Ports fight an example of opportunities for grassroots impact

A few weeks ago, the Obama administration helped broker a deal to end the West Coast ports shutdown. While the ports slowdown cost our economy as much as $7 billion by some estimates, the costs of an actual shutdown had things escalated were estimated to be as much as $2 billion a day. Reports of oranges rotting on the docks, or shirts, jeans and shoes stuck offshore were splashed across newspapers and televisions. Industries from agriculture, to dairy, to mining, to consumer goods – and many others – were dramatically impacted by the dispute. And though the agreement between the shippers and the longshoremen has allowed things to return to normal, the backlog will take months to clear.

What made this different from most of the fights that dominate the discussion in Washington was the way that it so directly impacted people – and the supply chains that we rely upon as consumers – in ways that we could see directly. And that, in a sense, primed those constituents to take action – they just needed a way to do it. It’s situations like this where a growing set of advocacy tools can help them do it.

{mosads}My start-up – Phone2Action – makes a platform that non-profits, trade associations and companies use to mobilize their memberships in these sorts of moments. The ports dispute makes for a good example on our end because one of our clients, the Consumer Electronics Association, used Phone2Action’s platform to launch a strong grassroots campaign, pressuring the administration and Congress to step in and do something.

The Consumer Electronics Association, which represents more than 2,000 member companies and more than 200,000 Innovation Movement members across the consumer electronics and technology industries, viewed the issue as a critical one to push towards resolution – so critical that they looked to connect their membership with their elected leaders to clearly communicate how important open ports are to American industry. The voices of their members included not just business owners but also employees, and they contacted Congress and the White House, asking them to help keep the ports open for business.

In just a few days, their coalition sent more than 3,000 messages to every U.S. senator and almost every representative, as well as almost 900 emails directly to the White House. The tools also mobilized CEA members to send hundreds of messages on social media, in a way that couldn’t be ignored. As a result, everywhere policymakers and their staff turned online, CEA members were present with messaging on the ports crisis – and they couldn’t ignore the call to action. In fact, across the board, we see about 25 percent of our clients’ active advocates initiating conversations with elected officials with social media action tools – and we are projecting that number to increase to 33 percent by the end of 2015, and 48 percent by the end of 2016.

That’s what technology has meant for this moment in our democracy – giving regular folks the chance to really weigh-in on issues important to them as they’re happening and in a way that can be immediately influential. And, rather than just flying a few members in to Washington once a year, advocates can make their voices heard immediately and in the moment – as a situation is developing. And when advocates contact members of Congress over social media, the advocates are giving elected officials the opportunity to publicly engage on an issue, raising visibility and awareness for other constituents as well. This trend expands the realm of influence well beyond the usual lobbyists, powerbrokers and hired guns who typically dominate debates here on Capitol Hill.

Not only that, but it helps make these real, tangible issues that people are focused on central to the debate. Far too often, those real, tangible issues have taken a back seat in the partisan debates in Washington. That makes it even more important to elevate these issues to the halls of a Congress that’s hundreds or thousands of miles away physically, and often equally distant in focus and results.

The important decisions our government makes often extend well beyond the divisive, hot-button issues that elections and national politicking are dominated by, and intrude into the day-to-day lives of average Americans in ways that the narrowness of campaigns and partisan fights often ignore. With those real issues, there’s growing opportunity and an appetite from people to engage who haven’t been engaged in ways that are meaningful to them. Increasingly, the tools exist and are being used to do it, and it’s an opportunity that can help make our democracy stronger.

Ory is the CEO and founder of Phone2Action, a Washington, D.C. based technology start-up that provides advocacy tools to companies and non-profits.