2023 Did Not Go According to Plan
2023 did not go according to plan, and I am not going to sit here and pretend like it did.
At the start of the year, I had such a specific idea of what 2023 would mean.
It would be a growth year. A stabilizing year.
And we were off to a solid start.
After back-to-back busy seasons, we were overdue for some internal organization and centralization. We improved our onboarding experience for staff and interns, hired several new staff to support capacity strains, started two new departments to support business growth and employee satisfaction, and implemented new policies and procedures (so many SOPs) — all designed to ensure we are walking the talk of a nontoxic workplace.
The first part of this year was a firestorm of changes in the name of growth and stability. It was a critical foundation-building phase, a place from which we could confidently grow and meet the goals that we have set out as a team.
We were doing great.
And then a really powerful elected official resigned from office in scandal. And we were thrown into a special election in which we had conflicting clients.
Half our team was walled off from helping the other half. All while we were doing 2 years of electoral work in 90 days.
Oh, and this was on top of hiring and onboarding and mentoring and training and reviewing and traveling and handling coverage and nursing and caretaking and studying and parenting and witnessing seemingly unending onslaught of negativity and hate and violence and genocide.
And, in spite of all of that, our team has consistently shown resilience and a stubborness in the name of progress and teamwork that I cannot help but be heartened by and proud of.
We helped elect the first Black woman in history to the San Diego Board of Supervisors. While challenging, our first special election was a success. We won! And she’s not just representation for the sake of it — she’s a transformational force who challenges the status quo on criminal punishment, cannabis, redlining and development, economic opportunity, reparations, and more. She will help millions of people in Evinco’s founding home town of San Diego. And that means something.
We helped design, fund, and complete the first-ever study and report on the mental and emotional health impacts of running for office as a woman, with focus on intersectional female identities. Championed and published by the California Women’s List, the report included recommendations to improve campaigning to be carried in bills in the California State Legislature and change the lives of women running for office. (More to come on this in 2024!)
We hired 5 new team members, including our first fellow. Which is a win in and of itself, but has been bolstered further by all the mindful and intentional effort put in by everyone on this team to be welcoming and helpful and make space for new points of view while building space for your own.
We made an impact on the continued efforts to build the bench of progressive and Dem staffers across California and the country. We trained and mentored and paid 4 interns this year in Florida, Illinois, and Northern and Southern California. Our SOAR Academy has been accessed by 26 people outside of Evinco staff this year — from a reproductive rights activist in Tennessee to a Working Families Party staffer in Berkeley to a school board campaign kitchen cabinet member in Florida.
We have begun breaking into new issue areas. We are expanding our impact in new topics and areas like housing, climate change, voting rights, and gun violence prevention. And in chasing these passions, we surpassed the mark of working for over 50% lifetime women clients, which was a major milestone for me personally.
And we’re embarking on some very cool (and massive) projects that will continue to take shape in 2024 and beyond. (I’m dying to tell you more — stay tuned!)
This year has not been easy, but we have a lot to be proud of.
I’ve been doing this for just over a decade at this point. It doesn’t feel like progress every day. And sometimes each person’s little corner of the room is dark and the bigger picture is confusing and unclear.
But in spite of all the challenges, we are doing some really big shit. And we are strengthening ourselves and our team as we get ready for a kick ass 2024.
Written by Eva Posner, President of Evinco Strategies.
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