CPL Alumni Helps Lead Effort for Unprecedented Ballot Defeat in Colorado

CPL Fellow Jessie Ulibarri helped Colorado become the first state to defeat of a state-wide anti-affirmative action amendment sponsored by Ward Connerly

In November 2008, citizens in Colorado narrowly voted against Amendment 46 and in doing so, became the first state in the country to defeat an initiative sponsored by Ward Connerly designed to end affirmative action programs in the state.

Jessie Ulibarri, a CPL Colorado Fellow, played a major role in helping lead the state-wide effort to defeat the amendment.

Over the last ten years, similar initiatives have been introduced in other states but Colorado's vote represented the first time the effort had been defeated and marked a historic win in the fight to protect equal opportunity.

Jessie was a key spokesperson in the "No On 46 Campaign", a statewide effort to defeat the amendment and preserve equal opportunity in Colorado. The initiative itself was lead and sponsored by Ward Connerly, a multi-millionaire conservative from California who has sponsored and successfully passed similar anti-affirmative action in Washington, Michigan and California.

Jessie currently serves as director of Campaign for Economic Justice at the Colorado Progressive Coalition (CPC). To defeat Amendment 46, Jessie teamed up with Colorado Unity, a coalition between Colorado Progressive Coalition and 9to5 National Association of Working Women, as well as groups like the Latina Initiative and Colorado ACORN. The state-wide collaboration between progressive organizations on the "No On 46 Campaign" was an integral part of the campaign’s success.

As a unified group, the coalition created a joint messaging strategy that focused on driving home the values behind affirmative action programs that were threatened by the initiative. While the organizers behind the amendment tried to frame the discussion as one about civil rights, Jessie and the "No On 46 Campaign" responded with unified message of equal opportunity that voters responded to.

Innovative messaging strategies combined with collaborative leadership, both key elements of CPL's training and leadership development, made a major impact on the success of the campaign and paved the way for the historic win.

“We effectively trained leaders, canvassers, and public spokespeople to use values-based messaging broadly,” says Jessie. “When we redefined what affirmative action meant and why we believed in equal opportunity, [Coloradans] were on board with us. We were able to connect with people from the mosque to the synagogue and to be seen as authentic messengers.”

The Fellowship also helped Jessie develop some hard skills that impacted the campaign as well. “The No On 46 Campaign was the first time I gave a fundraising pitch to a room of business executives,“ he says. As a CPL Fellow, Jessie got to practice high-level fundraising and hone his ability to tell a personal story as a tool for campaign fundraising. As a result, Jessie helped raise $15,000 during the campaign.

The CPL network reaches all aspects of the progressive movement, from civil rights to reproductive justice. According to Jessie, “[The defeat of Amendment 46] was a huge coordinated effort from all parts of the progressive movement, from civil rights to reproductive choice” Jessie says, “Nearly everyone I worked with had a connection to CPL.”

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