SISTERS OF BON SECOURS, USA ©
Sisters of Bon Secours Ministry Grant Fund
1525 Marriottsville Road
Marriottsville, MD 21104
Accountability Report for the VADP Grassroots Education Project
Due Semiannually on: March 22, 2020
Grantee: Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
(VADP)
Title: Michael Stone, Executive Director
Address: P.O. Box 12222
City, State, Zip: Richmond, VA 23241
. Please give a brief explanation of how the goal(s) and objective(s) for
the project, as described in the proposal, were achieved.
Thanks to this third-year grant of $20,000 from the Bon Secours Sisters,
VADP has been able to continue employment of Dale Brumfield, our full-
time Field Director. He has continued to meet local civic, business, and
religious leaders in target legislative districts.
These districts were chosen because their legislators hold key positions in
either the House or Senate Courts of Justice Committees who vote on
legislation to ban the execution of people with severe mental illness and/or
death penalty abolition.
Thanks largely to his work over the past three years, VADP achieved a
significant step forward in the recent 2020 Virginia General Assembly
legislative session. More details about this singular achievement are given
in the impact section below.
The focus of the Field Director shifted in the past six months from rural
and small towns in western and southern Virginia to Tidewater and
northern Virginia.
During 2019 the Field Director spoke to 27 public education events
including:
- Clifton Republican Women and Chesterfield & Rockingham County
Libertarians
- Seven local Democratic Party groups in Northern Virginia and
Tidewater
Greenspring and Westminster at Lake Ridge retirement communities in
Northern Virginia
- Virginia Beach Kiwanis Club
Three regional prison ministry summits put on by the Catholic Diocese
of Richmond
He had a VADP display table at the conferences of the Virginia Community
Criminal Justice Association and the Virginia Federation of Republican
Women. During 2019 he got 191 new people to join VADP.
How have you achieved your measurements?
The Field Director maintains a Google spreadsheet of all contacts in the
target legislative districts. In addition, he submits a weekly report on his
meetings and activities as well as completed VADP membership forms.
The Executive Director also meets with him every other week to delve into
the contacts made and to plan follow-up actions for each target district.
What impact did you have?
In January 2020 the state Senate passed a bill to exempt people with
severe mental illness (SMI) from the death penalty by overwhelming
bipartisan 32-7 margin. In the floor debate, Senator Bill Stanley (R -
Moneta) said: “We do not have the power our Creator has to take life. We
do not have the ability, morally, legally or otherwise.” He promised to vote
for abolition, the first time any Republican state legislator voiced public
opposition to capital punishment!
Thanks to Senator Stanley's powerful floor speech, five Republicans who
opposed the SMI exemption last year changed their vote and supported
the 2020 bill. In fact, eleven of the Senate's nineteen Republicans voted
for this limit on Virginia's death penalty.
In addition, VADP supported legislation to abolish capital punishment. But
the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to defer consideration of the bill
until the 2021 legislative session.
Leadership of the House Courts of Justice Committee then decided to defer
both the SMI exemption and death penalty abolition bills. Neither was
granted a hearing.
Legislative leaders apparently felt that this was one controversial issue too
many to win approval in the 2020 General Assembly.
Despite these disappointments, VADP learned much about the positions of
key Senators. It appears there is sufficient support in both legislative
chambers for ending capital punishment.
Privately, we have been assured by leaders in the Senate and House of
Delegates that death penalty abolition will be debated and passed in 2021.
The work of VADP Field Director Dale Brumfield building Republican and
Libertarian support for these bills has been crucial.
2. What changes, barriers, or modifications, if any, to the original
project were made as it progressed, or if there were barriers, what
outcomes were there, and how did you overcome them?
We have identified no major barriers to the original project.
3. Give a detailed explanation of use of funds. List cost elements of the
project and expenses for each (salaries and benefits, supplies,
printing, etc.).
All of the funds from the Bon Secours Sisters Mission Fund are used to pay
the salary of the VADP Field Director.
Do you expect to expend the full amount of the award?
We have spent the entire $20,000 grant award.
4. What are the future goals and objectives for this project (e.g.,
further program development, obtaining sustainable funding, etc.)?
VADP continues to seek funding from other sources to support this
grassroots education project. We have submitted a $10,000 grant to the
Bama Works Fund of the Dave Matthews Band which is administered by
the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation. VADP also intends to
submit a grant application to the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation for their
current funding cycle which is due in mid-April.
We also have leads on a number of other potential funders thanks to a
consultation with FADICA, Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic
Activities.
Our organization continues its fund development work with direct mail
appeals, major donor cultivation, and special events.
5. Please sign, date and return to:
Patrick Schmidt
Project Coordinator, Mission
1505 Marriottsville Road
Marriottsville, MD 2110
Signed:
Michael E. Stone, VADP Executive Director Date
