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Nevada c3 Table

State Photo: 
Contact
Name: 
Bob Fulkerson
Email: 
bfulkerson@planevada.org
Title: 
Director, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada
Phone numbers: 
Office: (775) 348-7557
Mission: 

Nevada c3 Voices is a network of 501c3 organizations working to promote the civic engagement of under represented communities in the state. Through the network, groups members and non-members are finding opportunities to collaborate in multi-issue, multi-constituency work.

Plans & Reports: 
Nevada c3 Table Plan 2009
Nevada c3 Table Plan 2010

Context for Our Work

Nevada’s social climate is as harsh as its deserts, and we’ve all but forgotten about the community spirit upon which the survival of the wagon trains depended. African American civil rights leaders of the 1960’s coined the term “Nevada: the Mississippi of the West” to embarrass the state’s political leadership into passing basic civil rights laws.  Today, that phrase is an insult to Mississippi.  The state’s conservative/libertarian philosophy, with no personal income tax, business tax or corporate profits tax, makes life in the state incredibly harsh for the disabled, abused, poor and others living on the margins.  The state leads the nation in most every indicator of social illness, from meth use to suicide and trails in nearly every indictor of social well-being, from education to Medicaid expenditures. The anti-government, go-it-alone culture and historic stinginess of lawmakers have provided huge benefits to wealthy interests, such as a highly regressive tax structure.  As a result, Nevada’s poor and working class people are ripe for exploitation with little or no social safety net.  Key issues that dominate this cycle are as follows:

  • The economy (Las Vegas leads the nation in foreclosures, Nevada’s budget gap is the worst in the nation, and the state ranks 3rd worst for state economic distress levels).
  • Health care (Nevada leads the nation in uninsured).
  • Taxes (Nevadans want good schools but are loathe to pay for them).
  • The war, water, Yucca Mountain, immigration reform.

Recent Successes

Two of the first goals we set at our first table meeting—to recruit bilingual poll workers and to raise funds to hire someone to work with ex felons to help them vote—have been achieved.  Our combined efforts resulted in registering over 150 ex felons, and educating them about their rights.  We also recruited over 75 bilingual poll workers to work in primarily Latino voting locations.

 

PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson talks about voting with some remarkably tolerant and patient young people.