The Power of Change

Engaged, educational, empowering. Are these words you would use to describe the actions of your local Democratic Party? 

In my last couple of blogs, I've addressed our need for the Collin County Democratic Party to create better Vision and Unity. However, if we want to empower people to get involved and stay involved, we have to have find better ways to engage with our community to get Democrats elected. 

For months, I've suggested to Collin County Democratic Party leadership to employ better community outreach programming. It was great to finally see party leadership take steps to address this need. It's equally important though to recognize another case I have presented, continuous improvement strategies. 

Implementing new programming, for any organizational effort, serves a good purpose. CCDP's Ready for '18 program, launched this past Spring, is a good example of trying. But one campaign program effort, especially unwritten, does not a strategic plan make. 

Unless we have a written strategic development plan to ensure our party's continued success, we will continue to face the same problems, not the least of which is not being able to get Democrats elected into partisan office. 

This has been a problem for decades, and unquestionably under the current County Chair's watch. We have to look beyond 2018 to grow as an organization and get Democrats elected.

How do we get there?

There's never one right answer, but there's always a better answer. To grow, we need:

Transformational Leadership:  Since the current two term County Chair, now asking for a third, has failed to elect Democrats into partisan office, we need a new County Chair with a new leadership model.

Strategic Development Plan:  We need an executable action plan to address infrastructure, administrative & operational needs, and continuous improvement planning. Remarkably, the current CCDP leadership structure does not have a written strategic development plan. 

As representatives of the Democratic Party in Collin County, we have an obligation to be recognized as changemakers by helping progressive Democratic Party leaders get elected at all levels of government. 

With a renewed vision and continuous improvement strategies set in motion, we can turn Collin County blue and grow future local, state, and national leaders along the way.

Building a Better Community

I've created a series of interviews called Building A Better Collin County. The goal is to reach out to our community and create a sustainable path to our future in Collin County, one that reflects a sensible path of Vision, Unity, and Empowerment.

Among many similar interviews with multiple community organizations in weeks to come, this first interview is with Jeanne Rubin representing GALA, Gay and Lesbian Alliance of North Texas. As I note in the videos, this not an endorsement of me, my campaign or the Democratic Party.

That said, I support the efforts of GALA 100%, and I am proud to know Jeanne. She supports our shared Collin County community in so many positive ways, and I look forward to growing that relationship. Please consider donating to GALA here, www.galanorthtexas.org/donations.



#LoveIsLove #ProgressTakesChange #Vision #Unity #Community

Stirling Morris for Collin County Democratic Party Chair

Being Better Stewards of Our Community

In my last blog, I addressed the need to create a vision for Collin County. Once we've attained a sustainable vision, we must do everything we can to actively pursue as many acts and organized methods of unity as possible. Only by bringing together individuals, organizations, and one cohesive community-at-large in Collin County, can we achieve a true sense of unity.

Months before announcing my candidacy to be the next Collin County Democratic Party Chair, I analyzed the current CCDP infrastructure. With a focus on candidate awareness, leadership training, and public outreach, along with conversations with multiple people and like-minded organizations, not all of which were affiliated with the Democratic Party, I came up with the following assessment and action plan:

As the assessment reflects, Collin County Democratic Party needs to create a Vision of our future with Unity at the core to drive an Empowerment message of hope for candidates and all citizens of Collin County. 

After attending a seminar a couple of weeks ago, in which the topic was systemic privilege and oppression, I was further reminded that Unity starts with empathy. All too often in Collin County, Democrats, who are not elected leaders or regular volunteers, are told that they are not members of the CCDP and occasionally made to feel bad for offering an opinion about making the party better. 

If this is true for registered Democrats reaching out to their local party that they feel doesn't represent all we could be, what must the general community of Collin County think of the Collin County Democratic Party?

Within the CCDP itself, we have to better coordinate moderation and organization so that each individual understands the importance of interpersonal communications, respecting the needs of the group, and embracing how this will have larger implications for us as a whole. 

Externally, are we reaching out, in a sustainable manner, to the Collin County community as a whole? We have so many like-minded individuals and organizations in our county, working towards common progressive goals, who the CCDP doesn't actively maintain positive relationships with. At the very least, this list includes:

• (remarkably) Democratic Party affiliated groups
• Resistance groups
• Political activist organizations
• Advocacy groups and organizations
• Municipal groups
• Religious organizations
• Schools

How many more can you think of? 

None of this is implying that the CCDP hasn't tried reaching out to other groups or hasn't maintained some relations with a few. But in my conversations and interactions with our community, we haven't scratched the surface. This is particularly worrisome, for a non-profit organization like the Collin County Democratic Party, that presumably represents all of our nation's people. 

At the end of the day, there's never one right answer, but there's always a better answer. Let's work together with our community, our nation, and our shared world, to create a sustainable path to our future in Collin County, one that reflects a sensible path of Vision, Unity, and Empowerment. From there, the Collin County Democratic Party, will simply grow organically.