What We Do
Our Work
By offering a full range of services, we don’t just manage campaigns — we build resilient coalitions that stand the test of time and changing political winds.
By offering a full range of services, we don’t just manage campaigns — we build resilient coalitions that stand the test of time and changing political winds.
In 2018, Underdog worked with the Coney Island Anti-Violence Collaborative (CIAVC) to develop a new and innovative strategic plan as well as an organizational rebrand.
Our work focused on increasing efficient use of staff time and resources, developing and executing a community engagement strategy, and building more widespread awareness around CIAVC’s anti-violence advocacy efforts. Our grassroots advocacy included community canvassing, coalition building with local and national anti-violence and gun control organizations to address shared issues, and implementing robust digital outreach within the South Brooklyn community.
These efforts increased the number of active and informed members, developed a coalition of local businesses acting as safe spaces, and ensured a strong community response to acts of violence in the neighborhood.
A true Underdog story. We are very proud of Mathylde Frontus’ campaign for New York State Assembly.
Dr. Frontus was a first-time insurgent candidate running against a well-funded and machine-backed candidate in the Democratic Primary. Despite being outspent 5:1 and receiving little to no support from NY’s elected officials, unions, and special interests, Mathylde Frontus won the primary by 51 votes.
Her campaign was people-powered and grassroots. Though a very challenging race, Frontus inspired constituents looking for a candidate who wasn’t beholden to special interests, had a genuine history of service to the community and could be trusted to root out corruption in both the district and Albany. Frontus, a woman of color running in a majority white district, would go on to win in the General Election by receiving 15,725 votes (53.6% of votes cast).
In support of City Council member Rafael Espinal’s 2019 run for NYC Public Advocate, we recruited, trained, and managed a team of 150+ canvassers who worked across all five boroughs of NYC.
In our outreach, we canvassed over 150,000 NYC residents. We strategically targeted key constituencies with door-to-door campaigns that provided educational information on the role of the Public Advocate and policies around greener infrastructure, increased taxes on Wall Street, and stronger protections and rights for NYC workers.
In 2019, Underdog Strategies partnered with Project Ready to develop and lead a six-month training program for Project Ready’s founding cohort of leaders.
At the completion of the program, each cohort member was prepared to lead and support initiatives to protect and secure high-quality education in Newark, NJ. Participants also gained a foundation in campaign management and grassroots advocacy, mastering skills including writing and giving speeches, putting together a digital and communications plan, and writing op-eds on local Newark issues. These leaders charted their paths throughout the program to become power brokers and influencers of education policy in their communities.
As a testament to this cohort’s commitment to the work, they led a voter registration drive in 2019 that successfully registered and encouraged over 1,000 Newark residents to vote by mail in the local school board election.
In 2018, Underdog supported operation H.O.O.D. in creating a new website that ensured the Brooklyn community had access to anti-violence resources and more direct lines of communication to the organization to increase collaboration in achieving their mission of ending gun violence in Coney Island.
On March 24, 2018, as a response to the devastating shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, we partnered with the March for Our Lives coalition, The Coney Island Anti-Violence Collaborative, high school students in Coney Island, and local elected officials to protest and march for increased gun safety legislation nationwide.
The march, one of the hundreds happening around the country, was planned by students and survivors of gun violence in communities big and small in all 50 states. Underdog, in collaboration with local students and non-profits, developed and managed the logistics of the march and created a program that featured elected officials, students, religious and community leaders, and anti-violence organizations. We ensured the call to action was heard in all Brooklyn communities by amplifying our message on digital media and local press outlets.
During Lindsey Boylan’s historic 2020 congressional run, we worked closely with her team to craft a voter outreach strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic. By collaborating closely with her field director, we could craft messaging carefully tailored for each portion of the district. Additionally, we executed a $75,000 ad buy that carefully targeted voters, allowed for higher-order engagement, and built Lindsey’s email list.
Together with Next Generation Politics, we crafted and executed a storytelling training for 20 youth leaders, each working on their own local advocacy projects. Their areas of advocacy spanned environmental justice, LGBTQIA visibility and rights, police reform and divestment, and the prioritization of public education. During our training, we taught the fundamentals of advocacy and how to articulate a compelling vision for the future.