No on Proposition 54

Proposition 54, the deceptively called Racial Privacy Initiative, would have prohibited the State of California from collecting data based on race, ethnicity and national origin. When Proposition 54 was placed on the October 2003 recall ballot, opponents only had only three months to organize and implement a winning strategy.

Activist groups and organizers collaborated across the state to mount a grassroots operation targeting students and voters in the Latino, African American, Asian American communities. Proposition 54 was soundly defeated (No 63.9% and Yes 35.1%).

PowerPAC.org, a major player in the collaboration, hired Hope Road to organize press events, Reverend Jesse Jackson's college campus tour, and produce collateral materials targeting students. Hope Road also worked with community leaders to launch Asian Pacific Americans for an Informed California (APAIC), an independent expenditure targeting Asian American voters through mail, media and phonebanking.

Hope Road's ability to organize, create messages, and work in a pressure cooker situation was instrumental in the campaign to defeat Proposition 54.