Direct Democracy Diaries Episode 4: Beyond Translation: Culturally Rooted Messaging that Wins with Dusti Gurule

10/22/2025

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What makes voters lean in and say yes at the ballot box? In this episode, co-hosts Chris Melody Fields Figueredo and Caroline Sánchez-Avakian are joined by Dusti Gurule, President & CEO of COLOR and COLOR Action Fund, to unpack the art and strategy of storytelling that resonates.

From building story banks and engaging trusted messengers to navigating multilingual, cross-cultural outreach, Dusti shares how campaigns craft narratives that connect with voters. She also digs into how research, authenticity, and community-rooted voices can cut through misinformation and leave lasting power beyond a single campaign.

If you want to understand why storytelling is the heartbeat of successful ballot measures, this episode is for you.

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Highlights from the episode with Dusti Gurule: 

  • “You have to build that trust with community, be in community, and just have conversations.”
  • “Leadership matters. I think people know I’m not going to bullshit them. I’m real and upfront, and we don’t promise something that’s not realistic and that we’re not actually going to do.”
  • “I’m very intentional. My leadership style is that we do what we do well. We can’t do everything — but what we do, we need to do it well.”
  • “We’ve changed the ecosystem in Colorado. We pushed against the notion that Latinos are sort of an afterthought, which is really helping to change the narrative. I also think multilingual means the language that resonates with community — so, it’s not just translating it to Spanish.” 
  • “You have to be intentional about your plan and your proposal and what your North Star is and work toward that.”
  • “Talk to community. Trust the people on the ground. Whether they have a formalized organization or not, have conversations with community. That’s where you learn the language. Be a part of community.”
  • “It’s a multifaceted approach, it’s not just cookie-cutter, because people aren’t flat; people aren’t stagnant; people aren’t just something on a piece of paper or in a commercial. It’s a continual progression, a continual movement and adjustment and pivot, because that’s who humans are.”

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Episode Shownotes:

  • [00:00:04] Introduction to the podcast and the ballot measure lifecycle
  • [00:02:25] Explanation of the ballot measure lifecycle and its phases
  • [00:06:36] Overview of ballot access across states and types of measures
  • [00:07:42] Importance of storytelling and head-heart-gut messaging
  • [00:07:56] Introduction of Dusti Gurule and her background in social justice
  • [00:09:46] Dusti’s early experiences and leadership journey with COLOR
  • [00:14:14] Chris shares personal inspiration from Dusti
  • [00:18:04] Dusti on starting messaging early and building trust in community
  • [00:25:03] How community-centered messaging spans the full lifecycle
  • [00:26:25] Building authentic narratives and voter trust
  • [00:29:41] Crafting resonant, multilingual messages across cultures
  • [00:35:59] Lessons from campaigns and ongoing impact of storytelling
  • [00:39:13] Cultural and linguistic nuances in campaign messaging
  • [00:42:53] Community-first campaign strategy and local trust
  • [00:46:30] The role of second-language speakers in message delivery
  • [00:47:57] Dusti on BISC partnership and national visibility
  • [00:53:04] Combatting attacks on democracy and the need for accountability
  • [00:57:01] Advice to early-career advocates and seasoned leaders
  • [01:00:07] Ballot measures as love letters to community
  • [01:02:28] Where to learn more about COLOR and recent campaigns

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

[Caroline Sánchez-Avakian] (0:04 – 0:15)

Welcome to the Direct Democracy Diaries, the podcast where we explore the power of ballot measures and the people behind them. I’m Caroline Sánchez-Avakian.

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (0:16 – 0:42)

And I’m Chris Melody Fields Figueredo. Join us as we dive deep into the stories, strategies, and successes that are shaping the future of our democracy, one diary entry at a time. Hey, everyone, I’m Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, co-host of Direct Democracy Diaries.

 

And welcome back to the show. Caroline, can you believe we’re halfway through our first season?

 

[Caroline Sánchez-Avakian] (0:43 – 1:01)

I can’t believe it. And we are really making our way through the ballot measure lifecycle from concept to building a coalition to signature gathering. We’re going to tackle it all. And we’ve really had some inspiring leaders walk us through the process.

 

And I know that I have learned a ton.

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (1:02 – 1:16)

So much. Speaking of learning, since we’re halfway through the season, do you mind if we do a little ballot measure 101 for folks who might be newer to this very important tool for democracy?

 

[Caroline Sánchez-Avakian] (1:16 – 1:20)

Let’s do it.

 

So Chris, what’s a ballot measure?

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (1:21 – 2:25)

So ballot measures, or sometimes they’re known as initiatives or referendums, are questions that are placed before voters either locally, at the county level, or statewide ballots. You can see them in a general election, primary elections, and sometimes even special elections.

 

And depending on where you live, it might be called a proposition or an initiative or an issue, measure or amendment. And really the ballot initiative process gives us, the people, the ability to propose constitutional amendments or statutes to vote on. It’s our power, our agency.

 

Now every state’s process is a little different, but essentially people care about an issue. They go into their communities, they collect signatures for petitions to place those issues directly before voters. And at BISC, we call that entire process the ballot measure life cycle.

 

[Caroline Sánchez-Avakian] (2:26 – 4:21)

And the critical points within that life cycle are, number one, the incubation phase, where an initiative begins with an exploration of the concept, some initial research, and the formation of a coalition of organizations that will hold this work. Number two is the decision phase, which determines the initiative’s viability in the current political landscape. Can they make this initiative work?

 

And at the end of this phase, the coalition will determine whether or not to move forward to the next phase, go or no go. Then thirdly, there’s the qualification phase. This is where signatures are gathered, earned media begins, a ton of the other media begins, and messaging for the initiative is developed and certified by the state.

 

Then there’s the campaign phase, where the campaign reaches full maturity in an all out effort to educate and mobilize voters to actually pass the initiative. And last, but certainly not least, is the implementation phase. This is the really, really important work of direct democracy that is done to ensure the will of the people is executed after the election by elected officials.

 

This is a really, really important part of the ballot measure lifecycle because it’s after voters have voted and when they’ve passed the initiative, we need to make sure that they actually implement what was on the ballot. And as we have seen so much, Chris, is that there are so many attacks and barriers that are being thrown up against voters and the will of the people, folks that have passed initiatives. We are seeing all kinds of legal challenges to stop the implementation of the ballot measure.

 

And that’s a really, really, really important part of BISC’s work that we want to highlight as part of the ballot measure lifecycle.

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (4:22 – 5:18)

Absolutely. The work does not start or stop on Election Day. And you mentioned direct democracy, which is a term that we often use to describe ballot measures because it’s important.

 

It really communicates the importance of this tool. It gives us, the people, the voters, the power, the agency to directly propose and pass new laws by putting them up for a vote. We don’t have to wait.

 

We actually can, you know, to that self-determination, that agency, we can do these things. And it’s an essential tool for passing people-centered policies, which you’ve heard in so many of the episodes already at the state and local level. And we also know that direct democracy is really critical to building an inclusive, participatory and thriving democracy.

 

[Caroline Sánchez-Avakian] (5:19 – 6:35)

Absolutely. And to talk a little bit about the numbers and the stats here, we have the power to use statewide ballot measures in 23 out of the 50 states, as well as Washington, D.C. Two additional states, Maryland and New Mexico, allow for veto referendums only. There are two ways for initiatives to end up on the ballot.

 

Two ways. There’s the legislatively referred way, where statutes or constitutional amendments can be referred to the ballot, so placed on the ballot by state legislators. And there’s the citizen-initiated ballot measure, people-run ballot measures, where volunteers and or paid canvassers collect the required number of individual petition signatures to qualify an initiative for public vote.

 

Additionally, there are veto referendums that give voters the power to repeal, to take away or uphold an existing law. And each state has a different number of signatures required for an initiative to qualify for the ballot. And if you want to learn more, you can check out BISC’s ballot measure FAQ section on our website at ballot.org.

 

And if you want more details about your state specifically, check out your state’s secretary of state’s website. They all have them.

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (6:36 – 7:42)

So, I hope you enjoyed a little ballot measure 101. There’s so much more besides the basics of the process. You know, the beauty of ballot measures is they can encompass a wide range of issues that can bring people together across political and ideological spectrums.

 

Everything from Medicaid expansion to ensuring that we protect public education funding, to protecting abortion access in states, increasing the minimum wage, fair redistricting and so much more. Today’s episode, we’re going to dive into a little bit more about, yes, the importance of running a ballot measure campaign, but beyond that, how important storytelling and messaging is when you’re creating these efforts. What drives people to actually vote and how important it is to have authentic messages that reach voters where they are and resonate with them.

 

[Caroline Sánchez-Avakian] (7:42 – 7:55)

Yes, Chris, we talk a lot at BISC about head, heart and gut messaging, and I’m really looking forward to hearing what Dusti has to say about it. So, let’s get the show started, Chris.

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (7:56 – 9:23)

We are so excited to be joined by Dusti Gurule. Dusti has been the president and CEO of the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, or COLOR, and the COLOR Action Fund since 2017. COLOR is Colorado’s leading multi-entity reproductive justice organization with a mission to enable Latinx individuals and their families to lead safe, healthy and self-determined lives.

 

In 2004, Dusti served as the founding executive director for the Latina Initiative and from 2010 to 2017, Dusti was a presidential appointee for President Obama, serving as the regional representative for the Secretary of Labor in seven states where she led education and coalition building efforts. Dusti also served as the board chair for Voces Unidas Action Fund and among her many, many, many, I mean, she is the bomb, awards and honors. In 2024, Dusti was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame.

 

Wow. Dusti, Welcome to the show.

 

[Dusti Gurule] (9:24 – 9:25)

Thanks for having me.

 

 

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (9:26 – 9:42)

We are so excited to have you. So, I gave a little background on you, but we want to know more about Dusti. What motivates you?

 

What drives you? Who are your people and what led you to this incredibly important work?

 

[Dusti Gurule] (9:43 – 13:20)

Well, that’s a lot. So, I grew up in the Crusade for Justice, which was the sort of the center for the Denver Chicano movement during the civil rights movement of the late 60s through the 70s. And so I grew up in that, and my parents were heavily involved in the organization. My great aunt, Jerry, my grandma’s sister, was married to Corky, so he’s my uncle through marriage.

 

So, it was a big family sort of center, and I grew up there all the way up until I was 11. And so I had the sort of foundations of how important social justice work is sort of ingrained in me. And then I think just I got my bachelor’s in Chicano Studies.

 

I’ve always been engaged in working in youth leadership. I worked for the La Raza Youth Leadership Conference for a number of years and then got my master’s in nonprofit management and so wanted to stay connected and rooted in community and work for community based organizations. And then my time, when I found COLOR, we were founded in 1998 and I attended the sort of founding launch meeting with my mom in 1998.

 

And I remember thinking, wow, this is what an amazing organization. It sort of brings social justice, but also that strong sort of female identified positioning and bodily autonomy and like voice. And so I was like, oh, it came from the clouds.

 

And then in 2003, when COLOR hired their first staff person, I applied and went through five rounds of interviews. I always joke with my staff now, I’m like, yeah, five rounds. And so I was the first paid staff person for COLOR in 2003 for about a year, a little over a year and a half.

 

And that’s when I went on to the Latina Initiative. So, I’ve always been connected with COLOR. And when I worked for the Latina Initiative, then I partnered with COLOR, and that’s when we started doing a lot of our civic engagement, voter engagement work within the organization.

 

I also launched Colorado Latino Advocacy Day in 2007, which now COLOR, it does in partnership with Voces Unidas. And then also in partnership with Latina Initiative and COLOR, we launched our Latinas Increasing Political Strength program, which we just celebrated our 16th anniversary for that program. And we’re super excited about adding an alumni portion to the program and really tightening up, strengthening up the curriculum for the current program.

 

So, I’ve been involved with COLOR since the beginning here and there. I’ve been a mentor for the programs when I was working at different places. And then I came back in 2017 and never thought that I would be an Executive Director again because, you know, it’s not for the faint at heart.

 

 

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (13:20 – 13:21)

It sure is not.

 

[Dusti Gurule] (13:21 – 14:13)

And it’s exhausting. And so, you know, coming from my appointment with the Obama administration, which was such an amazing experience, I didn’t think I wanted to be an Executive Director because, one, I didn’t really want to have to manage staff or do the fundraising, which turns out I’m really good at fundraising.

 

But the staff management sometimes is still that’s sort of like, yeah, it’s hard. So, I’m trying to get smarter about bringing people who have the skills that I don’t have to do some of that soft sort of management because, you know, I don’t have a poker face. So, if I’m happy, you’ll know it.

 

If I’m not, you’ll know it. So, you know, just trying to keep learning and keep moving forward.

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (14:14 – 15:31)

Well, it’s so beautiful and it feels like it’s it’s so ingraining you, it’s like a legacy that you’ve been a part of and it’s just, you know, I think we all learn in different ways and we come to this work in different ways. And I want to share a secret with you. So, Caroline and I, my co-host, we have a podcast coach and in that sort of some of the exercises we had to do, we were supposed to pick someone to be the person we’re talking to in this podcast.

 

And I picked you, Dusti, because I connect with you in so many different ways. But similar, we’ve been in this work for some time. And just because we’re seasoned, that doesn’t mean there isn’t more for us to learn.

 

And so like when I’m speaking on this on this podcast, I’m speaking to you, Dusti, people like us, you know, Latinas who are rooted in community, who have been around the block and have done a lot of things. But even if we’re in our señora era, there’s so much more for us, so much more value add for us. And I just I just wanted to share that with you as we started.

 

[Dusti Gurule] (15:31 – 15:45)

Thank you. I appreciate that. And I do remember when you first came to BISC and we met, it just seemed like we had known each other.

 

Well, and I think we met before that through the Latinati.

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (15:46 – 15:46)

Yeah.

 

[Dusti Gurule] (15:47 – 15:50)

Which, when I say that, it still sounds like a secret.

 

 

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (15:51 – 15:53)

Yeah, it does. Totally does.

 

[Dusti Gurule] (15:54 – 17:09)

But yeah, I thank you, honey.

 

I appreciate that. Because, you know, it’s exhausting, especially now with this administration and things coming down every single day. It’s something different.

 

I just heard—so I’ve just been recently appointed to the Denver Election Advisory Council. It used to be a commission, but now it’s an appointed council and just got a notice from the Denver clerk’s office, I guess, about what Trump just said about doing away with all-male voting. Like all that shit he says—sorry if I cussed, if I’m not allowed to cuss here—that just scares people.

 

And then people are sort of like, wait, you can’t do that, but still it’s sort of causing us to do all this extra work. So, it’s just exhausting. But, you know, I think there’s so much more we’re continuing to do.

 

And my light just went off. Hopefully that doesn’t mess you all up. Anyway, it’s great to be here.

 

And I appreciate you, Chris, for all the things that you’ve done since you’ve been at BISC.

 

[Caroline Sánchez-Avakian] (17:11 – 18:02)

Thanks for that, Dusti. And it’s also very exciting because this is season one, right? This is all new learning for all of us because while we’ve been on podcasts, we’ve certainly never led one.

 

And so we really wanted to focus this podcast on—or season one of this podcast—on the ballot measure lifecycle, right? Like really walking people through the components, but providing real-life people, the leaders behind each stage of that work, and really showcase that phase of the work by highlighting a really amazing leader in that ballot measure space. So, in this episode, as you know, we’re exploring storytelling and messaging to voters.

 

And so clearly, you know, messaging looks very different in every state, but there are fundamentals that go across states. So, I would love it if you would walk us through what it takes to get started with messaging for a ballot measure campaign.

 

[Dusti Gurule] (18:04 – 25:02)

Well, it’s interesting and very timely that we’re talking about this because COLOR is having conversations about getting involved with another coalition who’s working to get a ballot measure for next year’s election to address the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, the taper that we have currently, which has really hamstrung our state budget. And so I’ve had a few of these conversations with the folks who are part of that coalition and sort of lessons learned of how we successfully led Amendment 79 last year. And I feel like some folks, a lot of folks, because I’ve been working in elections for a long time, it’s not rocket science, but I feel like people try to make it rocket science.

 

Like, I think folks think you get a lot of money, you run a few TV ads, and that’s how you’re going to win a ballot measure without bringing community along, without having those conversations with community about what it is and what, you know, and how it will impact them in their daily life. Right. And so for us with Amendment 79, I mean, COLOR, we’re 27 years old.

 

We’ve been working in community, working with young people, working with Spanish-speaking community in different ways, of course, over the last 27 years, but more consistently since I’ve been here. And we launched another youth program called Youth of COLOR , which is sort of Latinas increasing political strength, 16 to 21 year olds. There’s a, we usually have a group about seven to 10.

 

Now we’re doing the alumni program, but then we have Youth of COLOR for more sort of college-aged young folks, and there’s three of them, with the idea that young people are bringing sort of their perspectives, they’re helping lead the work, and helping us better understand how what we’re doing impacts young folks. So, I say that to say, in addition to like, we’ve had our Mujeres de COLOR, which is a community, we do a lot of different sort of narrative work, communications work. We do a lot of community events.

 

All that to say that we’ve been in community, talking to community about how important it is to protect and expand abortion care. And that is like the core of the work that we do, right? Because then there’s all the intersections around having paid time off, you know, time off from work, getting paid a living wage.

 

So, all the economic justice issues, the criminal justice issues, right, around folks shouldn’t be criminalized for all the things, or maternal mortality, maternal health. So, all of those things, we have weaved into all of our conversations. And so more intentionally, in all of 2023, we were very laser focused on doing community education, both through our C3 and our C4, because we’re multi-entity.

 

Even before we knew we had the language, even before we made it to the ballot, we were in community talking to community, right? And so as we connected the dots, and when we had the language approved, we were on the ballot, which we were all surprised how, I don’t want to say easy, because it was a tough, tough road to get to the actual language that we submitted to the Secretary of State’s office. But we thought we would have to go through a couple different drafts or iterations.

 

And we passed it on first reading, which was amazing, because it was very simple what it said it would do, right, or will do. So, I think once we connected all the dots, and then again, talking to community, we came up with this campaign. We used a couple different influencers on social media.

 

In fact, one of the campaigns we came up with, it’s called “Latinas Deserve Care Without Barriers.” And so we’re continuing that campaign this year through next year, again, educating community about what the impacts of the ballot measure did, right? Because we had to pass policy earlier this year to actually implement it.

 

And now with all the cuts to Medicaid, and in fact, we have a special session here in Colorado starting on Thursday. And so we’re having to fight and push against a lot of our Democratic friends to ensure that our community is taken care of and not the first on the chopping block when cuts have to be made. So, I think the messaging is just being in community, talking to community.

 

I mean, we’ve tested our civic engagement program through the Analyst Institute. We’ve done two experiments with them. And so we sort of knew sometimes you have to do the research or a test to let everybody else believe what you already know, that our community trusts our voice.

 

And so when we tell them, you know, here’s this election and our Amendment 79 campaign. So, I was co-chair of the campaign, Coloradans for Reproductive Freedom. And then COLOR Action Fund, we also ran our own independent sort of parallel campaign to RC4 called “Abortion Access for All.”

 

And so we targeted Latinos, Latino households, and all of our targets voted yes on 79 at higher rates than they did for any other candidate or any other ballot measure. And so like that, again, is another example that you have to build that trust with community, be in community and just have conversations. Again, it’s not rocket science.

 

But I feel like folks who were on this other ballot measure, they get so in their head because they think tax policy is too complicated. Nobody’s going to understand it. So they don’t even bother talking to people about it.

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (25:03 – 26:25)

What I’ve appreciated is sort of in the course of you describing sort of how you’ve, you know, explored and used messaging for voters, which is what we’re doing in this episode. You sort of also taken us through the ballot measure life cycle, right? Like even before y’all were on the ballot, you were incubating, you were testing messages.

 

You were building trust and talking to the community all the way through, you know, through the campaign. And then after you’ve really talked, you shared about how important that implementation is and continuing to talk to the community about like, what is going to be the effect? How was this?

 

How can they access care? So, I really appreciate that. And I think you’ve also sort of established how much trust is so critically important.

 

And the messengers are in this work. And I think, you know, you talked about how, you know, you don’t have the poker face. And I think for voters too, they can see BS when it’s being served to them.

 

So, can you talk a little bit more about like how important and how you’ve built sort of this authentic representation, this trust, this community centered, especially around narratives of voters actually see themselves reflected in the message of a campaign or advocacy or any kind of effort?

 

[Dusti Gurule] (26:25 – 29:40)

Leadership matters. And so I think people know that I’m not going to bullshit people. And so some people, you know, I’m just real and upfront and we don’t promise something that’s not realistic and that we’re not actually going to do.

 

Because we all know there are a lot of folks who say a lot, but then it’s like, what did you actually do? So, I feel like we’ve, our organization, even before me, while I wasn’t here, since I was sort of, I’m on like the bookends of COLOR for now. I’m not going to be here forever, though.

 

Trust me, I’m exhausted. But I feel like we’ve had, we’ve maintained all the previous leaders. And don’t get me wrong.

 

We’ve had our drama with board and some staff and, but I feel like we’ve had a consistent presence in that people could count on us for something. You know what I mean? Like we never sort of left anybody hanging, at least I hope not.

 

And so I’m very intentional. My leadership style is that we do what we do well. We can’t do everything, but what we do, we need to do it well.

 

And so, you know, that’s, I’m kind of a tough boss sometimes, but, you know, we have to be, I mean, our community needs us. And especially in Colorado, where my like pet peeve for this week or this year actually has been some Democrats are moving more toward the middle. And so we have this, you know, I don’t know how well-meaning they are, but there’s some folks with resources who are like funding this new sort of effort called One Main Street, who’s also funding a lot of elected officials.

 

So, there’s some new folks. They have a lot of money behind them. They’re calling themselves the Opportunity Caucus, which so they’re totally taking advantage and taking sort of the language, right?

 

But yet they’ve been barriers to some real like progressive policies. And so they’re sort of on my shit list for this week, because we just found out there’s a bill during the special session that would have helped mitigate cuts to a program that we helped pass in 2021, 2022 called OmniSalud, which is a healthcare program that folks, regardless of documentation, can buy into and have health insurance, right? And now they compromised and aren’t going to run the bill that they were going to run.

 

And now they’re just sort of doing something sort of like a stopgap. So, where it would just be viable for one year. So, then we’re going to have to figure out what to do, because we can’t, we can’t let our communities like suffer any more than they already are.

 

[Caroline Sánchez-Avakian] (29:41 – 30:03)

Dusti, you talk a lot about being in community, and it’s something that at BISC we really deeply, obviously believe in. And it’s how we do the work. Can you tell us a little bit about how you approached crafting messages for your campaign and using stories that resonated across languages, generations, cultures, especially given Colorado’s diverse community?

 

[Dusti Gurule] (30:06 – 35:59)

So, with regard to the ballot measure, I think the other sort of context, which is where we learned a lot of lessons, was in 2020 when we helped defeat, I was co-chair of that campaign, the No On 115 campaign, which was, would have been a ban, an abortion ban here in Colorado. But we handily defeated that during COVID, everything was virtual. And so it was there that I realized, and I think my co-chair, because we sort of were part of this coalition, we all realized we need to be on the offensive.

 

We need to be being more proactive. But for me, we really need to be, we have to shift the framework of how people think about ballot measures. It was like that wash, rinse, repeat sort of thing.

 

You get a big pollster, national pollster, they poll, swing voters, and that’s the framework. It’s like, no, you need to pay attention to the demography of your state, to the community, bring all community voices. And so in 2021, in partnership with Voces Unidas, we launched the Colorado Latino Agenda, which under that, we house the Colorado Latino Policy Agenda.

 

So, we do a poll, largest poll of Latinos in our state. This year, we’re getting ready to release it. We’re doing a media release tomorrow, and then we’re going to release the full report in September.

 

But essentially, we did that for multiple reasons. One, because we wanted to sort of bring community voice to decision makers, policy makers, to electeds, to say, this is what your constituency, what is important to them. This is why we need to craft policies to address these things.

 

Instead of saying, well, my constituents and we all know what a lot of elected officials do. So, from that point, the first year we did it, we did a sample of non-voters, because we also know our work isn’t just focused on voters, right? Because there’s all this bunch of different reasons why our community are not registered to vote and or vote.

 

So, there’s all these different layers. And so we started asking questions to our community, what’s important to you? And of course, we ask questions about abortion care, reproductive health care, reproductive rights, like what’s important?

 

Do people agree with it, regardless of religious affiliation, age, or even party affiliation? And consistently, we’ve seen over the years, and in fact, we were able to ask specific questions around the ballot measure language leading up to that, because we knew what we wanted to do, right? We wanted to put into the Constitution, the right to an abortion, and also to strike the language, the prohibitive language from using state funds to pay for abortion care, which was a ballot measure that passed in 1984.

 

And so we wanted to make sure that that was removed. We struck that language from the Constitution. And overwhelmingly, I mean, 60 plus percent said, yes, they support that, right?

 

And so we continually used that information, not just for the ballot measure, but for all the other work that we do. We oversample in congressional districts, because we also use a portion of that for our political work. You all know, Congressional District 8, which is a new district for us, which we have worked heavily in since we got it and helped elect Congressman Caraveo.

 

She lost for other reasons, which is a whole other podcast conversation. And now, of course, we’re working and will be endorsing in that race to get rid of Gabe Evans, because he is terrible. And so we use that.

 

Our poll isn’t, it’s not just sort of stagnant. Like we use it as a tool for all of our organizing, our civic engagement work, our policy work, and our accountability work for elected officials. So I think we are unique in that we, I mean, it’s expensive, don’t get me wrong, we raise the money to do it, but we understand how important it is to all of the work that we do.

 

And so I think we’re sort of, we’re in a different position than a lot of other organizations probably who are wanting to run ballot measures, right, because we have our own sort of, have built our own infrastructure to bring community voice with us. And so I think there’s the poll, but then there’s also, again, our working with our young people and having conversations. And we had a group of amazing like storytellers, and we had a program last year that we called Aborto Defenders, where it was again, using some influencers where they told their story about why they support and sort of their own personal story, right, about access to abortion care.

 

So, it’s a multifaceted approach, but, you know, I think it’s necessary because it’s not just, it’s not just a cookie cutter, because people aren’t, people aren’t flat, people aren’t stagnant, people aren’t just something on a piece of paper or in a commercial.

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (35:59 – 37:43)

Many things I love about you and Akolor is how you are grounded, not only in community, but research, and this shares a similar philosophy. It’s not just one poll. It’s many polls and research over a given time, a lot of different ways of gathering information, and also using that to think about how that might, you know, give you containers for how you bring arts and culture, which, you know, I can see the poster behind you for Amendment 79.

 

I know one of the influencers you used in the effort was Annie Gonzalez, who I may or not have a crush on, but, you know, you really just have tapped into so many ways people learn, communicate, engage, and I’m curious as to like, is that because, you know, is that, you sort of alluded to this, but you worked on a lot of different campaigns over the years, right? And I’m sure you’ve learned from that, right? And I’m curious, you know, what are, and you actually mentioned, Tabor, the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, what were some of the stories or messages throughout, you know, your time working on ballot measures and working in Colorado that you’ve seen really resonated with folks that helped you not just get out the vote, right?

 

Like, and make sure that people voted yes on Amendment 79 or vote, did no on 1 to 15, but it really left something behind that lasts and endures beyond that individual campaign.

 

[Dusti Gurule] (37:44 – 39:12)

I mean, I think there’s multiple sort of examples or stories of that. And I think, you know, it’s through our like programs with young people, like our LIPS and our Youth of COLOR. One of our fellows, Alison, who was our policy fellow last year, spoke multiple times and told her story, I think at a couple rallies about her experience with being on Medicaid and how critical and important that program is to her and her family.

 

Another one of my team members who started with us as a LIPS participant and then a Youth of COLOR fellow, and now is running our civic engagement programs. She tells a beautiful story about her family and the impact to her family and that her dad when he was deported. And, you know, so all of these like real life stories are not so separate from who we are as an organization.

 

You know what I mean? We don’t have to go find somebody, although we are working to bring more people into like our storytelling and, you know, always refining how we do our work. But I think, you know, that’s the sort of stuff that keeps me going.

 

[Caroline Sánchez-Avakian] (39:13 – 39:24)

Dusti, can you tell us a bit about building out a multilingual campaign messaging strategy and why that is so important, especially now in the moment that we’re in?

 

[Dusti Gurule] (39:28 – 42:11)

Well, I mean, I think again, I think the old sort of framework, which fortunately, hopefully, because of the work that COLOR has been leading, is getting we’ve changed the ecosystem in Colorado. A lot of people probably think we’re a pain in the butt, but I don’t care. But that sort of notion and pushing against that notion that Latinos are, we’re sort of an afterthought, right?

 

We’re like, oh, we’ll just, oh, we’re oversample or we’ll just translate this into Spanish, probably using someone who doesn’t speak like regional Spanish because it’s mostly Mexicans in Colorado. And so I think we really pushed against that notion of just sort of taking us for granted, essentially. And so with us leading the narrative, right, and bringing our community and doing our own like polling, where we’re just the poll, we’re not an oversample.

 

I think that is really helping to change sort of the narrative. But I also think, you know, multilingual for me also means the language that resonates with community, right? So, it’s not just translating it to Spanish.

 

So, like in 2020, we had to push quite back a lot against using like gender-focused language and saying like women, because it’s like people, right? People who need an abortion or people who need abortion care or like families or, you know, so sort of trying to change the framework of how the public sees community or families or people. So, I feel like we’ve been, and I think a lot of other organizations are now sort of taking that on also.

 

And so it’s not like such a crazy thing when people, you know, I mean, now people introduce themselves with their pronouns, which who would have thunk that would have been a thing in 2020, right? And so I think just being, you got to be intentional about your plan and your proposal and sort of what your North Star is and just work toward that. And for us, it was always to make sure that we’re, again, not an afterthought and that we are like lifting up and celebrating the great things that we, our community brings to the table.

 

[Caroline Sánchez-Avakian] (42:11 – 42:49)

Dusti, it’s really interesting what you said about, it’s not just about translating an English message into Spanish and for the sake of everyone, but especially for our newer listeners who may be newer to the ballot measure space or just messaging in general for campaigns, no matter what type of campaign. Can you talk to that nuance a little bit more in terms of like, what are the cultural things that you need to look out for, the generational aspects of that messaging about not having it just be a direct translation from English to Spanish? What are the considerations there?

 

 

 

[Dusti Gurule] (42:50 – 43:41)

Talk to community. I think when it comes to elections, and I think hopefully we’re sort of moving away from this notion where folks would parachute in and say, this is how we’re going to run the campaign. Trust the people on the ground, we’re here, they’re there, whether they have a formalized organization or not, have conversations with community. That’s where you learn how to talk to community.

 

You know what I mean? That’s where you learn the language. Be a part of community if you’re not or, you know, find your people and don’t try to come at it from up here and here’s this framework of running a ballot measure.

 

It’s like you got to start here and then sort of do it all at the same time. That makes sense.

 

[Caroline Sánchez-Avakian] (43:43 – 44:08)

It totally does. And I think that’s a really important, those are such important layers to consider when you’re talking about bilingual messaging or trilingual messaging or really reaching people from the heart instead of just the head with a literal translation. And there’s just, I find it endlessly fascinating as a comms person.

 

That’s just really interesting and important.

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (44:08 – 45:21)

Yeah, and the other thing I appreciated, it’s not even just language. It is our way of understanding, interpreting things. We’re all Latinas here and, you know, most of my first job and almost all of my jobs, especially earlier in my career, I was the one who was supposed to translate to folks, right?

 

And it was so hard. I remember I was working at a community-based organization and we were doing work around No Child Left Behind and there were just literal concepts that exist here in the United States that don’t exist in Latin America or any other country. And I was like, listen, I got to approach this in a very different way than a verbatim translation of what you want me to talk about as I’m going to do these trainings and create these posters.

 

I was working for an education-based community organization. I have to really talk about it in terms and concepts beyond that direct translation. So, I appreciate that because it’s so much more than just having, I’m going to have a Spanish language ad, I’m going to have something in Bengali, right?

 

It’s so much more than that. So, I appreciate that.

 

[Dusti Gurule] (45:22 – 46:30)

Yeah, because I feel like that sort of, again, goes to this notion that people are flat. And that’s also to say that, right? It’s a continual progression, a continual movement and adjustment and pivot because that’s who humans are.

 

We can’t go back to 1950, even though some people want to take us back there. But it’s, again, how we started having this conversation, as long as I’ve been doing this work in my mature age now, you have to learn when to sort of pick your battles and say, okay, let’s make sense and let’s have sort of a group think here and let’s pivot here and let’s adjust here because nobody has it figured out, even though some people think they do. And so there’s a certain level of vulnerability, right?

 

That we have to bring to the work also.

 

[Caroline Sánchez-Avakian] (46:30 – 47:57)

And there’s also so much to be said about second language speakers that they are so savvy when it comes to language because they think in two languages. They have to, even if they only speak English a little bit, they’re constantly playing language in their head. I mean, if I think about it, my own personal story, I mean, I was eight years old going with my grandfather to doctor’s appointments to translate for him.

 

We’re so savvy at being able to not just translate directly from English to Spanish, but to really deliver it in a way that someone can understand it, regardless of whether it’s a literal translation. So, it’s almost like we are experts, experts in language because we exist in this space of these two language worlds and our heads are always going back and forth. So, especially crucial to be able to develop that type of nuanced, cultural, multi-generational messaging that resonates in a much deeper level.

 

So, my next question is more BISC related. I’ve been asking so many of our guests who have come on the show, how did BISC show up for you during ballot measure work? We want to explore more of that relationship that we’ve had with our dear partners.

 

And so what was that partnership like for you, Dusti? I mean, we’ve known each other, you’ve been working with BISC for years, but tell us a little bit about what partnership is like with us.

 

[Dusti Gurule] (47:57 – 48:23)

I mean, I’ve always had known about BISC, but I think my first sort of direct connection was in 2020 when we were, you know, defeating 115. And that was, you know, sort of a technical assistance relationship. I think Marsha, how long has Marsha been with BISC?

 

A while, right?

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (48:24 – 48:25)

10 years.

 

[Dusti Gurule] (48:25 – 48:25)

Yes.

 

 

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (48:25 – 48:27)

She celebrated 10 years in the summer. Yep.

 

[Dusti Gurule] (48:27 – 51:24)

Holy smokes.

 

So, I think Marsha may have been one of the first folks that I met. And then when Corinne was there, I interacted with her a little bit. And so I think it was 2020, we got technical assistance, you know, it was sort of that ballot measure came quick and our no campaign had to come quick.

 

And we were fortunate enough to be able to raise enough money to, you know, defeat it. I think from then on is when we were thinking, okay, we need to be, let’s be proactive to move forward. And that’s where we started to have more regular conversations.

 

And then like attending the conferences, and I think what has been very helpful, Chris, and I think I’ve thanked you for this, but I want to do it again. Because when we were moving Amendment 79 forward, and I was on, I think, a fishbowl, which is an interesting thing. Yeah, I was like, I don’t know what to do here.

 

Just giving us the platform and sort of the space to talk about our ballot measure, because I think a lot of folks thought we weren’t really on the radar for national folks. Because everybody thinks Colorado’s blue, we’re all good. And granted, yes, there are other states who are in a lot of different, who are in a lot of tougher spaces than we are in.

 

But we’ve been working hard at this since 2006 is when we really started framing out our progressive table, and whatever that looks like many different iterations over the years. So, having that platform, and then I think, Chris, you just sort of have said, Hey, have you met? Did you know COLOR?

 

Did you know Colorado? So, that has been so beneficial, not just to the ballot measure effort, but also to COLOR, because we were the only reproductive justice organization in the coalition. We didn’t have a national affiliate like some of the other organizations did.

 

So, just having that sort of support and platform was so beneficial and meaningful. And so I just wanted to thank you for that. Because that also helped me reconnect with someone who I had met, a funder who I had met in a previous circle.

 

But I think that conversation is where, fortunately, they’re spending down, but we were able to get resources from them. So, I’m like, that’s a win-win.

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (51:26 – 53:03)

Well, thank you for that. And I’m happy to. I think you’re a badass.

 

And I think the work of COLOR is just so incredibly amazing. And I’m happy to make those connections for you and any of our partners. You know, I just feel like I try to have an abundance mindset as a leader and having an ecosystem that is invested in and valued, not just at BISC, I think makes all of us strong.

 

So, I’m happy to do that. So, you know, we are living in a time where, you know, democracy and ballot measures really are under unprecedented attacks across the country. Right.

 

I mean, I think if you look not just at Colorado, and certainly, you know, this from though in history of Colorado, just because you pass something doesn’t mean that that’s the end of the story. Right. And, you know, listening to the will of the people and making sure that that is heard is often the even greater battle post-win.

 

You know, from your experience over the years, and obviously, like the climate in Colorado has changed significantly, but you alluded to, like, even people who you think are your friends once you win might not be there for you. So, what are your thoughts on, you know, ways to combat these attacks that we’re seeing to our democracy, to direct democracy specifically? And what do you think is so critical right now as we think about how the stories that we tell?

 

[Dusti Gurule] (53:04 – 56:15)

For me, which is why I love that we have, I mean, we launched our C4 in 2018. And we’re really able to sort of show our muscle with the C4. We did some in 2020, but last year with our Abortion Access for All campaign, and that’s important and critical.

 

But I think where I want us to go and where we are going, my team, I just, I’m like, we need to do this, is the accountability and calling out elected officials who are not doing what they should be doing. Because if people don’t get called on their stuff, they’re just going to keep doing it. And people are going to just think it’s okay.

 

And it’s, oh, it’s just, we have to do this cut. So we just kind of have to. It’s like, no, you don’t.

 

So, like just being more upfront, more bold, calling people in really, you know, different ways, like getting to their constituents. That’s really where they, where elected officials like freak out. And so for us, I think having our C4 to be able to do a lot of that accountability work, but also like we wouldn’t really be able to do that had we not done all of the other work through our C3, the relationship building, the base building, the, you know, the work in relationship building with electeds and sort of other grass tops folks.

 

We work a lot with state agency leaders, because again, to your point around implementation, we have to ensure that one community knows what’s available to them, right? And that it’s implemented the way it was intended to without sort of cuts and saying, you know, oh, well, we can’t do this. It’s like, oh, that’s not what the bill said.

 

So, I think it’s a combination of factors, but I think you have to build the sort of infrastructure, the base, and the base is multifaceted, right? It’s community, it’s partners, it’s decision makers. And then like, you know, hold the, pull those levers, hold their feet to the fire.

 

Because people are doing what I was hoping wouldn’t happen under this administration. Not everyone, because I feel like people are digging in and saying, no, we are not going to, like resisting, we are not going to put up with this. This is not okay, what’s happening.

 

But then there are those folks who are like, well, maybe if we just don’t say anything and do what we think they want us to do, then we won’t get in trouble. It’s kind of like the year of the Hispanic for me, remember the 80s when people didn’t want to be Chicano, they just wanted to be accepted. And I get it.

 

It’s a byproduct of being colonized and white supremacy. But like, we can’t, we can’t do that. And that’s my pet peeve for the week.

 

[Caroline Sánchez-Avakian] (56:16 – 56:17)

I love it, for the week.

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (56:17 – 56:18)

For the hour.

 

[Dusti Gurule] (56:18 – 56:18)

Yeah.

 

[Caroline Sánchez-Avakian] (56:21 – 57:01)

Exactly. What’s the daily gripe? Hourly gripe.

 

You’ve shared so much, Dusti, already in terms of words of wisdom. And I know we’ll have viewers and listeners at different stages of their careers, whether they’re doing ballot measure work or they’re just entering politics because they want to make a difference. So, what is one piece of advice that you’d give someone just beginning their career in advocacy or in politics?

 

And on the flip side of that, what is one piece of important advice that you’d give to more seasoned folks? Something for them possibly to remain open to.

 

[Dusti Gurule] (57:01 – 1:00:06)

So, for the former, I would say, find your people and trust your gut. And do what you need to do to even strengthen your sort of positioning, right? In your framework.

 

In fact, we’re launching a new program this year called the Reproductive Justice Academy through RC4 because we want to be like political. And it’s really our attempt, our contribution to the Colorado ecosystem to have more values aligned partners, fighters, whether they want to run for office, whether they want to—like a lot of the folks in our first cohort, our inaugural cohort, have worked at the Capitol, have been aides, and so they get a sense of what the policy process is. And so whether they want to run for office or work for organizations, like just to add more to the political and politicized ecosystem is what our intention is for this program and to really strengthen those sort of governing partnership relationships if they do run for office, right?

 

And have a better understanding of what it means when we talk about reproductive justice. And so they’ll sort of see it in an eight-week program, real life, what it means when we say, you know, RJ. And so for those, for the latter part of the question, for the sort of more seasoned folks, I say like, you know, just like what I just said, like we can’t afford to put our feet off the gas.

 

Is that how that goes? Take our foot off the pedal. Because we can’t go back and we can’t take this time back.

 

And they’re trying to strip everything away. And if we let it, that’s going to just be even more of a fight and an uproad battle for us because we know we’ll get through it. Our communities have, different countries have, but we have to keep pushing and resisting and being bold, right?

 

And again, find your people, find the different ways to get the information out there, bring people along with you. Because we have to. There’s no, there’s no alternative.

 

Well, there is an alternative, but I don’t think we want to see any of our friends, family, neighbors, communities in that any more than we already have.

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (1:00:07 – 1:00:29)

No, not at all. So, as we close out, you know, BISC call to action, and you may have heard me said, is to make ballot measures, love letters to our people. And, you know, as we close, I’d love to hear about how your work through ballot measures galore throughout your career.

 

How has that been a love letter to your community?

 

[Dusti Gurule] (1:00:31 – 1:02:27)

Well, I love how you describe that, Chris. I feel like that, that didn’t come to sort of fruition until our Amendment 79 campaign. Because before that, again, I feel like folks were just cut, copy, paste.

 

Let’s just get this through and move on to the next thing rather than it being something that is a tool in our toolbox of all of the other work that we do, right? This isn’t the be all, end all. But for us last year, I think with all of the issues and the folks saying they didn’t want to vote and like, should we even vote?

 

I think for us, the way we framed the Abortion Access for All campaign, which was our guess on 79, is that it was a very tangible on-road, on-ramp to democracy, right? Like it was something that is going to impact people we know, everyone we know in the state of Colorado. And so for us, that was sort of the love letter to community.

 

We want to ensure that you are protected, your ability to take care of your own body is protected, and that we are removing any of the state funding barriers that had been in place for over 20 years. So I think you have to be, again, intentional and really create it in that way. But it’s possible.

 

It can be done. I mean, we did it last year.

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (1:02:28 – 1:02:28)

Did.

 

[Caroline Sánchez-Avakian] (1:02:29 – 1:03:01)

That’s amazing. Dusti, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today.

 

If you’re interested in the work that Dusti and COLOR and COLOR Action Fund are doing, you can learn more at ColorLatina.org. And you can also learn more about their recent ballot measure campaign when Colorado voters approved and enshrined reproductive rights in their state constitution. And you can find them at coloradansforreproductivefreedom.com.

 

And we’ll include those links in our show notes as well. Thank you again, Dusti.

 

[Dusti Gurule] (1:03:02 – 1:03:03)

You’re welcome. This was super fun.

 

[Caroline Sánchez-Avakian] (1:03:05 – 1:03:20)

Thanks for listening to the Direct Democracy Diaries. If you enjoyed today’s episode, leave us a message on our socials at BallotStrategy. And check out our website at Ballot.org for more updates, insights, research, and so much more.

 

[Chris Melody Fields Figueredo] (1:03:20 – 1:03:25)

Can’t wait to see you next time. Keep fighting for change, one ballot at a time.