We develop and coordinate administrative systems by investing and building the technological infrastructure necessary to succeed within the social advocacy arena. Our collaborative serves as an “investment hub” around social advocacy– bringing together donors and stakeholders, allowing communities of color to aggregate and direct resources more effectively. We enable supporters to invest in advocacy issues and act together in ways that no single donor or activist could on her or his own.

Minimal communications and data capacity exists within most communities of color. As revealed through an internal survey, many Students of Color have used communications technology and data tools for social engagement. They want to enhance their ability to advocate for themselves in using multiple methods, including in-person actions. The survey also revealed that many Students of Color do not have the infrastructure or capacity to employ the self-advocacy skills needed for this type of advocacy. We provide communication training, data tools, data systems, and communication tactics to maximize day-to-day engagement opportunities. We employ a broad communications training platform: i. Education materials, emails, and digital issue guides, ii. Digital tools iii. Polling, research, and messaging iv. Sample “earned media” stories and social media impressions through new media v. Press events, radio ads, and mobile messaging.

There is no doubt that public service and social advocacy is in a “watershed” moment. However, there is an excellent opportunity in the engagement of the young People of Color community. The opportunity lies in converting the vast pool of young People of Color from lukewarm activists into a population of self-advocates who remain engaged through the rest of their lives. The potential crisis lies in taking this community for granted and failing to put the necessary resources and technological infrastructure to train and consistently engage them around their interests. Barriers to self-advocacy faced by young People of Color include 1) the disproportionate impact of the digital divide on the People of Color community, 2) the critical need to coordinate People of Color social engagement, information, and resources and 3) gaps in social engagement rates between young People of Colors and the overall population.

Capitol View Advisors focuses on producing maximum impact for Students of Color while investing, facilitating, and building the collective and organizational technological capacities required to develop and sustain long­term infrastructure and relationships. This work focuses on education efforts through collaborative issue advocacy training. Additionally, we recruit supporters to increase the resources available for social advocacy activities at the national, state, and local levels that help expand and enhance the ground’s technological capacity to engage Students of Color. The results of issue integration into our efforts increase social engagement and public knowledge, creating more exceptional citizen civic capacity and sophisticated communications efforts. These points of contact provide an opportunity for us to engage young advocates and remind them that the best way to fix a problem is to use their voice.

Our innovation is to build long­term social engagement capacity through strategic coordination, investment, and technological advances. Most traditional Students of Color efforts primarily focus on registering or identification validation, followed by training or education, testing, and mobilization. These efforts and the organizations that manage them mainly focus on engaging Students of Color during a short cycle. They sacrifice the opportunity to utilize issue areas as the catalyst for increased long­term social engagement. We employ a “high­tech” social engagement training that focuses on integrating issue education to connect communities of interests with their issues of interest — the economy, employment, education, and the environment. While all issues are important, these top priority issues have the most potential to increase the collective community investment and accelerate the growth and development of a permanent, long­term infrastructure to increase social engagement for Students of Color.

1) Purpose, 2) Vision, 3) Partnership, 4) Resilience, 5) Performance, and 6) Personal Ecology