Salem NAV Lab

Oregon, we have a problem

Oregon’s electoral and democratic systems are fragmented and exclusionary, leaving communities most impacted by injustice without meaningful pathways to influence elections, shape policy, or hold power over time.

Non-Affliated Voters are the largest voting demographic in our electorate and the least engaged with! resulting in an untapped powerful core of the electorate left out of democratic decision making.

we can fix this!

By engaging, listening to, and building long-term relationships with Non-Affiliated Voters (NAVs) in Salem, we will transform an often-excluded electorate into informed, activated, and responsive public partners while strengthening the local electoral ecosystem.

Community Led

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Power Shifting

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Leadership Development

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Community Led · Power Shifting · Leadership Development ·

Our Process

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    Deep Canvassing & Relational Organizing

    Build trust, surface lived experience, and develop durable relationships

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    Community-Led Issue Identification

    Ensure political priorities emerge from lived experience

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    Narrative Building & Power Shifting

    Shift public discourse and political imagination

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    Political Education & Educational Campaigns

    Build analysis, confidence, and long-term participation

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    Electoral Ecosystem & Leadership Development

    Strengthen the local electoral ecosystem by building skills, leadership, and infrastructure that support long-term civic participation.

  • SCALING UP & STATEWIDE ACCESSIBILITY

    Transform the Salem based NAV Lab into a replicable, accessible framework that can be adopted by organizations across Oregon to strengthen inclusive democratic participation.

How is this approach different?

SWRC is working in community with community to connect to people beyond partisan noise to get to the heart of what truly matters. Our approach is centered on the belief that building relationships, listening to the community, and uplifting not only the problems we are facing, but the solutions to those problems is how we build a healthier and more civically engaged community.

This approach isn’t novel nor unprecedented. It has been used before and has a proven track record across the country to deepen civic engagement, create a more civically minded community rendering results that can be seen and measured beyond voter turnout and into policy change at the local level.

SWRC is working in small scales, expanding capacity in deeply intention ways to yield measurable results. Moving from selected precincts throughout Salem, toward city-wide engagement.

We are not afraid of experimentation, we track our results, learn from them and move toward improvement at every step.