Other Group

Students for Justice

Website:

www.studentsforjusticevote.org

Type:

Get-out-the-Vote (GOTV)

Project of:

The Center for Common Ground

Co-Founders:

Claire Ullman and Sandra Radoff

Founded:

2020

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Students for Justice is a left-of-center get-out-the-vote project of the Virginia-based Center for Common Ground.

Background

Students for Justice was founded on May 18, 2020, as a project of the left-of-center Virginia-based Center for Common Ground by Claire Ullman, an academic, and Sandy Radoff, a market research professional who had previously volunteered with the Center for Common Ground’s Reclaim Our Vote postcard campaign. According to the project’s website, Ullman first came up with the idea of starting the project while teaching political science at Barnard College after hearing that her students’ internship and job offers had been canceled for reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic. 1

Model

Students for Justice’s operations model entails rehiring “star interns” from previous seasons to manage teams of new interns. In turn, “star team managers” are rehired in succeeding seasons as senior team managers to manage team managers. 1

The Center for Common Ground

Students for Justice’s parent organization and fiscal sponsor is the Center for Common Ground, a left-of-center get-out-the-vote organization with a particular focus on Black communities in the southern United States. Notably, the center, which was founded in September 2018 as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization in Ruther Glen, Virginia, is partnered with a variety of other aligned organizations, including Black Voters Matter, the Criminal Injustice Network, Democracy Labs, the Partnership for Southern Equity, Power to the Polls, the People’s Agenda, the Workers Circle, and Vote Equality US. 2 3

Activity

2021

In Spring 2021, Students for Justice hired 40 interns to work on get-out-the-vote campaigns in connection with the special election in Ohio’s 11th congressional district. Later in the fall, the project hired the same number to carry out operations in connection with the state-wide election in Virginia. 1

2022

In 2022, Students for Justice expanded its geographic reach to include campaigns in Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida. To connect with minority communities in those states, the project recruited heavily from historically Black colleges and educational institutions in the southern United States, hiring 40 interns in summer and double that number in the fall. In turn, these interns recruited 975 volunteers to get-out-the-vote campaigns comprised of mailing hand-written postcards, making phone calls, sending text messages, and posting on social media. 1

Plans

According to Students for Justice’s website, in the fall of 2023, the project intends to focus on building get-out-the-vote campaigns for state and local elections in Virginia. In 2024, similar campaigns will be conducted in Virginia as well as Georgia and North Carolina for congressional races and the presidential election. 1

People

Claire Ullman

Claire Ullman is a co-founder of Students for Justice. Previously, Ullman taught political science at Barnard College and Columbia‘s School of International and Public Affairs and worked successively as a volunteer, development officer, and assistant director at a shelter for homeless women and children in Seattle. Additionally, Ullman was a member of the board of directors from 1995 to 2008 of the Grand Street Settlement, which provides services to New York City-based immigrant-communities. 1

Sandra Radoff

Sandra Radoff is a co-founder of Students for Justice and the head of S. Radoff Associates, LLC, a market research firm based in the Bronx in New York City. Previously, Radoff volunteered with the project’s parent organization, the Center for Common Ground, in the organization’s Reclaim Our Vote postcard campaign. 4 1

References

  1.  “ORIGINS OF SFJ.” Students for Justice. Accessed February 20, 2023.  https://www.studentsforjusticevote.org/aboutsfj
  2. “About Us.” The Center for Common Ground. Accessed February 20, 2023. https://www.centerforcommonground.org/about
  3. “Center for Common Ground.” ProPublica. Accessed February 20, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/824589218
  4. “S. Radoff Associates, LLC.” The National Minority Business Council. January 29, 2012. Accessed February 20, 2023. http://www.nmbc.org/business-directory/market-research/s-radoff-associates-llc-ms-sandra-radoff-4481-douglas-avenue-bronx-ny-10471-phone-718-884-4400-fax-718-884-4401-email-sandysradoff-com-website-we-provide-marketing-research-cons
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