DNC volunteers getting notice they won’t be needed for convention
Scaled back plans mean fewer hands on deck
Kevin Worm loves Milwaukee and meeting people from all over. So when Worm — a lifelong resident of South Milwaukee in his late 20s who works downtown — found out that the Democratic National Convention was coming to Milwaukee in 2020, he signed up to volunteer as soon as he could.
But last week, Worm found out that his help would not be needed. With the convention dramatically scaled back due to coronavirus concerns, the number of necessary volunteers has shrunk, leaving Worm and many others without a role.
“I’m not surprised the DNC no longer needs volunteers,” Worm said. “From what I’ve gathered, there will be daily, two-hour meetings. Volunteers seem pointless.”
The convention was originally set to host 50,000 delegates, tourists and members of the media, necessitating 15,000 volunteers to handle the influx of visitors to city. The footprint of guests has been dramatically reduced, with delegates and members of Congress asked to stay home and large party events canceled.
Earlier this week, a subset of people who’d signed up to volunteer and indicated that they’d be available throughout the convention received emails from the Milwaukee 2020 Host Committee, tapping them as potential volunteers. Others, like Worm, received emails notifying them that the host committee could not offer them a volunteer position for the 2020 convention.
The host committee decided to limit volunteering opportunities this year to protect public health and safety in light of the pandemic, according to a statement from Raquel Filmanowicz, CEO of the host committee.
“The Host Committee is incredibly grateful for all of the individuals that have expressed their interest in helping us host a safe and successful convention right here in our hometown,” Filmanowicz wrote.
It is not yet clear how many volunteers the host committee will ultimately need or what types of roles it will need volunteers to fill. A spokesperson for the host committee did specify how many people received notification that they were possible volunteers.
Dawn Martin, who’s been involved with the Milwaukee County Democratic Party for decades, received an email indicating that she’s among the pool of potential volunteers.
She’s been “ecstatic” about the convention from the moment it was announced, she said. Milwaukee has always been considered a “smallerscale” city, Martin said, and she was initially eager for the city to prove that it could take on a large-scale, national event.
Although she’s disappointed that the convention has shrunk, she’s still excited at the prospect of helping out — even during the pandemic.
“I realize that with my age and a couple minor health issues, some people wouldn’t do it,” Martin said. “But this is just going to be my only chance to do something like this right here in Milwaukee, so I’m not going to pass it up. I’ll wear a mask, I’ll do whatever protective things that they want us to do, and I think it will be fine.”
Kristin Karnitz, a lifelong Wisconsin resident from the Green Bay area, signed up to volunteer as soon as an online portal for signups went live. She saw the event as an opportunity to focus national attention on Wisconsin and wanted to help however she could.
Before the dates got changed, she put in a vacation request at work so she could volunteer for the entire duration of the July convention. When the date got changed, she knew she couldn’t make it to the full convention for scheduling reasons but planned to head down to Milwaukee to volunteer for a day or two, she said.
Karnitz commended the host committee for its efforts to adjust to the public health crisis. Still, with all the previous efforts that Wisconsinites put into winning the convention and bringing it to Milwaukee this year, Karnitz believes that the Democratic National Committee should guarantee a 2024 Milwaukee convention now that this one is so dramatically scaled back.
“I feel very strongly about the prep work that went into Wisconsin as being a location and the impact we can have, and frankly just the benefit of having this convention in Milwaukee,” Karnitz said. “So I think it’s pretty incumbent on the DNC to commit to giving us that in-person convention that we earned at the next available time we can do it.”