Leadership Training

Working on campaigns is one continuous contradiction, which is to say that is an amplified/sped up version of life in general. Candidates are at both times selfless and incredibly self absorbed. Those who work in or around politics (as well as the organizations they belong to or control) run the gamut from completely immoral Machiavelli wannabes to unbelievably noble crusaders for justice (most fall someplace in between). And while it is easy enough to get discouraged by the bad side of politics, I stay involved and will continue to stay involved because of all of the amazing people that I meet.

Mike's discussion of the divide between the social justice and progressive youth politics movements brought to mind one of the most inspiring organizations that I crossed paths with during this past cycle: the Institute for the Development of African American Youth (IDAAY) and their program Don't Fall Down in the Hood. Neither IDAAY nor Don't Fall Down in the Hood are focused primarily on politics, they focus on intervention and development amongst young, poor, minority Philadelphians. Here's how IDAAY's site describes Don't Fall Down in the Hood:

I have some quibbles with this article (I'm not sure Rock the Vote should count as a progressive youth organization, and many new organizations are not included in her figures), but Iara Peng of Young People For speaks truth about the state of progressive youth funding (emphasis mine):

Last year alone, the Right invested $48 million in 11 youth-focused organizations aimed at increasing the number of ideologically friendly campus papers, fostering networks of students on campuses, shifting the way that students self-identify in terms of political ideology, providing skills and strategies training, and promoting right-wing values.

...

Collectively, we're (youth groups) doing great work, but we're not doing enough. Right-wing groups spend more than ten times as much on long-term political leadership development than we do, and financial trends over the past four years show that progressive leadership development organizations are actually, on average, experiencing a decline in revenue. Unlike their conservative counterparts, youth-focused progressive organizations are often funded with a "buying," not "building," mentality, meaning that donors want their contribution to have immediate payoffs, such as election-year voter registration, but are not focusing on investing in the strategic, long-term sustainability of those organizations.

The folks at Emerging Democratic Majority agree with Peng's assessment, and are encouraging progressives to donate more to youth training and mentorship.

Most interesting to me is the $48 million figure for conservative youth funding. That's roughly equivalent to all the money distributed last year by the Democracy Alliance.

That's not just short-sighted or disconcerting, its shameful.