Democrats Work's blog

In the wake of what can only be called a pretty amazing week, we at Democrats Work want to offer a brief bit of transitional advice: community service. In the spirit of “thinking globally and acting locally” we can’t imagine a better way to help you plan your next steps than by getting your hands a little dirty and reminding yourselves why you do what you do. Whether it be at a homeless shelter or a school or your favorite piece of natural beauty, fill a few of those suddenly campaign-less hours with giving back and we promise you won’t regret it. The feeling might not be as tearfully monumental as Tuesday night, but it will surely remind you where your priorities stand.
If you’re not convinced; The Onion provides the alternative.

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

"Politics of service" is a phrase heard often around these parts. It means building and learning from your community. It means becoming part of something bigger than yourself. It claims that being politically active can be about more than just asking for votes.

This is September though - September of the "most important election of our lives". This is definitely vote asking season.

So what does that mean to Democrats Work, a politically affiliated service organization? It means literally combining "politics" with "service".

We've spent the past few weeks mutating traditional campaign techniques to fit our brand of service. With the help of young voter organizations like New Era Colorado, we've instituted a "Do-to-Door" Campaign that twists the standard canvass to our unique desires. We've been cleaning up neighborhoods as we canvass them. Registering voters while our fellow volunteers plant trees. And this Saturday we're having our first ever "Can"-vass that mashes door knocking together with a food drive.

These events have proven to us that service can be a part of even the most intense weeks of the election cycle. Be it voters who are more receptive to canvassers who've invested in the community or seasoned volunteers who appreciate the hell out of a splash of variety, we've learned that these "mutant" events can be quite effective.

Our hope has always been that our values could speak through our actions. We're finding out that those actions are pretty damn convincing.

(This week's author, Ted Velie is the newest member of the DW team. Because of the importance of youth activism, we brought him on board with that as his focus. To find out how you can help, reach Ted at info[at]democratswork.org)

On August 28th, 2008, I was uploading pictures for Democrats Work onto Flickr from the day before. It was taking me longer than usual because I was posting them to my personal and work accounts, I was sending them in emails, and I even sent a copy to my mom. They were really a big deal for me. I had just planted trees with President Jimmy Carter. For a guy like me, whose job is community service, that is like meeting the Pope. Few people have lived their lives to be such an example of service, and it was awesome meeting one of my heroes.

Some people in the public eye help get the message out by showing up to an event and drawing people in, but they don't do a lot of the heavy lifting. They cut a ribbon, or dig out a ceremonial shovel full of dirt, and then they do what they do best: communicate a message. I applaud them for that, but I have to admit that when someone rolls up their sleeves and puts their values into action, the leadership of their example hits home for me. Jimmy Carter was born in 1924. He has paid his dues, and I would have been grateful for him to just show up. Fifty years ago, the man was already the senior officer on a submarine. If he had planted a tree, I would have been amazed. He planted three. And while he went from job to job surrounded by a bubble of cameras, he pushed his way through so he could talk about fishing and nature with the other volunteers getting their hands dirty.

At sites all around Denver there were over a thousand volunteers taking time out from being delegates at the Democratic National Convention to give back to the city that hosted the big show. Michelle Obama was filling care packages for the troops on one side of town, there were delegates building a playground for kids on another. All told, there were thirty one different teams working in different ways to make America better, and working on my project was Jimmy Carter, his son Jack, and his grandson Jason. Three generations, all political, and all with an understanding of the new politics of service. President Carter passed the torch, and found a generation waiting to take it farther than a single lifetime ever could.

On August 28th, 1963, another hero had delivered one of the greatest speeches ever recorded. On it's forty fifth anniversary, it was playing in the next room. As I uploaded the photos, Martin Luther King was preaching, "I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood..." "...I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

I listened to those words and looked at the pictures of this delegation from the red hills of Georgia. There was a man, a former President, finishing up his third tree. There was a man, the bus driver whose job for the convention brought him to this site, who once there wanted to join the planting. A black man, a white man, a young man, an old man, and between the two of them a single shovel. It was another sort of passing of the torch. Tired arms handed the work to vigorous arms, but nowhere was there a tired spirit. All around Denver a youthful vigorous spirit was moving. Democrats were feeding the hungry, helping the elderly, cleaning the parks, and getting ready that very night to nominate a new leader for a new time. Someone who could take us the next step closer to the dream.

We have been handed the torch. We can use it to light the way or to burn everything down. We have been handed a shovel, and can use it to plant or to bury ourselves. I have seen the example of Jimmy Carter, and I know the choices of his grandson Jason. I was at the convention when those delegates, who had just given their time and energy to serve their neighbors, gave their voices to nominate Barack Obama. At that moment, I felt the eyes of the future upon us, I knew King's dream was coming closer to reality, and I knew that being judged on our character implies an obligation as well as a freedom. I am no King. I am no President. But I do know how to use a shovel, and left the convention eager to get to work.

In 1963, it was a dream. Unless we build it, that is all that it was. Groups like Democrats Work are a chance for us to make it something more.

It has been an amazing and historic week. Our nominee, Barack Obama, has led the country in a giant step forward. Change is surely coming to America.

But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's been about you.

For eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said enough to the politics of the past. You understand that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result. You have shown what history teaches us - that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington. Change happens because the American people demand it - because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.

America, this is one of those moments.

A new politics for a new time. What kind of change do you want to create? How will your America look? Democratic delegates gave their answer in many ways this last week, but the most tangible way they did was when they showed their commitment by living their commitment. Democrats Work volunteers and over a thousand delegates from across America, went outside the walls of the Convention, and spent the day at service projects ranging from homeless shelters to building playgrounds to taking care of seniors.

Some of the delegates were quite well known; some were attending their first Convention. The Nation's future First Lady Michelle Obama, and Colorado's First Lady Jeanne Ritter brought together the Democratic National Convention Committee, Volunteers for America, Democrats Work, and Metro Volunteers for a day of action that spoke louder than even the amazing words of the Convention speakers.

President Jimmy Carter joined with his family to plant trees in Aurora, Colorado's Bicentennial Park. There is perhaps no greater example of a career of service than the life of President Carter, and so nobody would have asked more of him than a symbolic shovel full of soil around a tree. He gave more. He planted his tree, moved on to another, and then another. He took time to talk to powerful politicians, and to work in friendly partnership with the man who drove the Georgia delegates bus. That is the ethic that not just President Carter, but that every delegate embodied that day, and they carried that spirit back with them into the convention hall and back to every city and town on the map.

"A new politics for a new time," that is what Senator Obama said, and if you would like this story to be about you, then it is time to take action. On September 6th, Democrats Work and our friends at Obama Works are calling for a National Day of Service. With over twenty projects already planned and more being added every day, we want you to help put a pin on the map in your community. If we each just give a few hours, we can show Washington and the world our new politics. We can not only show the nay-sayers that this is not just an election about one man, but we can show them it has been about us, and how it can be about them as well. Some of them might even accept our invitation to say, "Yes we can."

Bumped. --Mike

There was an interesting story in the The Washington Post today that profiled young evangelicals who have been noticing where the high ground really is. The story noted that the Obama campaign has been doing significant outreach to young Christians and tomorrow, in concert with Senator Obama’s visit to Rick Warren’s church, the campaign will launch Believers for Barack, which will provide a place to blog about their experiences and find opportunities to help out their communities through service.

That’s right, we’re proud to report that the Democrats Work service model is getting the Obama treatment with a touch of religion.

On Saturday, volunteers mobilized by Believers for Barack are following their moral compass to community service projects in a bunch of different cities: Albuquerque, NM; Anchorage, AK; Atlanta, GA; Charlotte, NC; Denver, CO; Des Monies, IA; Detroit, MI; Green Bay, WI; Kansas City, MO; Madison, WI; Philadelphia, PA. If you are interested in joining them, you should get in touch with Ashley Brown, who is working on the Obama campaign for the summer: ashley [dot] brown1908 [at] gmail [dot] com.

And, you should join us on September 6th when Democrats across the country will get together for a National Day of Service to improve our communities, change our country one neighborhood at a time, and show our support for Senator Obama and Democrats up and down the ticket. It is a project that is being launched by Democrats Work and our friends who formed the grassroots group, Obama Works.

You don't have to be religious to be driven by faith, and people of all faiths and creeds are invited to host projects wherever the spirit of compassion needs to be brought to their neighborhoods. If you would like to spend an afternoon working a food bank, cleaning a forest trail, helping collect recyclables, or work in any other way in your community, please visit the website and make it happen.

And, just because it makes sense, here’s a snapshot of the reporting in the Washington Post story:

But in the past year, as the presidential campaign has focused on the country's problems, Merritt has begun to question the party of his father. There was his recent revelation that "God is green," a mission trip to orphanages in Brazil that caused him to worry about global poverty, an encounter with a growing strain of politically liberal evangelicalism that has taken off online, and a nagging sense that Bush's unpopularity has been an embarrassment to the evangelicals who overwhelmingly voted for him.

"When you look at the political party that has traditionally championed poverty, social justice and care for the least of these, it's not been the Republican Party," said Merritt, who now considers himself an "independent conservative" and is unsure whom he will vote for in November. "We are to honor the least of these above even ourselves. It's very difficult to reconcile totally."

Indeed.

Last night, a primary election was held between three candidates in the safely Democratic congressional district around Boulder, Colorado. It was a highly competitive, hard-fought race among three strong Democrats. As it turns out, the winner may have been known to us many months ago.

Ten months ago, the three candidates – Joan Fitz-Gerald, Jared Polis, and Will Shafroth – started competing in a quirky Democrats Work contest called “The Coats and Cans Primary.” The winner of that primary was decided by “votes” cast in the form of donated canned goods and winter coats, which were given to local charities around the district. The results of the contest that ended last December were identical to the results of yesterday’s primary. (You can see the contest results here.)

It seems that in both primaries the skills needed to win included the ability to marshal sufficient resources, the ability to widen the field of typical supporters, a certain knack for mobilizing, and a stubborn refusal not to lose. The contest and the election each had a single winner, but what was fascinating to me was what happened along the way.

You can view building a community as a tool to win an election. But turn that on its head and you could have a much more intriguing possibility: an election whose goal is to build a community. That is what happened with the Coats and Cans Primary and what carried though last night.

All three candidates inspired a following, but because the competition was about serving rather than ruling, the following they separately fostered combined into a body of supporters dedicated to service. It stopped being a horse race between candidate A and candidate B, and it started being a collaboration of three Democrats and all of their supporters to get something done for their neighbors. It stopped being about who won or lost, but about what was built.

Last night I visited each of their election night gatherings. At two of the parties, people were somber; one party was elated. But from the combined view of all three, I saw a united political community determined to stay engaged and continue serving. The supporters disagreed on who was best to lead, but all had reached an agreement on where to go. They all wanted to put their hands to work shaping a more just, charitable and committed America.

The candidates attracted their supporters by appealing to a desire to take positive actions and better the common good. Perhaps that should be an obvious thing, but in nearby districts the divisive cruelty of homophobia, xenophobia, and greed have been used for years to prod voters to the polls. A politics of fear and distrust have narrowed down the voters to the rabid few. This new “politics of service” opened the doors and invited a more determined and hopeful generation. It didn't matter if their candidate won or lost, people were engaged and the candidate was merely a way to get to the goal - not the goal itself.

While no single domino fell to start it all, part of what made it work was one person knocking on a door in Colorado and asking if their neighbor had a can of food to spare for a good cause. With this style of politics, no one loses.

Are you getting involved as a volunteer offline? According to a new study by the Corporation for National and Community Service, if you are a member of the Millennial generation it is a lot more likely you just answered, "Yes!" Working with the community service organization Democrats Work I already knew this, but now we have more data to back it up.

The study looked at regional differences in volunteerism: Minneapolis-St. Paul came out on top, Miami came in last among the largest cities; Utah was tops among the states. But it also opened a window into how age differences change volunteer choices and how those choices have changed between the generations.

After a large drop off in volunteering among the members of Generation X, the Millennials are embracing public service in numbers not seen since the Boomers.

Baby Boomers will double the number of older American volunteers in the coming decades and young people are volunteering at higher rates than the last generation. "We have an unprecedented opportunity to seize this moment and usher in a new era of service in America," said David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation.  "By giving us a look under the hood of U.S. volunteering, this research shows what we need to do to recruit and retain tomorrow’s volunteers."

"Recruit and retain"

Democrats rebuilding New Orleans after Katrina

Retention is increasingly a problem. More people are volunteering for the first time, but organizations are not doing a good job of keeping them in place. Unlike in the past when church-based organizations gave a more permanent base for volunteering, the new volunteerism is finding expression in more temporary opportunities, including "done in a day" projects. Among youth volunteers in particular, there is a growing segment that engages in "voluntourism" by heading many miles from their homes to perform service. They are more able than their rooted elders to respond to disasters like Hurricane Katrina, and while this underscores a deep civic engagement, it may also contribute to a more epsiodic, less consistent, participation.

In trying to explain Florida's low volunteer rate to the Associated Press, some Miami residents offered this:

Ani Olmeda Gonzalez at Mercy Hospital said the tough economy was forcing some would-be volunteers to choose paid work instead. Charlotte Donn at YMCA of Greater Miami noted the city is home to many transients. And Cathy Agosti of VITAS Innovative Hospice Care noted what many others repeated.

"Busy lives," she said. "Busy lives."

Florida is by no means unique in those ways, so are those explanations even true anywhere? Not geographically, at least. The choice between a busy life of paid work and giving time to the community is not a trade-off most people are making. The study showed that on average people who volunteered in the last year also spent as much time at their jobs as the people that didn't. Where did they find the time? The answer appears to be "television."

People who had volunteered in the last year watched an average of 15 hours of television a week. People who had never volunteered watched an average of 23 hours a week. Stretch that over a year and you have more than 436 extra hours to work with. Volunteers seem to need the artificial interaction of television far less. They also reported spending much more time engaging in social activities and ate fewer meals alone. Some of these numbers are being moved by the Gen-X families. When kids are in the picture, the parents volunteering hours move sharply upwards as they give their time to school and childcare related causes. At every age, however, having a job, a family, or busy social life actually meant more hours being donated. Working moms and college towns led the pack every time.

Although on average, there was not a trade-off between a paycheck and service, age did seem to be a factor. Young people were more likely than older people to cut back on work hours in order to give.

Democratic  political volunteers, rallying to feed the homeless

As Generation X ages, it seems unlikely that they will suddenly start contributing at the levels that the Baby Boomers have. There may well be a time in the next few decades when the Millennials either carry the full load or will have to create institutions that pass on the value of volunteeerism to future generations. Either way, there is a burden, but also a great opportunity. If the Millennials continue to embrace volunteerism that includes political activism, they can generate a huge shift in the policies that concern them . . . and there is reason to believe that this shift will be progressive and partisan. Indeed, the nature of "voluntourism" is to give of one's time to remediate failures of national policy. Eco-volunteers and community volunteers are engaged with failed policies at their most visible and local level. And while there is a strong feeling among Millennials that government can be an effective tool for good, there is also a sense that we don't have to wait around for problems to be solved.

As we continue to see, the failure of the Bush Administration to issue a call to service, rather than a call to shopping, was rejected by a generation of people who are not waiting for the invitation to get involved.

Don't wait for the future. Build it.

When I first joined the community service projects hosted by Democrats Work, I knew that at the end of each day my small corner of the world was a little bit changed; a few homeless people were fed, a few bags of trash were cleaned from a park, some cans had been recycled, some graffiti painted away. I always came home feeling pretty good, but in the back of my mind was the thought that in a few hours the hungry would be hungry again, the gangs would have tagged the walls, and the trash would already be piling up along the fence lines. I would console myself by believing that even if I wasn't making the world any better, at least through my actions it was getting worse a little slower. Thinking like that kept me going long enough to finally see the real difference being made.

I already knew that the benefit from each tree I helped plant would grow over time. As the tree grew in size and beauty it would scrub carbon from the air and pull toxic metals from the earth. When my car drove beneath its shade, I would not run my air conditioner and my gas would go 20% further. A shadow across a Southern wall would save a home owner hundreds of dollars. I appreciated that the small action of planting a tree could yield large results. What I didn't yet grasp was that an even more basic action - the action of taking a small action - could change everything. I wasn't just planting a tree. I was working together with a team of people to plant a tree, and while what we were doing was giving life to a growing thing, how we were doing it, and why we were doing it, was something equally alive and growing.

Paint a wall if you want to make the world look a little better. Paint the wall of a school if you want to make the future look a little better. But, if you really want transformative change, see what happens when you bring a neighborhood together to paint a school. That is what happened on Saturday in Colorado.

Cole Middle School was designed for failure. For much of Denver's history, the families of black workers were segregated into a narrow patch of North side neighborhoods. Long after the law ceased to permit it the real estate agents still knew where red lines circled the map and showed which houses were reserved for white buyers. After years of determined efforts, those racist times were pushed into the background, but the socio-economic problems remain visible. The Cole neighborhood is still struggling with low incomes, scarce local retail, and under-funded schools.

In an inspirational moment, Mayor Hickenlooper promised a middle school class that if the students persevered the city would pay their State University tuitions. By the time that class would have that chance, the middle school had closed due to failing standardized test scores, the high school had shut its doors due to dropping enrollment, high pregnancy rates and low graduation rates took their toll, and when the final survivors stood up this year and showed they had made it through the gauntlet, and showed that they could pass the entrance exams, ten of the remaining few discovered that what they could not show were the immigration documents to prove that they were ever legally eligible. Many other disappointing chapters of the School’s history were written in that demoralizing style.

Cole Middle School closed its doors after a history made final by 'No Child Left Behind' and Colorado's 'CSAP' tests, but the course had been set years before by poverty, despair, and a community that looked like it was done trying. The city struck a deal with KIPP, a charter school corporation that had been started in Dallas with the early support of Texas Governor George W. Bush and seed funding from the GAP Corporation. Giving credit where it is due, successful KIPP schools are famously good. They go into low income areas and usually change the game. There is a bleaker side to their track record, however. Sometimes when it looks like a school might pull down Kipp’s average they very abruptly leave.

A concerned parent’s group looking at the organization hadn't even rated KIPP as their second choice, but the city liked the contract terms and handed over the money and the keys. After two years, KIPP pulled the plug. The only reason they gave the stranded community was that they had difficulty finding a permanent principal.

Denver Public Schools could have looked outside the community again, but instead they did something harder and smarter. They made a commitment to building the right way. Students, parents, teachers and neighbors were invited to help plan a new school. This time starting fresh with a K-8 elementary, they even let a 'kid-ocracy' vote on the school colors and mascot. Being just as happy as the adults to make a break with the past, the old Cole Eagle was retired and the new school would be the home of the Dragons.

The old building needed paint, and so they went to the neighborhoods and found high school students already wanting to give back to the place that had given them their start. They found young parents who wanted 'their' school to be more than just a place to drop their children for a few hours. They found teachers - and yes even the principal that KIPP could not find - who wanted not only to pick up a paycheck in the new institution, but who wanted to use their hearts, and hands, and paintbrushes, and sanding blocks to give this school a new identity and rebirth.

And they found Democrats Work; volunteers like me that want to do something positive on one afternoon that might bring something positive in the future. People like me who might look up on some days and realize that it was never a painted wall that would give this school a chance. It was never even a painted school that would give this neighborhood a chance. It was one neighborhood, uniting with hope to build the future, which had already planted something amazing.

Guest blogger Aaron Silverstein can be found at asilverstein@democratswork.org