I attended a conference for civic engagement in Washington, D.C. over the summer this year and I had the fortune of being introduced to Mobilize.org. Mobilize was one of the most popular presenters at the conference and all the participants were really excited about their message of youth participation in democracy. I am very eager to gather again with like-minded peers that care about politics and the future of our country. Our generation is often accused of being apathetic to such topics, but students who attend Party of the President clearly exemplify that our generation actually cares about change. I am excited for the activities and events that Mobilize has organized and even more excited about the participants who will travel to LA to participate in such a great movement!
Allyson Troutman
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Jordan Travis--"I am an Idealist."
I am an idealist. I believe that the world can be a better place, if only we could tap into the enormous untapped energy of young adults like myself. And I believe that humanity creates its own suffering through structures that so unfairly distribute resources, and that we can mend these structures only through collective action and the political process.
When I went to the Idealist.Org conference in Chicago last March, then, and heard about this conference seeking to energize young people into becoming more politically engaged citizens, it sounded PERFECT. I can think of nothing I would rather do than gather together with young adults from all over the US and engage in political dialog with my own generation. The only way to change this world -- this world that so drastically needs changing -- is to realize our collective interests and participate in the political process. Make it a political cost not to address the issues that our generation cares about.
I hope, too, that this conference won't be something that ever ends. I hope that when I return to San Antonio I will use the ideas and resources I encounter to implement ACTION -- to continue my work in fighting the violence in Darfur, to use in my future work with unionizing campaigns and community organizing networks, and to pass information on to those who have taken over my previous position as Director of Social Responsibility. I will no longer be a student (I just graduated college!) but hope to present information and opportunities to interested students next semester. I am excited about this conference ... but I'm more excited about what will happen when it is over. Hopefully it will serve as a catalyst and instigator for change, and I hope that I will be a part of that movement.
When I went to the Idealist.Org conference in Chicago last March, then, and heard about this conference seeking to energize young people into becoming more politically engaged citizens, it sounded PERFECT. I can think of nothing I would rather do than gather together with young adults from all over the US and engage in political dialog with my own generation. The only way to change this world -- this world that so drastically needs changing -- is to realize our collective interests and participate in the political process. Make it a political cost not to address the issues that our generation cares about.
I hope, too, that this conference won't be something that ever ends. I hope that when I return to San Antonio I will use the ideas and resources I encounter to implement ACTION -- to continue my work in fighting the violence in Darfur, to use in my future work with unionizing campaigns and community organizing networks, and to pass information on to those who have taken over my previous position as Director of Social Responsibility. I will no longer be a student (I just graduated college!) but hope to present information and opportunities to interested students next semester. I am excited about this conference ... but I'm more excited about what will happen when it is over. Hopefully it will serve as a catalyst and instigator for change, and I hope that I will be a part of that movement.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
GET EXCITED! by Morgan Lyndall
I was presented with the opportunity to attend Party for the Presidency at a conference I attended in Washington D.C. Mobilize.org was also there holding a workshop. I had never really heard of Mobilize.org, but when I heard that their main objective was to help young people become active in the political system I was immediately attracted and enlightened. And now in just a few short weeks I will be flying to Los Angeles, a place I never thought I'd have the opportunity to go, to meet young people just like me who want to be a part of their government. I am excited to attend the Party for the Presidency simply because I will get to meet other young people who have mad a difference within their communities, cities, states, and nation. GET EXCITED!
Nanxi Liu of Colorado on the Party for the Presidency
What’s a better way to spend winter break than sleeping in all day? The answer was simple to me: attending Mobilize.org’s Party for the Presidency where I can celebrate New Years Day in the glamorous city of Hollywood! Not only will I be surrounded with the current and future leaders of America, but also I will have the opportunity to share my passion of government and youth civic engagement with others. I am especially excited to meet Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Who wouldn’t want to meet the renowned Terminator? But moreover, who wouldn’t want to meet the man who presides over 37 million people?
Since I first learned about government, I was immediately drawn to the subject. The ability to change, revise, and create laws is a concept that I believe everyone should recognize as something an individual can achieve. This year, I was elected the 2007 Colorado Youth Governor. This position has allowed me to reach out to students across my state and inspire them to participate in youth activism. Recently, I was interviewed on KNUS 710AM radio by Former Colorado President of the Senate John Andrews. We discussed the importance of youth participation in the government and the programs that are offered to guide the youth to understanding of our political system. I am also a member of the Boulder Community Foundation’s Teen Grant Program where I am given $15,000 in grant money to distribute to nonprofit organizations that support the youth in my area ad.
One of the easiest ways to notify your community about events such as Party for the Presidency is by sending emails to friends and word of mouth. At my school, we have daily announcements and I posted an announcement about P4P. Contact your school’s student council and notify them of your attendance to P4P and encourage them to learn about Mobilize.org’s mission.
As for now, I can’t wait for December 29th!
Since I first learned about government, I was immediately drawn to the subject. The ability to change, revise, and create laws is a concept that I believe everyone should recognize as something an individual can achieve. This year, I was elected the 2007 Colorado Youth Governor. This position has allowed me to reach out to students across my state and inspire them to participate in youth activism. Recently, I was interviewed on KNUS 710AM radio by Former Colorado President of the Senate John Andrews. We discussed the importance of youth participation in the government and the programs that are offered to guide the youth to understanding of our political system. I am also a member of the Boulder Community Foundation’s Teen Grant Program where I am given $15,000 in grant money to distribute to nonprofit organizations that support the youth in my area ad.
One of the easiest ways to notify your community about events such as Party for the Presidency is by sending emails to friends and word of mouth. At my school, we have daily announcements and I posted an announcement about P4P. Contact your school’s student council and notify them of your attendance to P4P and encourage them to learn about Mobilize.org’s mission.
As for now, I can’t wait for December 29th!
Participant Cynthia Padera on Party for the Presidency
I’m attending Party for the Presidency because I’m sick of hearing that our generation is “disillusioned” and “apathetic” from the TV pundits, or worse, parroted back from people I know personally. In my experience, it’s not that we don’t care—we do, deeply. The problem is that a lot of us are convinced that our government doesn’t actually care what we care about. I envision Party for the Presidency as a way to address 1) the problem (young people not being heard in government) and, equally problematic, 2) the entrenched imaginary (people believing that the government won’t listen to the voices of its youngest citizens).
To broadcast young voices, we must fashion young voters: grouping the cacophony of individual discontent into a coherent cry for change. Using the unique advantages of the “millennial generation”—our familiarity with technology, our capacity for affinity-group politics, and our concern for across-the-board best practices of sustainability—I believe that we are in a position to affect real alterations in political process, culture, and policy.
Through my work with political organizations on my campus, like the Penn Model Congress and the Penn International Affairs Association, and national organizations, like the Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE), I have seen these same “apathetic” young people come together to innovate with passion and enthusiasm, creating tangible ripples of effect in policy and process. Party for the Presidency should rock the boat even more, and I, for one, am excited to see it through.
To broadcast young voices, we must fashion young voters: grouping the cacophony of individual discontent into a coherent cry for change. Using the unique advantages of the “millennial generation”—our familiarity with technology, our capacity for affinity-group politics, and our concern for across-the-board best practices of sustainability—I believe that we are in a position to affect real alterations in political process, culture, and policy.
Through my work with political organizations on my campus, like the Penn Model Congress and the Penn International Affairs Association, and national organizations, like the Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE), I have seen these same “apathetic” young people come together to innovate with passion and enthusiasm, creating tangible ripples of effect in policy and process. Party for the Presidency should rock the boat even more, and I, for one, am excited to see it through.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Cynthia Gibson on the Term "Citizen-Centered"
What does “citizen-centered” mean? Good question. An answer can be found in a white paper I wrote—with lots of input and ideas from a wide array of terrific people and support from the Case Foundation—Citizens at the Center: A New Approach to Civic Engagement .
A lot of folks have asked why this paper was written... No, it wasn’t the result of some interminable planning process or huge academic research project—you know, the things that most foundations like to fund.
It emerged from a rather casual conversation with Ben Binswanger, CEO of the Case Foundation, in Washington, D.C. last summer. That casual convo started with a rather difficult question: Millions and millions of dollars have been funneled into a slew of service and civic engagement programs and projects, but have they made a difference in whether Americans are involved and engaged in civic life?
Yikes. But good question. And it's one that's a bit glossed over in service and civic engagement circles where it’s often assumed that the good intentions and deeds of some people will fuel a massive transformation in our society. I like to think that it will, but the skeptic in me and many others who have never heard of Americorps would like to see some evidence that all these efforts will lead to the sum of something greater than its parts.
That something is a deeper cultural ethos—one in which civic engagement is not only expected of citizens but is embraced by them as a fundamental part of their daily lives. That’s tougher than figuring out how many trees were planted, rivers cleaned up or people who voted. But it’s equally important, especially if we want to make sure those kinds of efforts expand and grow in communities. So, has that happened? To find out, I interviewed a slew of people who’ve been writing about service and civic engagement, thinking about it, and doing it in real communities.
We found that although there's a deep tradition of service in America, many people still feel that it’s difficult to affect even the most basic quality-of-life issues in their neighborhoods and even more powerless when it comes to having an influence on larger issues such as the quality of their schools or decisions about land use. Americans also express despair over what appears to be the country’s drift away from its democratic and civic values toward a culture of celebrity, division, materialism, and isolation.
If we’re honest, I think most of us can relate to this feeling. I know I can.
So what to do? The paper offers some starting points. Of particular importance, according to our respondents, is giving citizens the chance to connect with one another—including those with whom they may disagree or have major differences—and figure out how they can work together to take action and address the issues or problems in their communities that they feel will improve them.
This kind of citizen-centered and citizen-created cultural approach is a subtle, yet powerful, shift from asking people to just plug into official programs or campaigns whose goals, agendas, and outcomes have been identified by others, usually experts or outsiders. Instead, it encourages people to come together in new civic spaces that help enhance a sense of connectedness and of being able to make a difference together as a community working toward the common good.
"Yeah, sure," you say. But guess what? It’s happening all across the country.
The problem is that it tends to take place a bit under the radar because it’s not easily categorized as something that’s Left or Right, Democrat or Republican, rich or poor, rural or urban, or black or white. And it's tackling a panoply of issues, too—from school reform and the environment to graffiti and urban sprawl.
What would happen if all of these people working on all these issues in all these communities came together….became connected…..learned that they’re part of a larger trend…and then worked to make sure this kind of public work became part of every community in the country? Now, that would be a real shift in Americans’ attitude to civic engagement.
Making it real will first require a bit more exploration about what citizen-centeredness is, what it means, and how it works. This space will hopefully help in that process.
So, read the paper (well, ok, skim it or skip to the insert that states pithily what citizen-centered approaches are and what they’re not). Scroll down and skim some of the provocative questions I've posed to try to get you to weigh in. Walk the talk of “citizen-centered” deliberation and see if it works for you.
Cynthia Gibson’s Blog: http://citizenpost.blogspot.com/
A lot of folks have asked why this paper was written... No, it wasn’t the result of some interminable planning process or huge academic research project—you know, the things that most foundations like to fund.
It emerged from a rather casual conversation with Ben Binswanger, CEO of the Case Foundation, in Washington, D.C. last summer. That casual convo started with a rather difficult question: Millions and millions of dollars have been funneled into a slew of service and civic engagement programs and projects, but have they made a difference in whether Americans are involved and engaged in civic life?
Yikes. But good question. And it's one that's a bit glossed over in service and civic engagement circles where it’s often assumed that the good intentions and deeds of some people will fuel a massive transformation in our society. I like to think that it will, but the skeptic in me and many others who have never heard of Americorps would like to see some evidence that all these efforts will lead to the sum of something greater than its parts.
That something is a deeper cultural ethos—one in which civic engagement is not only expected of citizens but is embraced by them as a fundamental part of their daily lives. That’s tougher than figuring out how many trees were planted, rivers cleaned up or people who voted. But it’s equally important, especially if we want to make sure those kinds of efforts expand and grow in communities. So, has that happened? To find out, I interviewed a slew of people who’ve been writing about service and civic engagement, thinking about it, and doing it in real communities.
We found that although there's a deep tradition of service in America, many people still feel that it’s difficult to affect even the most basic quality-of-life issues in their neighborhoods and even more powerless when it comes to having an influence on larger issues such as the quality of their schools or decisions about land use. Americans also express despair over what appears to be the country’s drift away from its democratic and civic values toward a culture of celebrity, division, materialism, and isolation.
If we’re honest, I think most of us can relate to this feeling. I know I can.
So what to do? The paper offers some starting points. Of particular importance, according to our respondents, is giving citizens the chance to connect with one another—including those with whom they may disagree or have major differences—and figure out how they can work together to take action and address the issues or problems in their communities that they feel will improve them.
This kind of citizen-centered and citizen-created cultural approach is a subtle, yet powerful, shift from asking people to just plug into official programs or campaigns whose goals, agendas, and outcomes have been identified by others, usually experts or outsiders. Instead, it encourages people to come together in new civic spaces that help enhance a sense of connectedness and of being able to make a difference together as a community working toward the common good.
"Yeah, sure," you say. But guess what? It’s happening all across the country.
The problem is that it tends to take place a bit under the radar because it’s not easily categorized as something that’s Left or Right, Democrat or Republican, rich or poor, rural or urban, or black or white. And it's tackling a panoply of issues, too—from school reform and the environment to graffiti and urban sprawl.
What would happen if all of these people working on all these issues in all these communities came together….became connected…..learned that they’re part of a larger trend…and then worked to make sure this kind of public work became part of every community in the country? Now, that would be a real shift in Americans’ attitude to civic engagement.
Making it real will first require a bit more exploration about what citizen-centeredness is, what it means, and how it works. This space will hopefully help in that process.
So, read the paper (well, ok, skim it or skip to the insert that states pithily what citizen-centered approaches are and what they’re not). Scroll down and skim some of the provocative questions I've posed to try to get you to weigh in. Walk the talk of “citizen-centered” deliberation and see if it works for you.
Cynthia Gibson’s Blog: http://citizenpost.blogspot.com/
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