Michigan
Detroit Action is a union of Black and Brown, low and no-income, homeless and housing insecure Detroiters fighting for political power and housing and economic justice. The organization is grassroots and member-led, multigenerational, and community-based. Detroit Action provides opportunities for people to develop as full human beings through leadership development workshops, organizer internships, nonpartisan voter education and mobilization drives, direct action, and collaboration with allied organizations.
Rising Voices seeks to organize and develop the leadership of Asian American women (cis, trans, gender-nonconforming and femme-identifying) and young people for power around progressive values and policy in the state of Michigan. They promote the civic participation of Asian American women and families in Michigan, with particular emphasis on underrepresented communities, in electoral and public policy processes at all levels. They provide opportunities for youth leadership by activating and uplifting Asian American women and youth voices.
Recent Achievements
Detroit Action and Rising Voices activated thousands of voters who contributed to historic wins in Michigan in 2022.
Democrats retained control of seven U.S. House seats, and Republicans lost one seat, under fairer congressional maps created for the first time by Michigan’s new independent citizen redistricting commission
Democrats swept every statewide office, with Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and Attorney General Dana Nessel each winning reelection comfortably over MAGA election deniers
Democrats won control of the state House and the state Senate to give Michigan a blue trifecta for the first time in almost 40 years
Michiganders passed the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative by a huge margin, 57-43%, protecting the right to abortion in the state constitution
In 2022, Rising Voices’ successful outreach led to record Asian American Pacific Islander turnout that helped to pass Proposal 3, enshrining the fundamental right to reproductive healthcare under the Michigan Constitution.
In the 2022 election cycle, Detroit Action helped register new voters and recruited and supported 100 volunteer election protection workers for polling places across Detroit and surrounding communities. In 2023, Detroit Action helped win new state- and city-level investments and reforms in housing and economic justice programs.
What makes Michigan crucial in 2024
Michigan is a crucial swing state for the presidential election; Biden won there in 2020 by less than 3%
To hold the U.S. Senate, Democrats must win the open seat in Michigan created by Senator Debbie Stabenow’s retirement
Three toss-up districts in Michigan could be pivotal to Democratic efforts to flip the U.S. House of Representatives
At the state level, Democrats must defend slim legislative majorities to protect the blue trifecta they gained in 2022, which has produced significant legislation on gun control, workers’ rights, and LGBTQ+ protections
Two Michigan Supreme Court justices face re-election this year, and the result will determine whether the Court remains inclined to preserve the advancements passed in the recent state legislative session
What Flip the Vote’s support means for 2024
Detroit Action has ambitious plans in 2024 to register 20,000 voters, knock 370,000 doors and engage voters at innovative and fun events through a six-phase plan beginning in early May. Support from Flip the Vote will allow Detroit Action to hire organizers and canvassers from local communities to educate infrequent voters about candidates, ballot initiatives, and how and where to vote. Early resources from the Flip the Vote community ensure they will reach voters at the doors and on the phones during the late summer and early fall – the timeframe in which they can have the biggest impact on local and state races.
With Flip the Vote’s support, Rising Voices will be able to expand its strategic door canvass and phone outreach in key targeted geographical areas; hire an Election Protection Coordinator to recruit, train, and coordinate volunteers and poll monitors; and produce and translate communications to reinforce and supplement personal and events outreach, such as with an in-language WeChat organizing program, a relational postcard program, and a DIY Power Civic Education series and PSAs created with Final Girls, a local AAPI women filmmakers collective. Content will be available in Bangla, Chinese (Mandarin/Traditional), Vietnamese, Tagalog, Hindi and English.
“Detroit Action believes that our constituency of working class Black and Brown young people, workers, housing justice advocates and those impacted by the criminal legal system and the war on drugs, are the winning coalition in our state. Our years of work in the community shows us that the winning formula for our base is to engage them on the issues that matter in their lives and to show up in our communities to meet them – before and after the election.”