Youth Civics 2.0

The Constitutional Convention: Building Democracy 2.0 Summit was a marathon of a weekend that provided a great return for everyone who invested in it and we at Youth Civics 2.0 – Ana, Jason, Pam and Jared – all feel very fortunate to have been a part of it. All of the attendees, especially those who prepared proposals for the Summit, will fondly attest to the packed nature of the schedule, which demanded efficient time management on all of our parts. Thankfully, the Mobilize staff displayed a keen awareness of the situation, a great deal of enthusiasm and a willingness to be of help, which was invaluable to the individual successes that took place, and the success of the Summit as a whole. The pitches and presentations, interspersed with advice from panelists, was definitely one of the most important of all benefits the Youth Civics 2.0 team gained from this amazing weekend. Getting help and advice on crafting our pitch and writing more effective proposals from those with experience in the field helped our understanding of our project mature in leaps and bounds. All of us also found it intensely inspiring to network, make friends and compete with other 'youth civics nerds' throughout the course of the weekend, as is clearly evidenced by the eventual composition of our team. In fact, the most rewarding part of the weekend was not the competition itself, but the sense that all of the ideas that were presented and all of the people involved were part of something bigger than their own projects – the sense that we all shared a common goal and that we were all, in one way or another, doing our best to bend the moral arc of history towards greater justice for our generation.

Since returning to New York City and getting somewhat caught up on sleep, the Youth Civics 2.0 team has been strategizing and conferring with one another in order to facilitate the speedy and effective implementation of our projects' goals. In order to keep ourselves engaged and build on the experience with the grant-seeking process we gained at the Democracy 2.0 Summit, we have already submitted another grant application. This time, we applied to the Ashoka Changemakers-sponsored The Power of Us: Re-Imagine Media contest. Each team member has also been assigned at least one grant opportunity to initiate before bringing it back to the group. Thanks to friends and allies in the field – some of whom we met at the Summit - we are becoming heavily involved in other important events, like this past month's Youth Coordinators Conference in Washington, DC. Additionally, we are planning visits to New York City high schools and colleges to begin face-to-face outreach.

Constitutional Convention Building Democracy 2.0

From January 9-11 Mobilize.org, with 5 other organizations, hosted Constitutional Convention: Building Democracy 2.0. Millennials- young people like you and me!- from as far as California and Washington met in historic Philadelphia, participated in a Modern Constitutional Convention, and passed two amendments of their own to our founding document.

During this convention, teams of Millenials also competed and were awarded grant monies to make an impact in their local and national communities. Some products of these Millennials’ innovative minds are CivicSpark, a project to provide online legislative tracking services for local governments in the state of Washington, and School Board 2.0, an online platform to make school board meetings more accessible and transparent to the general public.

Constitutional Convention was a great success and marked only the beginning of what Mobilize.org will accomplish in 2009. Mobilize.org will continue to fill the year with dialogue, grant summits, Millennial policy change, and projects to educate, empower, and energize Millennials to move public policy.

We still have some Party for the Presidency t-shirts available! Get your t-shirt before it’s gone! Order your gear for your Inauguration celebrations! http://www.mystore.com/mobilize .

PS: During next few weeks you will get a chance to read one or two blog entries of the Grantees to follow up their progress and share their experiences.

A Call to Service

Watch Mobilize.org Chief Executive Officer Maya Enista, Chief Operating Office Ian Storrar and Be The Change, Inc. Founder Alan Khazei talk about the importance of service in a video from the Chronicle on Philanthropy produced on Monday, the Martin Luther King Day of National Service

CPL New Leaders Program- Excellent Opportunity for Passionate Young Leaders

Do you know a passionate young leader who would be interested in being a part of progressive change this summer in Washington DC?

The Center for Progressive Leadership's New Leaders Internship Program is a paid ten-week summer program in Washington D.C. for young people from underrepresented communities across the country with a demonstrated passion for progressive change. Each New Leader is matched with a paid internship in a leading progressive organization in DC, including policy and research work, advocacy, organizing, media relations, and on-line communications. CPL New Leaders also participate in orientation and closing workshops, weekly trainings, coaching, and a variety of networking events, conferences and other opportunities.



The CPL New Leaders Program is for people who:

Are working to make their campus or community a better place

Are leaders in their classes or campus groups

Have volunteered or worked for a political campaign

Have led or been involved with efforts to raise awareness about issues on campus or in your community

Can't afford to spend the summer working for free


To learn more and apply, visit www.cplnewleaders.org <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2Bt2njBXBRnkHajP3%2FN74lIOMspOKXRY3>

Mobilize.org Receives Non-Profit Voter Spirit Award for 2008 Election

Announced yesterday, Mobilize.org received kudos for its efforts to creatively engage and register Millennials across the country during the 2008 primary and general elections. With programs, like Mobilize the Polls and their Sex and the City...With a Side of Voter Registration campaigns, Mobilize.org was able to find new ways to engage our generation in the electoral process.

"Nonpartisan youth organizations like Mobilize.org, the student PIRGs, Rock the Vote, Generation Engage and Voto Latino utilized both Web 2.0 and local outreach to register and inform young people across the nation, helping 3.4 million more citizens between the ages of 18-30 to vote on November 4th than did in 2004. Young people represented 60% of the overall increase in voter turnout from the last presidential election achievement (CIRCLE) - and have represented a steadily increasing share of the electorate over the past 3 elections. Way to go, youth organizations!"

Calling Constitutional Convention: Building Democracy 2.0 to Order

Greetings from Philadelphia!

The Mobilize team arrived last evening in this historic city, ready to join with young leaders from across the country for a groundbreaking summit about our founding document and how the Constitution is a framework for building Democracy 2.0. At this hour, over 75 participants, including 11 teams, are en route to the National Constitution Center to join this conversation and compete in a Democracy 2.0 grant competition.

But there is no reason why YOU can’t join us.

This morning, we launched a new home page at www.democracyupgrade.com that will give you the chance to know what is happening at the summit up-to-the-minute and allow you to participate in the conversation. We invite you to join us this weekend as we bring Constitutional Convention: Building Democracy 2.0 to you through various Web 2.0 platforms, from Flickr to UStreamTV and You Tube to Cover It Live.

The latest schedule of events is available (http://www.mediafire.com/?nliofmt2mdx) if you wanted to drop in during certain times. Tomorrow, for example, Congressman Murphy will be speaking at 9 a.m., and you can follow along on the live video stream and ask a question through the live blog. As our declaration states, democracy is an unfinished project.

Through the 2008 election, we, the Millennial Generation have been telling different story about civic engagement and what it means to be a citizen. This weekend, we have come to a place where “We the People” first began, to upgrade our democracy. We hope you will join us. - The Mobilize.org Team

A Generation of Dreamers and Doers

From New York Times Reporter John Schwartz, on a rise of entrepreneurship among college students across the country:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/education/edlife/innovationmain-t.html?_r=1&ref=edlife

"Today’s students have grown up hearing more about Bill Gates than F.D.R., and they live in a world where startling innovations are commonplace. The current crop of 18-year-olds, after all, were 8 when Google was ­founded by two students at Stanford; Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook in 2004 while he was at Harvard and they were entering high school. Having “grown up digital” (to borrow the title of Don Tapscott’s recent book on the Net Generation), they are impatient to get on with life.

“They’re great collaborators, with friends, online, at work,” Mr. Tapscott wrote. “They thrive on speed. They love to innovate.”