Maralyn O'Brien - Michigan

The Yes We Can Program has accelerated my political aptitude and insight on making gains as Democrats. When I returned to work for the Michigan Quality Home Care Campaign, I was assigned new political responsibilities. I was put in a team of three to develop the political plan for the campaign from the primary to November's general election.

Yes We Can prepared me for intensive political research and analysis. It also gave me the perspective of a weathered campaign manager. I researched the demographics and details of the top-targeted Republican and Democratic campaigns in the Michigan House of Representatives and Senate, and I crossed the research with our deepest densities. Our team brainstormed the most effective ways to register voters and maximize voter participation; one highlight of the plan was encouraging absentee voting by our members. This data allowed us to form a general field plan for the campaign from which to operate.

In addition to the field plan and campaign research, I also engaged in financial contribution research. I spearheaded a project, working with SEIU's legal advisors to learn what type of organized fundraising and political contributions would be acceptable in our type of campaign. Without the Yes We Can seminars on finance and fundraising, I would have been lacking foundation to begin the project. I found the trainings (and the contacts) with the Dewey Square Group to be very advantageous in the beginning of my research.

The best way to describe the Michigan Quality Home Care Campaign is "non-traditional." Our goals include raising the state's awareness of home care and creating a strong and broad coalition of support, forming a new union of home care workers, securing the workers wage increases though state budget lobbying, re-electing Governor Granholm, and earning the workers affordable health care. Thus far, we've succeeded at unionizing 42,000 home care workers in Michigan (the largest sector of workers mobilized since the UAW unionized Ford in the 1940s!), we've formed a true coalition of support that includes over 250 diverse partners in the campaign, and we're currently working on re-electing Governor Granholm.

Currently, our push for electing Governor Granholm is underway. I am the assistant coordinator for a high density population of home care workers in Macomb County, Michigan. I am the right hand person for the local plan, the daily activities, training, recruitment, and the other intricacies of a field plan. Statewide, our teams are working to turn out supportive home care workers, their families and clients to the polls to vote Democratic.

The Yes We Can Program has provided me experiences where I am now politically well beyond my years. This program has opened the doors to a family of Democrats that strive to achieve altruistic goals and that is willing to lend a guiding hand. I wouldn't think twice to recommend this program to someone that wants to be a part of this determined family and help usher the Democratic Party to victory.