"One Year Later: Young Americans Rate Progress on National Priorities"
Campus Progress
Issue date: 12/1/09 Section: News/Features
Campus Progress and its partner organizations issued a report on Nov. 3 regarding "what young people have done to achieve the change they voted for and continue to demand." The report discusses youth action since Obama's election on Health Care Reform, Climate Change and Energy, Jobs and the Economy, Higher Education, Gay Rights, Veterans, and Immigration. Orbis provides some excerpts here.
For the full report, see campusprogress.org/cribsheets.
Leading the charge in the fight for equal rights
After the 2008 elections, young people organized protests across the country which drew massive crowds in response to the passage of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California. Young people were the dominant force in planning and attending the National March for Equality, which brought over 200,000 LGBT advocates to Washington, D.C. and dramatically increased the visibility of the LGBT civil rights movement within the Web 2.0 community.
LGBT youth and advocacy organizations have presented a list of important policy changes to the White House and have been holding ongoing meetings to advance these priorities.
Taking Action in Congress for Student Aid
Students lead by Campus Progress, the
Student PIRGS, the United States Students Association and Rock the Vote have been at the forefront of recent action in Congress, making office visits and generating calls and emails about student aid reform. In September, college students took part in a press conference with Congressman George Miller, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Speaker Pelosi to bolster the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), which passed the House later that week.
Later in September, student organizations in 26 states participated in the DREAM Act back-to-school day of action, drawing attention to the need to pass the Federal DREAM Act. In October, students across the country participated in a "Raising Pell" week of action, making thousands of phone calls and sending thousands of faxes and Tweets to their Senators, urging them to support SAFRA.
The human face of the immigration fight and organizing for change
Since the 2008 election, three undocumented youths-Walter Lara, 23, Taha Mowla, 18, and Herta Llusho, 19-who were brought into the United States when they were young children,have brought much-needed attention to the broken immigration system by successfully organizing to halt pending deportation orders. With the help of the social networking site Dreamactivist.org and the Service Employees International Union, the orders against the three honors students were eventually deferred by the Department of Homeland Security.
Center for Community Change and the Reform Immigration For America Campaign have been teaching young people the art of community organizing this last year, mentoring them on ways to mobilize actions on a local level though phone calls and canvassing.
Active in health care reform? Let us count seven ways:
1. Launching national day of action tomorrow on campuses and in communities around the country to write to their representatives in Washington, host call-in days, and gather stories.
2. Met with key elected official and their staffs - including a coordinated day of action on October 13th with young Americans from 30 states to push youth coalition policy agenda.
3. Lead the effort to encourage the House leadership to add a provision allowing young people to stay on their parents' health insurance until age 27 to final House bill.
4. Ran national television advertising campaign targeting young people on MTV, BET, and Comedy Central that featured Zach Braff from Scrubs.
5. Mobilized thousands of young people to rallies and town halls, generated thousands of letters, emails and phone calls, and knocked on thousands of doors in key states.
6. Provided youth-specific health care information on dedicated websites, Facebook pages, and online forums with Howard Dean and Kathleen Sebelius.
7. Generated earned media, op-eds, and letters to the editor in support of reform in national and local outlets.
For the full report, see campusprogress.org/cribsheets.
Leading the charge in the fight for equal rights
After the 2008 elections, young people organized protests across the country which drew massive crowds in response to the passage of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California. Young people were the dominant force in planning and attending the National March for Equality, which brought over 200,000 LGBT advocates to Washington, D.C. and dramatically increased the visibility of the LGBT civil rights movement within the Web 2.0 community.
LGBT youth and advocacy organizations have presented a list of important policy changes to the White House and have been holding ongoing meetings to advance these priorities.
Taking Action in Congress for Student Aid
Students lead by Campus Progress, the
Student PIRGS, the United States Students Association and Rock the Vote have been at the forefront of recent action in Congress, making office visits and generating calls and emails about student aid reform. In September, college students took part in a press conference with Congressman George Miller, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Speaker Pelosi to bolster the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), which passed the House later that week.
Later in September, student organizations in 26 states participated in the DREAM Act back-to-school day of action, drawing attention to the need to pass the Federal DREAM Act. In October, students across the country participated in a "Raising Pell" week of action, making thousands of phone calls and sending thousands of faxes and Tweets to their Senators, urging them to support SAFRA.
The human face of the immigration fight and organizing for change
Since the 2008 election, three undocumented youths-Walter Lara, 23, Taha Mowla, 18, and Herta Llusho, 19-who were brought into the United States when they were young children,have brought much-needed attention to the broken immigration system by successfully organizing to halt pending deportation orders. With the help of the social networking site Dreamactivist.org and the Service Employees International Union, the orders against the three honors students were eventually deferred by the Department of Homeland Security.
Center for Community Change and the Reform Immigration For America Campaign have been teaching young people the art of community organizing this last year, mentoring them on ways to mobilize actions on a local level though phone calls and canvassing.
Active in health care reform? Let us count seven ways:
1. Launching national day of action tomorrow on campuses and in communities around the country to write to their representatives in Washington, host call-in days, and gather stories.
2. Met with key elected official and their staffs - including a coordinated day of action on October 13th with young Americans from 30 states to push youth coalition policy agenda.
3. Lead the effort to encourage the House leadership to add a provision allowing young people to stay on their parents' health insurance until age 27 to final House bill.
4. Ran national television advertising campaign targeting young people on MTV, BET, and Comedy Central that featured Zach Braff from Scrubs.
5. Mobilized thousands of young people to rallies and town halls, generated thousands of letters, emails and phone calls, and knocked on thousands of doors in key states.
6. Provided youth-specific health care information on dedicated websites, Facebook pages, and online forums with Howard Dean and Kathleen Sebelius.
7. Generated earned media, op-eds, and letters to the editor in support of reform in national and local outlets.
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