A Third Place in Cincinatti; 5 Under 35; Student Loans

Three things to check out today:

• The Youth Shall Set You Free: Cincinnati’s 2006 Person of the Year
• Five Under 35
• Are you getting shafted on student loans?

The first story is something I came across while checking out The League’s new website (which makes some pretty good, and consistent use of audio and video).

It’s about Gavin Leonard, the 27 year old executive director of Citizens Organizing Neighborhoods to Regain Our Liberation (CONTROL), the political arm of Elementz, a hip-hop community center in Cincinnati. What Gavin has done is pretty impressive, and its very much a realization of what Alex and I were talking about way back in the day when we wrote this: a plan for a dual for-profit/nonprofit concert space for independent music and progressive activism. He’s created a sustainable (financially) space that is rooted in local culture (the four pillars of Hip Hop), and which awakens and channels the political consciousness of its members for the betterment of that community. It’s a realization of one of the ideas we had while working at MFA, and what Fred blogs about all the time - third places.

Amazing.

The second story comes from Blue Oregon, which is tracking the work of 5 new state legislators under 35 years of age. So far they’ve made 5 legislative proposals, all of which will increase the quality of life and enhance the political participation of young people in Oregon: same day voter registration, family medical leave, sustainable business and energy, help in paying for higher education. Good stuff.

In the third piece, WaPo chronicles how the Dept. of Education is charging hundreds of millions in extraneous late fees because of a glitch in their collection system.