When we hosted our big public launch in Matewan in 2019, there were zero WV Can't Wait no-corporate-cash candidates in office. Now there are 24.

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We made it this far not only because of a lot of hard work and sacrifice--but also because we embraced our ability to experiment, to evolve. Together, over the last five years, we have tried more than 20 initiatives, all aimed at shifting the balance of power in West Virginia from the Wealthy Good Old Boys Club to the rest of us. Some have failed, some have soared, some have evolved in a direction none of could have predicted, some we're still making sense of.

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Do you remember these?

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Constituency Teams (Seniors Can't Wait, Students Can't Wait, etc.) and County Captains helped write our Statewide Platform. Our Neighborhood Captain Program made national news for combining mutual aid and voter turnout. Hometown Heroes, Organizer Apprentices, and Citizen Journalists stepped in where government is failing. City Slates and the WV Can't Wait Pledge held candidates accountable to something larger than themselves. Governance Retreats, a City Councilors Club, and a School Board Club helped folks govern once they won. A Movement Safety Fund and free Mental Health Can't Wait program helped our people survive. A 4-Day Organizing Intensive Training, Municipal Ballot Initiatives, a full Candidate How-To Guide & Toolkit, the state's first-ever Campaign Staff Union.... the list goes on.

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But experimenting alone is not how we've become a powerful institution. We also rested, reflected, taken time to listen about the impacts of our work. And that's exactly what we'll be doing again for the next 6 months. Here's what that will look like (and where you might fit in):

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Evaluation. In the next 6 months, we will hold more than 125 1-on-1 meetings with our top leaders, candidates, captains, electeds and allies--looking back on past failures, successes, and lessons learned. There will also be an online strategy survey (keep an eye out!), a deep electoral and financial analyses, and two leadership retreats (one in January, one in the summer) to make meaning of what we've done and to mark lessons for 2024 and beyond.

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Governance. Every WV Can't Wait elected official gets access to policy, communications, and strategy support... and with more of our folks in office than ever before, this work will be in even more demand. We will maintain our City Councilors Club, our School Board Club, and regular check-ins with candidates at the legislature and in county offices. We just had our second annual Governance Retreat, and we think you'll be bowled over by the ambitious plans our elected officials have in store. (And if you know any elected officials who might be interested in joining our governance program, send them our way!)

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Morgantown City Council+. The Morgantown Can't Wait team will gear up for municipal elections this April, and we will be right there to help them with door-knocking, textbanking, Facebook ads, and whatever else they need. We are also always on the lookout for folks who want to run their own municipal slates. We're hearing rumblings in Parkersburg, Huntington, Beckley, Charles Town, and Wheeling for 2024. (Let us know if you want to pitch in with one of those towns, or add your own!)

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New Roles and Responsibilities. With each season comes news leadership roles and opportunities. We want to offer our enormous appreciation to staff members Rosemary Ketchum, Ash Elswick, Rae Kelsch, and Sarah Hutson--four of the people who guided us through this last election cycle with passion, skill, and creativity... and who will be moving on to new adventures in the coming months. We are also recruiting for a dozen or so volunteer Movement Captain roles to help lead WV Can't Wait's work in early 2023. We're especially looking for a Fundraising Captain (to help coordinate our spring donor drive), a Capitol Captain or two (to offer support during the legislative session, including direct support for Elliott Pritt one or two days/week in his capitol office) and a couple Morgantown Captains (to help with the upcoming elections). If any of that sounds like you, or if there's another role you've got in mind, click reply to this email and let us know.

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Taking Care. It's still true that there is too much pain in this state and too few shoulders to carry it. To continue to be present to ourselves and each other we have to take time to rest and heal. Over next 6 months we will continue to operate our free Mental Health program for WV Can't Wait leaders and our Movement Safety program for folks who are receiving threats. I (Katey) will be on sabbatical from late January through early June. And we're also encouraging others to slow down where you can. For some of us, that means stepping back from a leadership role, saying "no" more often, or just taking a break. We hope you'll find what's right for you.

Yall, it's been one hell of a year. And what the future holds is cloudy at best. What gives us confidence, more than anything, is that this culture of learning we've built--one where we try, we reflect, we learn, we rest, we try again--that that rhythm will serve us, come what may. Thank you for helping to shape how we move.?

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With care,

Katey

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PS As always, our work is funded by all of us -- not lobbyists and corporate PACs. Donations always dip after an election season, exactly at the time when we most need to sustain the gains we've made. If you are able to start a monthly donation or chip-in a little extra to make up for the folks who have had to pull back their giving, we'd sure appreciate it. The link is below.

WV Can't Wait is a movement to win a people's government in the Mountain State. For more information, visit wvcantwait.com.