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Sometimes you have to knock things down in order to build them up. David Siders, Civic Engagement Coordinator at the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library (CHPL), knows this well. He believes in knocking down barriers. And he believes in knocking down silos.

Siders leads CHPL's partnership with about 20 other local organizations--including local chapters of the League of Women Voters, ACLU, and NAACP--in the . The coalition formed in 2020 to support voter participation during the pandemic. Today, coalition partners continue to marshal their respective assets for collective impact, using data to inform their action. For example, they analyze voter turnout across Cincinnati and identify neighborhoods with lower participation to target for voter registration and other outreach efforts.

Part of that outreach includes knocking down informational barriers to voting. Siders points to myth-busting as being critical to expanding voter participation. Myths about , for example, about the (yes, your vote matters!), as well as about logistics and how to vote. It also includes outreach beyond what any organization can achieve alone. The library communicates with eligible voters through its branches, with digital resources, and through its legacy outreach programs. That impact is amplified by partner organizations, like the NAACP, which deploys a , and Rideshare2Vote, which offers .

The coalition's vision is bold: 100% participation by eligible voters. And electoral engagement is just one piece of the coalition's work, and of the ongoing civic engagement efforts of CHPL, where Siders hosts community conversations, author events, and other events and programming year-round, based on an assessment of community needs and in partnership with other organizations across the city.

Now that's some impressive building.

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