach on voters’ attitudes towards Democrats with polling.

The results with respect to young and unaffiliated young voters were extremely promising. Voters under the age of 35 in the treatment group (i.e., those who received information about the service events) reported being "warmer" towards the Democratic Party, felt the Democratic Party shares their values more than the Republican Party, and intended to vote for Democrats by wide margins. With respect to young, unaffiliated voters (not just all young voters), the results were even more encouraging. Democrats Work found that increased positive feelings towards Democrats caused a 30-point swing in vote share among young, unaffiliated votes.

This weekend, the service-based approach goes to scale in a way that we could have only imagined three years ago. Service politics -- the connection of direct service work and political action -- has finally grown up and the Democratic Party is a step closer to being the Party of Service.