Printable Version Email to a Friend No Casino Gettysburg NPAction showcase: Nonprofits Promote Their Issues Through Vigils

The last time No Casino Gettysburg, a nonprofit grassroots movement, was featured in NPAction we highlighted their use of candlelight vigils to openly express their opposition to the placement of a casino one mile from the Gettysburg civil war battle site. After a 20 month long battle, ending in December 2006, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) rejected plans for the Gettysburg Casino. The PGCB cited "overwhelming opposition" as one of the reasons for their decision. Find out more about how the creative and strategic advocacy efforts of No Casino Gettysburg played a key role in the decision to build elsewhere.

The 20 month long No Casino Gettysburg battle achieved victory by using a variety of advocacy events and tools. These included candlelight vigils, bike rides, public meetings, seminars, a silent auction fundraiser and the widespread circulation of No Casino Gettysburg t-shirts, tote bags, bumper stickers, sweatshirts and buttons. They also featured Civil War icons Lincoln, Lee, and Grant at a press conference and attended every PGCB meeting wearing their signature No Casino Gettysburg t-shirts. After spending hundreds of hours on the street corners of Gettysburg to ensure their voice was heard, victory was announced for members of No Casino Gettysburg on December 20, 2006.

How did they do it? Effective Strategies

From Anger to Activism

According to Susan Star Paddock, the Chair of No Casino Gettysburg, an initial closed door press meeting held by casino investors announcing the proposal left many residents feeling disenfranchised and marginalized. In fact, one infuriated resident who happened to get inside the closed door press conference was asked to leave. The "explosion of anger and concern" played a key role in igniting civic engagement.

A core group of people acted quickly, while feelings were still running high. Eight days after the press conference, residents convened at an agricultural center to discuss their feelings. The firm foundation for the No Casino Gettysburg campaign was laid during the second meeting and the movement gained momentum with the selection of its leader and the completion of other organizational tasks.

The group established priorities by conducting an "appreciative inquiry," which helped residents identify the things people valued and wanted to protect in Adams County. The unique history and small town family friendly atmosphere of Adams County emerged as top preservation priorities. With these priorities established, No Casino Gettysburg began forming key partnerships with individuals and organizations to help preserve the historical character of Gettysburg, as well as its small town family friendly environment. Organizations instrumental to the No Casino Gettysburg victory include the Civil War Preservation Trust, National Trust for Historic Preservation, National Parks Conservation Association, and Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg. The Civil War Preservation Trust gave No Casino Gettysburg a considerable portion of its operating budget of $70,000, which was mostly used to cover legal expenses associated with a legal battle within the townships.

Building Relationships & Support

Building relationships was huge," says Susan Paddock. "Our campaign to get their funder Morgan Stanley to drop out played a key role in our success. At first we thought, we wouldn't be able to get in touch with anyone at Morgan Stanley and we couldn't. You could never get in touch with those people. You can't talk to anybody so we used the game of six degrees of separation by asking around: Who knows somebody on the board of directors?" After playing the game, No Casino Gettysburg gained a high ranking executive as an ally who frankly exclaimed to his peers, "Get the hell out of Gettysburg." This new ally, a civil war buff, was just what No Casino Gettysburg needed. Paddock went on to say, "People should never think that they don't have relationships with the movers and shakers. We're all connected and people have no idea of the influence of their network."

In the end, such network building resulted in 178 businesses signing a petition against the casino. It was also important to build support amongst Gettysburg residents, both Republican and Democrat. The elections of 2004 certainly divided Republicans and Democrats across the nation, however, in No Casino Gettysburg they worked side by side along with members of the green party.

Making the Best Use of Technology

Paddock explains, "Technology made a huge difference, too." Both critics and supporters of the casino posted over 25,000 messages on the No Casino Gettysburg website, while staff members constantly used web communications to circulate important information. Several cost benefit reports, documenting the loss of revenue a Gettysburg casino would incur, were also posted on their site. To be sure, exposure in various media outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian and Australian Broadcasting also played indispensable roles in spreading the underdog story of No Casino Gettysburg to locations both near and far.

Civility: A Polite Yet Unyielding Movement

Paddock also stressed the importance of polite yet firm advocacy, "Our campaign was very polite. People wanted to boycott the investors. Expose people's past or picket. I said let's not do all that." Instead, Paddock aimed to fight an idea, not people. The web helped facilitate open communications between those for and against the new casino. According to Paddock, "It was really hard to remain a peacemaker in that sense. These were people who had millions and millions of dollars at stake. They weren't really interested in dialogue."

Transforming Critics & Naysayers Into Active Participants

One of the biggest obstacles in a local movement can be convincing people that change is possible. Paddock says local people have this "sense that the people who have power and money always win. People simply do not believe they can make a difference. That's a very anti-democratic attitude. It's not like we live in a dictatorship. There are powerful people in every community. In small towns no one wants to offend anyone. We try to mind our own business-small town values. People didn't want to make a fuss, even though they felt we were right; they didn't feel that we could win."

By constantly discussing what was at stake with Gettysburg residents and giving people concrete things to do, Paddock and other members of No Casino Gettysburg encouraged naysayers and critics to take on more active roles in preserving what they valued most. The open discourse encouraged by No Casino Gettysburg led to over a hundred testimonies against the casino and 65,200 signatures on a petition against the casino, amongst other laudable accomplishments. Paddock tells the story of a 70 year old lady whose outlook on life was changed by the No Casino Gettsyburg campaign. "This lady thought that other people would take care of her concerns or that there was nothing she could do whenever something happened that she didn't like. She now believes- if you get enough people together, there are no done deals." Such a success story was achieved, in part, by employing the aforementioned strategies: igniting activism, laying a firm foundation, building a support network, making the best use of technology and transforming naysayers and critics into active participants.