Crossroads Campaigns
About Crossroads
Crossroads Campaigns Solutions is a political consulting firm providing essential services for successful political campaigns, civic engagement enterprises, and nonprofits. With a breadth and depth of experience spanning campaigns from town council to the presidency, our staff is well-suited to provide the guidance and assistance necessary for you to thrive.
From local bids for city council to nationally-targeted senate races, Crossroads has helped dozens of campaigns across the country - from candidates and political parties to nonprofits and advocacy organizations - build the campaign needed to win on election day
Grassroots Mobilization & Field
Crossroads can help advocacy organizations and campaigns mobilize communities to take action. We have put together innovative strategies utilizing a plethora of available tools for distributing campaign messages through diverse outlets - contacting legislators through websites, writing letters to the editor, rally events, face-to-face meetings, and a variety of other strategies. Whatever the cause, Crossroads will reach out to your target community and raise awareness of an issue to return positive results.
Strategic & Campaign Planning Crossroads helps campaigns, advocacy groups, membership organizations, trade associations, 527s, and PACs become more effective in accomplishing their internal and public goals. We work hard to develop a strategy that matches organizational capability with short and long term goals. Not content to apply a one-size-fits-all action-plan, we spend the necessary time to assess and understand your organization's strengths and identify potential areas of improvement.
Message Development & Tools
An important part of any advocacy strategy is communication. The Crossroads team works with organizations to ensure that there is outreach to community media outlets – from print to broadcast to radio to internet. With guidance, talking points, press releases and advisory templates, and tips about how to pitch the media, organizations not only receive positive attention for their current organizations but also have the tools and skills to assist them on future projects.
Spokesperson Training
As the public face of your organization or campaign, your spokespeople will have more impact on the public perception than any other member of your team. Crossroads can help connect your staff and volunteers with the training resources they need to ensure they're always on their A-game when dealing with print, broadcast, and online media - as well as in outreach to the general public.
Data & Targeting
Modern political campaigns consume and generate a mountain of data. Knowing what to make of all that information and how to put it to work becomes increasingly challenging. Crossroads has helped campaigns throughout the country make sense of their voter files, pinpointing the portions of the populace that need priority attention – those potential voters that staff time is best spent working to persuade and mobilize. With Crossroads on your team, your campaign will run with a precise and rational data strategy.
Targeting Strategy
Effective targeting is one of the most important pieces of a winning campaign, and the tool that makes the difference in a competitive race. The days of political mass-communication are long gone, replaced by micro-communication – talking to small groups of voters in a way that resonates specifically with them, making your messaging more relevant and with a stronger impact. Crossroads can help you identify groups to target in your race, and find effective ways to engage them.
Field & GOTV Strategy
Crossroads has helped dozens of campaigns and issue organizations across the country build winning field and GOTV campaigns. We work with our clients to take their agenda and issues and build an organizing framework that will effectively educate voters, engage activists, and show results at the polls. And most importantly, we will put in place processes that will ensure the sustainability of your grassroots operation long after Crossroads is no longer involved.
Paid Canvass Operations
The last thing a campaign manager needs in the closing weeks of a campaign is the added load of a paid canvass operation. Crossroads staff have put together dozens of canvasses across the country - whether a municipal or statewide election - we've been there. We can successfully manage the recruiting, training, logistics, and payroll leaving core campaign staff with one less responsibility on their plate.
Crossroads can build a voter registration strategy and operation that will produce results. Our experience with campaigns that expand the electorate has been successful thanks to strong management and reporting matched with regular adaptation to the reality on the ground. Our registration programs urge new voters to utilize any vote-by-mail or early vote opportunities available in your state. After all, when more voters can cast a ballot for you, more voters will.
An issue campaign can't expect voters to take action or turn out on Election Day if they're unaware of the stakes. Crossroads can help your campaign put together a plan and gather the resources necessary to reach out to key groups and inform them about the voter registration process, or reasons to support your cause, take action in contacting their representatives, or vote for your candidate. We can help you make sure your target audience has the knowledge necessary to make the informed decisions your campaign needs.
Finance Planning
Fundraising is no easy task in the current environment, but Crossroads can help. Our staff can help your group develop a successful fundraising plan. We'll help you think creatively about fundraising to find unique opportunities that lead to untapped donor dollars. We can help craft creative and catchy messaging to break through the apathy barrier and find the low-dollar donors that make the difference between the Cadillac plan and something less.
Fundraising Execution
The Crossroads staff has raised funds for a wide variety of candidate campaigns, political parties, and advocacy organizations. From direct mail and event planning to donor research and call-time management, our team can help you every step of the way to maximize your fundraising potential.
Online Messaging
Crossroads staff members are campaign veterans who have been responsible for online messaging in a variety of settings. We've written fundraising appeals, calls to action, general campaign updates, and everything else imaginable. We've been charged with creating email schedules, testing response rates, and finding creative ways to acquire new supporters and utilize existing ones. When it comes to online messaging, Crossroads staff has the experience and creativity to deliver results.
Web & New Media Development
We have built successful websites and online strategies for our clients. Ranging from prominent US Senate campaigns to local elections, our team will make sure your online tools match your online needs. Crossroads can build an online presence from the ground up or work to integrate existing technology and vendors into a comprehensive package to help you embrace netroots. We have experience with diverse content and contact management systems including NGP Campaign Office, Wired for Change / Democracy in Action, Joomla!, and ExpressionEngine. We can help develop strategies for outreach through blogs, Wikipedia, and other online outlets.
Training & Facilitation
Group Facilitationg
Sometimes a third party is needed to keep meetings on the right track in order to meet goals. Other times, everyone knows a meeting is needed, but isn't sure what the goal should be. Crossroads will work with an organization as the neutral party – looking at the big picture, making sure everyone has a chance to contribute, and working to bring consensus and reach a decision. We've worked with all sorts of groups, on all sorts of issues, to reach their goals.
Campaigns often have volunteers and staff who mean well and want to make a difference but, do not have the experience or knowledge necessary to efficiently and effectively carry out assigned duties. The staff at Crossroads has decades of experience that we are more than happy to share with your supporters. Whatever the type of campaign, Crossroads can put together a remote or on-site training program that fits your budget, time constraints, and goals.
Crossroads can help organizations develop plans and gather the resources necessary to contact legislators and mobilize communities to take action on education, direct service, and advocacy campaigns. We have put together innovative strategies utilizing a variety of available tools for distributing campaign messages through traditional and non-traditional communications.
We can help your organization set-up legislative meetings, create briefing material, and engage constituents through letter writing, phone call and email campaigns. Crossroads can also create person-to-person contact programs including but not limited to large scale canvasses, forums and events, voter registration and Get-Out-the-Vote (GOTV) efforts.
Crossroads has helped many electoral campaigns and issue organizations across the country build winning campaigns. We work with our clients to take their agenda and issues and build specialized campaigns that effectively educate and engage people towards results. More importantly, we will put in place processes that ensure the sustainability of your grassroots operation long after Crossroads is no longer involved.
Meet the Crossroads Team
John Miyasato
John founded (and has since managed) Crossroads Campaigns in 2007, bringing over 22 years of experience in field, communications, technology, and strategic planning. His work since and prior to founding Crossroads has allowed him to apply his unique skills to both electoral and non-profit campaigns and initiatives all over the country (in over 30 states). At Crossroads, John has worked with a broad array of clients, including high profile U.S. Senate races, campaigns for city council, national issue advocacy organizations, and local ballot initiatives.
John also has extensive experience working with non-partisan organizations. As the managing principle of Crossroads, John was the managing consultant for the We Are America Alliance, an FFF grantee comprised of national and state field groups, beginning in 2009. In 2013, John founded the Center on Civic Engagement to continue his non-partisan work in the Latino and African American communities, and to begin his work with emerging API groups.
John has built and sustained his current client base of over 50 organizations by providing long-term technical assistance and support that is unique to each organization's needs and situations. Some of CCS's clients (partisan and non-partisan) include:
Jared Huffman for Congress – CA 2nd District (2012)
Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development (OCCORD)
Mi Familia Vota
National Network of Arab American Communities (NNAAC)
Steve Fulop for Jersey City Mayor (2013)
New American Leaders Project (NALP)
Julia Brownley for Congress – CA 26th District (2012)
Dane Taylor
Dane Taylor joined Crossroads in April of 2012 and brings a diverse technical background to the team. Prior to joining Crossroads, Dane worked within a technical aspect at Apple for five years, and prior to that, in advertising and in a development and design capacity in such varied industries as banks, non-profits, education, social-media and email marketing. His experience in web/mobile development, graphic communications, publishing and SEO analysis provides a unique set of offerings and possibilities for our clients.
Dane has been interviewed for his experience and technical background by the Wall Street Journal, and has provided training to non-profits and publishing companies.
As a DC native, he grew up on Capitol Hill, and attended school at The University of the District of Colombia.
Emily Oh
Emily is a Georgia native and got her start working in politics with the Georgia House Democratic Caucus. Since then, she has worked on a Georgia Senate race and a Super PAC in Florida. She graduated from Kennesaw State University where she studied communications and public relations.
Kendra-Sue Derby
Kendra-Sue Derby is a veteran political strategist with over twenty-five years of senior level experience in campaign management, government relations and progressive issue advocacy. She specializes in navigating complex electoral mechanics and operations.
Throughout the years, she has held leadership roles in multiple Statewide, Presidential, Senatorial and Congressional campaigns including Obama for America, as the Virginia Coordinated Campaign director in 2000, and as a Senior Advisor to both Senator John Tester's campaign in Montana and to Michelle Nunn in Georgia. Derby has served as a strategist at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Emily's List, and the Ron Brown Institute for Political Action. Her issue advocacy leadership includes the Alliance for Justice and Coloradans for Fairness and Equality & Action Fund.
She has worked in Washington, DC for the Peace Corps as a legislative liaison officer and at the Department of Labor. Other clients have included Save Darfur Coalition, M&R Strategic Services, Democracy for America, Alliance for Justice and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
John is a lifelong resident of Southeastern Pennsylvania where in 2009 he dipped his toe in the waters of local politics that ignited a passion for campaigns. Since then he has branched out from local politics to make campaigns a fulltime career having worked on the 2010 and 2014 Pennsylvania Gubernatorial elections. In between John has worked as a Field Operative in NJ and Texas working to contact and turnout voters for important elections.
As a diehard 4 for 4 Philadelphia sports fan (Eagles, Flyers, Phillies and Sixers) John knows all too well the agony of defeat having only witnessed ONE Championship parade in his beloved city. John suffers from an addiction to Batman that threatens to distract him from daily life.
Kimlee Sureemee
Kimlee Sureemee serves as the Account Director for Crossroads Campaigns Solutions. In this role, Kimlee works to advance the needs of civic engagement groups across the nation on a variety of issues and campaigns, including redistricting, census, voting rights, election administration, and more. Before joining Crossroads, Kimlee led local and local policy initiatives for Asian Americans in Ohio. Her work highlighted increasing and improving access to the polls, policy reform for immigrants and refugees, and moving low-propensity voters through ballot box initiatives. She has led Ohio's largest civic engagement coalition for New American voters and brought the highest turnout of Asian Americans advocates to the Ohio Statehouse. Kimlee has extensive experience in media and communications management, major gifts, and non-profit development working with big corporations such as Chase Bank and Cleveland Clinic.
Kimlee received her undergraduate degree in International European Affairs from Cleveland State University. She has traveled to Brussel, Belgium, to work on international policy for a global political and military organization. Kimlee is a fan of all things Disney and will always entertain a one-on-one discussion on the topic.
Juliane Alfen
Juliane grew up in Connecticut, but currently resides in Los Angeles, California. She is attending the University of California Los Angeles, where she is majoring in Global Studies. Juliane began her engagement with the nonprofit world by creating a large scale event in high school to fundraise for both girls' education in Liberia and funds for college applications for students in economic need at her own school. She found her passion for nonprofit grassroots work when canvassing on behalf of the Nature Conservancy and writing grant applications for Ahead With Horses Inc. in 2018. She joined the Crossroads team in 2019. In addition, she conducts research at UCLA in her free time on legislation in Africa and women's role in conflict resolution. Juliane wishes to continue on the path for her current work on organizing in a civic engagement capacity. When she's not working hard for the team, Juliane enjoys baking and running. She is particularly well-known for her renowned Pillsbury cinnamon rolls.
Grace Olson
Grace Olson is a Dallas, TX native and is currently studying Political Science and Hispanic Studies at Davidson College in North Carolina. Grace began her work in politics in high school working with March for Our Lives and remained engaged in progressive politics in Texas and North Carolina. Grace joined Crossroads as an intern in the Fall of 2020 and has joined CCS on multiple campaigns and in the field since, including the Georgia Senate Runoff Election. She is passionate about voting rights, female representation in policy, gun control reform, and immigration policy. For fun, Grace likes to run, find new bookstores, and perfect her scone and biscuit recipes.
Catie Gelting
Catie Gelting is originally from Columbia, South Carolina before she moved to Lilburn, Georgia. She is currently double majoring in International Affairs and Philosophy with a minor in Political Science at the University of Georgia. Her interest in politics began in middle school when her mother, a school teacher, began writing a bill that would later pass within the South Carolina State legislature that protected women's rights to their medical information. Since then, she has volunteered on local campaigns in Georgia and with Nuçi's Space, a nonprofit for those struggling with mental health. She began working for CCS as an intern in the Spring of 2020 before joining the team. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, and ice skating.
Madeline Buschang
Madeline, originally from Austin, Texas, joined the Crossroads team in the Spring of 2021. Prior to her work at Crossroads, she graduated with her bachelor's in rhetoric & writing, psychology, and Plan II Honors from the University of Texas in 2018. Her interest in rhetoric, political speechwriting, and political psychology brought her to Washington, D.C. where she is currently working toward her master's in political communication at American University.
Madeline first became involved in politics through local elections and voter registration work in 2014 and has spent time working for elected officials, campaigns, and government agencies. She is especially passionate about the fight for reproductive rights and voting rights. Outside of politics, she works as a research and teaching assistant. And in her free time, she enjoys hiking, reading, and attempting to keep her plants alive.
Jake Kanef
Jake is started out as an intern at Crossroads in Spring 2021 and is also a member of the Emory University class of 2022, studying Political Science and Economics. He is particularly passionate about environmental issues and voting rights, and has enjoyed exploring political campaigns while at CCS.
Prior to joining CCS, Jake worked for Rep. Lucy McBath's reelection campaign and interned with a political think tank in Jerusalem, Israel. A Boston-area native, Jake likes to spend his time rooting for the Patriots, skiing, and going to the beach (preferably on Cape Cod).
Eric Rubin
Eric is a Virginia native and got his start at Crossroads working as an intern and as a field organizer in the Fall of 2019. Prior to joining Crossroads, he graduated from Goucher College and worked on statewide campaigns in Virginia for the 2016, 2017 election cycles. Eric is passionately committed to fighting to expand voting rights and LGBTQ rights. When he is away from politics, Eric is an avid fan of the New England Patriots, Boston Celtics, Boston Red Sox.
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