Priorities USA Announces $3.5 Million Investment in Digital Training and Online Outreach Strategy
Today, Priorities USA announced it would expand its previous efforts to create a pipeline to digital careers with a $3.5 million initiative to train Democratic digital professionals and prepare the progressive space for changes to online platforms.
The initiative includes an expansion of Priorities USA’s training and fellowships program focused on marginalized communities who have been historically underrepresented in Democratic politics. The program will seek to address barriers to entry for digital careers while continuing the organization’s previous training efforts launched in 2018. The investments will also ensure that the voters Democrats are talking to online are represented in content creation and targeting decisions.
During the 2020 cycle, Priorities USA trained nearly 600 individuals and supported trainees with free guidance and digital advertising best practices to prepare them to run their own digital advertising programs. This cycle, Priorities USA is bolstering those efforts with a dedicated director of digital partnerships who will work with both in-house fellows and allied organizations to train future digital operatives and ensure that the entire movement has access to updated targeting tactics, test results and additional research.
The investment will also allow Priorities to stay ahead of the rapid changes to online advertising while ensuring that the entire Democratic campaign infrastructure is well-prepared to effectively communicate with voters on digital platforms. The announcement that Facebook will significantly limit political targeting options made clear how necessary these investments are. Additionally, companies like Google and Apple announced they were phasing out cookies which will drastically alter how advertisers can use data to reach voters. Since 2017, Priorities USA has developed updated targeting strategies that can help tackle these changes and shared these best practices with the progressive movement.
“Priorities USA is continuing to make good on our commitment to ensure that Democrats are not only competitive online for this election cycle but for years to come,” said Nick Ahamed, Deputy Executive Director of Priorities USA. “Priorities USA is focusing on updating our digital operation to prepare for the future. But to build winning campaigns, Democrats need a strong digital infrastructure that includes voices from all backgrounds and perspectives. Through these continued investments, Priorities will diversify the infrastructure that makes digital campaigns effective.”