Grow and Strengthen the ESD Community
Engagement
Are you interested in exploring how you might connect with other like-minded elders to support and defend democracy in these perilous times? Our Engagement Team reaches out to new community-event registrants and newsletter sign-ups, welcoming them and offering to meet to discuss their interests and our engagement opportunities.
We have a brief survey for you to complete to give us an idea of how you might want to engage with ESD. Here’s a link to the Getting to Know You Survey to let us know where your interests lie.
Feel free to contact Lorna Hilyard or Therese Flaherty with any questions.
Building State Chapters
Take a closer look at how our State Chapters turn shared values into real-world impact. You’ll find an overview of our mission, how chapters are formed and supported, and the ways members collaborate—both locally and nationwide—to strengthen democracy. Whether during election cycles or in the years between, this work is designed to be practical, adaptive, and community-driven, giving people clear pathways to get involved and make a difference.
Communications
A dedicated Communications Team is essential to advancing our mission and amplifying our collective voice. Clear, consistent communication helps us build visibility, strengthen trust, and deepen engagement—both within ESD and with potential partner organizations that share our goals. To broaden our reach and increase our impact, we’re seeking volunteers to help promote events, produce our newsletter, create and update website content, and support our expanding social media presence. See more about our Disinformation Project here.
If you enjoy developing communication strategies, writing, editing, or maintaining websites, we would greatly value your talents. Please consider contributing to this vital work. Contact Linda Warner to discuss your interest.
Partnerships
As part of our mission to strengthen democracy, ESD actively partners with organizations that promote free and fair elections, advance sound legislation, and deepen civic engagement. Our collaborations focus on voter registration and turnout (GOTV), countering voter suppression, reducing political corruption, and resisting autocratic influence—and we plan to continue expanding these partnerships.
We build relationships at the national, state, and local levels. Current partnerships include The Civics Center, which supports high school voter registration; the Environmental Voter Project; and the Center for Common Ground, all of which work to increase voter participation. At the local level, we also collaborate with long-standing pro-democracy organizations, such as Common Cause and the League of Women Voters, as well as grassroots organizations.