Written by Caroline Mak, Impact & Engagement Strategist at Nonprofit VOTE
Part of Nonprofit Power in Action Series of interviews with nonprofit staff doing voter engagement
When I met Julie Piller in 2019, my view of nonprofit voter engagement was through the lens of thousands of rows of Excel voter data. A blur of names and addresses, I had just started at Nonprofit VOTE as the Research Coordinator and was visiting Sister Carmen Community Center in Lafayette, CO to see how they did voter engagement. She showed me the front waiting room where they asked people about registering to vote, the rows and rows of non-perishable foods that people came in to ‘shop’ for, and the community garden.
It’s been six years since I visited, and one of the things I still remember the most was her couch and how at ease and safe I felt in her warm, cozy, and colorful office.
The space just felt like Julie, with her big heart, cheer, and optimism, but still grounded, inviting you to share in that energy. Even if we were talking about heavy topics like mental health crises that regularly happened at Sister Carmen, which sometimes meant voter engagement was on the backburner, there was still a hopefulness and strength in her voice. I could so easily imagine clients in crisis talking to her, put at ease by her presence and quiet confidence that everything would be alright.
After meeting her and other staff working at community centers like Sister Carmen, the Nonprofit VOTE team developed materials and tools like an “Ask me about voting” lanyard with a QR code staff could use to engage voters. In 2022, I followed up with her to ask how she found the tools and she loved it. She told me she could just wear it everywhere and didn’t need to remember to put it on whether she was between classes, going to her car, or just out and about in her role as the Community & Family Education Manager. One of her coworkers even dressed as her for Halloween, with a “Ask Julie about voting” costume!
She also excitedly shared how they’d baked Mexican cookies that are made around the same time as the Nov election. As she was talking, her smile was as bright as I remembered 3 years ago – doing this was clearly something that brought her joy.
“It’s important to bring in joy to the process too, by making it more playful and fun.
Life is serious, and we’ve had some real hard things happen so in relationship building with people, anytime you can make things fun and easy, it helps a relationship instead of it being a bit too businessy”
Knowing that there was so much going on in her role, I asked her why she does voter engagement year after year. With conviction in her voice, she told me how she loved encouraging people who thought they “don’t have time to research, don’t want to talk about politics”, etc. Through her conversations with voters, she loved making voting accessible to those who had never connected to the idea of actually voting themselves, helping them realize “I probably do have what I need to vote”.
As I write this blog three years after that conversation, I realize that Julie didn’t just show me the how of voter engagement – she also showed me her why. From making voter engagement fun and festive on election day to celebrating a woman with six kids who voted for the first time, the gift of her stories showed how she makes this work come alive.
At the end of our call in 2022, I asked what keeps her going, especially when empowering others is hard work and can take time. As her voice cracked and eyes glistened with tears, this is what she told me.
“What keeps me going doing voter engagement is validating people, who feel like nobody listens to them and they’re discouraged in life,really do matter in this process and it is their right.
And we are going to change things for the better. It’s not gonna be this thing that we can all distrust forever.
Democracy is this process and there are people trying to work to make it smoother and easier and more transparent. To share power instead of having it only go one way all the time.”
I’ve never forgotten her words and her hope. Her community, Sister Carmen Community Center, and we at Nonprofit VOTE are grateful to have Julie in this movement and invite you to join us.
For 2025, Sister Carmen is putting up giant banners on 2 separate buildings (FRC and Thrift Store) that read “Tu Voz, Tu Voto, Es Importante! Your Voice, Your Vote, It Matters!”, continuing to partner with Nonprofit VOTE, and hoping to have a record National Voter Registration Day!
Support the work:
At Nonprofit VOTE, I feel honored everyday to be supporting the at-its-heart visionary work that Julie and others like her are doing. If you want to help support this work through monetary means – go here to support Sister Carmen and here for Nonprofit VOTE.
Read more:
Community Resource Center supported Sister Carmen’s work through technical assistance and increasing staff capacity! Read more about their work training hundreds of nonprofit staff in the colorful state of Colorado here
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Tools to get started:
See our printable materials with tools for talking to voters!
Me at Sister Carmen with our Community Resource Center partners (2019)
Quotes slightly edited for clarity
