Volunteer Voices: Chloe Hall
Working with large groups of people who are two to four times your age can be intimidating as a young volunteer. My first trip with Common Power was in the spring of 2024 when we traveled to Pennsylvania. I was one of the youngest if not the youngest on this trip which led me to have reservations about how I would spend my days with people outside of my normal circle. The Gen X volunteers made a point to appreciate my perspective and I enjoyed my time with them, I felt like an equal to them on the ground which was very important to me.
As one would assume, Pennsylvania is what I based my expectations for the trip to Nevada that I led with Alejandra Jimenez and Jeffery White. At this point, I had already agreed to step in as co-lead so there was no backing out, but I had little reservations and was actually very excited to take on this leadership role. My excitement continued to grow as I realized we had a healthy mix of age ranges joining our team and Alejandra, my fellow Team Lead was also my age. This eliminated some of the reservations I had about being a young leader of so many people (we had 50 people on the ground at our peak making this team the largest in 2024 yet). Common Power provided us with a strong support system and I felt confident in them walking onto the ground in Nevada.
I was given the opportunity to test this support system when my Lyft from the airport to the hotel went haywire. At this point it was roughly 1 am my time, I had not slept, I had not eaten, and emotions were flowing. I called my Co-Lead, Jeffery White, who immediately put me on the phone with a fieldwork staff member and in no time I was on the way to our hotel with a meal waiting for me. This was a breath of fresh air and allowed me to relax my nerves and prepare for kick-off the next morning. I suppose it is actions like this that had me applying to lead a team. Along with this, while I have received a lot of care from CP, I have received unmeasurable amounts of knowledge.
From virtual and on-the-ground training, to leadership opportunities, and even simple conversations, Common Power has provided me with many avenues to test the boundaries of my uncomfortableness to grow and learn. It really is the people that make you keep coming back.
We put in a lot of preparation to make this a successful canvassing trip. Both on the ground and in person my co-leads and I played upon one another's strengths to evenly distribute work loads. For example, Alejandra did a lot on the back end of things, i.e. emailing people, finding hotels, conducting mini-van trainings, etc. Jeff worked with our on-the-ground partners to ensure we would have literature, turfs, and other pieces for success. I worked a lot with the organization on the ground ensuring car groups were well diversified, communicating with our volunteers, and overall working face-to-face with the volunteers and the CP team. The distributing of these tasks really helped us all not become overwhelmed or disinterested in our work. We also focused on mutual collaborations which I believe was a large part of the success of our team.
I have been able to grow as a leader with this opportunity from Common Power. I was introduced to new strengths and weaknesses while being pushed to work beyond those limitations in a healthy manner. I have learned ways to effectively communicate my desires to large groups of people and in intimate gatherings. I was introduced to philosophies such as deep listening and was made aware of my implicit biases through trainings which helped me create a more welcoming and appreciative space for our volunteers.
Overall, CP has really nurtured me into becoming the type of leader I want to be, taught me how to create fair and just spaces for every person, and how to rely on community.
I am eager to continue exploring these avenues with Common Power and am excited to get into the work of this election year!