CALL 4 CHANGE
How one activist took phone banking to a new level
Call 4 Change, a massive, volunteer-led phone banking hub for Democrats was born of one woman’s tireless recruitment efforts. Her energy might be unmatched, but her methods are within reach.
By Ayelet Leibovitch
In November 2019 Sylvia Russell was no stranger to political organizing. Fundraising, phone banking, canvassing, even serving as a Hillary Clinton delegate, she was a well-traveled Democratic campaigner. However, she wanted to travel a little less. At the time the nearest phone bank was thirty miles away.
“I just wanted something that was more in my backyard,” Russell recalled. Why not a “virtual phone bank” where callers could “join from anywhere.” With a simple sign-up and video training, callers could get calling lists, and start calling? And so, Call 4 Change began.
Though Sylvia had political experience and connections, she grew her organization from the ground up. “It was brand new, all new volunteers,” she said, adding “the point was to expand the pie, not take from the pie so I started fresh, from nothing.”
In a training video for phone bank organizers, Sylvia laid out her recruiting tactics. The first step was to make a list of everyone she knew — “friends, relatives, anybody that I came in contact with.” They all received a phone call or email in which Sylvia shared her vision and asked to meet for coffee. Everyone accepted the invitation. “No one said ‘no.’”
The next few months were full of hot drinks and conversations. “During coffee,” Sylvia explained, “I built urgency around what I was doing and what was happening in the country.” She invited everyone to an informational event and to “join the team.” People who were not interested were asked if they would forward her emails to friends and contacts. Of this last outreach, she brightly added, “at some point they can’t say no to everything, so you will get something out of it!”
Sylvia supplemented direct contact with other recruiting efforts including flyers, Direct Messaging on Facebook, and collaborating with organizations that didn’t have phone banks but wanted to help.
At the informational event, her hope of twenty-five attendees was met and doubled. From the fifty people present, staff members and volunteers were recruited and Call 4 Change was off to the races.
Since 2019, Call 4 Change has become a major force in Democratic races. During the COVID lockdown, when on site phone banks were closed, Call 4 Change kept calling. Growing through the Biden/Harris presidential run, the Georgia runoffs, midterms and many other campaigns, Sylvia’s former startup is now one of the largest volunteer-led Democratic phone banking operations.
This electoral cycle, Call 4 Change will be Phone Banking every Sunday into the battleground states in order to flip the house, expand the Senate and win the presidency.
When asked if anything was surprising about her time growing Call 4 Change, Sylvia is quick to answer. “The volunteers and our team members. I didn't expect this level of commitment. They constantly go above and beyond. Everybody cares so deeply.”
Why do volunteers keep coming back? “We [at Call 4 Change] want the volunteer to have the best experience and to feel that they're being impactful and successful.” During the training video she expanded on what this entails. “It comes down to good dialing tools, good training. We have amazing trainers and coaches.”
Sylvia's enthusiasm is contagious. The name Call 4 Change says everything about her deep faith in the power of this community of volunteers to change the world through their tireless phone banking efforts.
Sign up to volunteer at Call 4 Change by clicking here —
https://www.mobilize.us/call4change/event/601071/
Ayelet Leibovitch is a freelance video editor based in Brooklyn.
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