crystal strait

Last week Rod Snyder, YDA Executive Vice President, and Hailey Snow, YDA Political Director, participated in a meeting at the White House about health care and young Americans.

Two things became clear. First, our generation is at the most risk of being uninsured without health insurance reform, and second, that passing a bill that provides quality affordable health care to all Americans will require Millennials to take action supporting it.

The Young Democrats of America launched yda.org/healthpledge, where young Americans from across the country can pledge to take action in support of health insurance reform. Once someone signs the pledge, they are redirected to a page where they can take one or more of the following actions:

• Write a letter to a local paper
• Write to your Senators
• Call your Senators
• Attend a town hall meeting
• Call in to talk radio
• Make a donation

Everyone that signs the pledge by Wednesday night will be invited to participate on YDA’s Health Insurance Reform update conference call with Democratic leaders and elected officials.

YDA Blog - Our Visit to the White House to Talk About Health Care
YDA Blog - Pledge to Fight for Health Insurance Reform

The YDA Works coalition has announced a series of four phone forums to discuss what needs to be done to improve the way the Young Democrats of America works.

Crystal Strait and the YDA Works Candidates have traveled to 31 states and had hundreds of conversations with leaders around the country about their thoughts and ideas for making the Young Democrats organization better. From these conversations it was clear that YDA leaders are interested in four main topics: local programs, direct issue advocacy, infrastructure/finance, and leadership development/accountability.

The calls are scheduled for Wednesdays at 9pm EST for the four weeks following the YDA National Conference in Houston. The topics and dates are:

I. June 17th: Focus on Local Chapter Programs

IV. July 8th: Help Leaders Have Impact

If you are interested in participating in any or all of the forum calls, there is a sign-up form that will let you choose the calls you would like and get the call-in information.

You can learn more about the YDA Works coalition on YDAWorks.com and the Facebook Page.

Today, Crystal Strait, the Political Director of the California Democratic Party, announced her candidacy to become YDA President. As I reported in my book, YDA underwent huge changes in recent years. They left the DNC and transformed from a networking organization for aspiring politicos to become a great grassroots, peer-to-peer organizing operation targeting young voters. This change lies at the heart of what Kevin was talking about in his post yesterday about the disconnect between "youth movement" people, young staff, and the Democratic Party. Crystal gets that. She understands why peer-to-peer organizing targeted at young people is important. In short, she'd make a great YDA President and I wish her the best of luck.

Enough of me yapping, though. Here's Crystal's letter to the Young Dems announcing her candidacy:

Dear Young Democrat,

I want you to know that I am running for President of the Young Democrats of America.

For more than 75 years, YDA has served as an arena for young leaders to cut their teeth, learn politics and earn their first stripes. But for many of us, just playing politics isn’t enough.

Over the last three election cycles, there has been a slow and steady push for YDA to be a people-powered organization that dedicates our time to doing the hard work it takes to build a bloc of progressive young voters. Like many of us, I have dedicated myself to this change and want to see YDA become a place that will continue to build and represent our generation.

That's why I am running for YDA President and hope I can earn your support.

Through the inspired efforts of young people across America, we have generated unprecedented results; and we are now poised to become a sustained force for change and progress. We must open the doors and embrace this once-in-a-lifetime energy. We must ensure that the ineffective organizational politics of old are left behind so we can build upon our achievements and embrace the change our generation so desperately wants; and our country so desperately needs.

We know change is never easy, but it is necessary for progress.

With our talented and diverse membership, I am confident we have the power to make the changes we need to move YDA forward. I am running for YDA President so together we can make these changes and realize our collective potential. Working together, we can make progress; without all of our shoulders to the wheel, we cannot advance.

We will change YDA by bringing more people into the room, not fewer--by making our programming serve and help our members grow at the local level--by making sure that we represent millions of young voters by directly advocating on the issues that impact them the most—and most importantly by holding each other accountable for getting the work done.

From my time as a local chapter president, state chapter president and national officer, I have ideas on how we can get there—and I know you do, too. The future of YDA is in our hands. I look forward to talking with you, so we can share our ideas and plan how we move YDA forward, together.

Last Tuesday night, our President said to a room of young people just like you and me: “The future will be in your hands...You will make it happen."

Let’s make it happen, together.

Best,

Crystal

Update: According to CNN, Crystal's endorsement ties the race for Superdelegates among Clinton and Obama. It would be great if the other YDA or CDA super delegates could be the ones to tip the balance in Obama's favor.

Hint, hint . . . .
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Crystal Strait, the woman representative of YDA at the DNC - aka one of YDA's three superdelegates - has endorsed Sen. Obama. This press release just hit my inbox:

CALIFORNIA SUPERDELEGATE PLEDGES TO BARACK OBAMA

Young Democrats of America DNC Member Cites Obama's Ability to Bring Young People into the Process

CHICAGO, IL - Today, Young Democrats of America Board Member and Former California Young Democrats President Crystal Strait pledged to vote for Barack Obama for president. Strait is a superdelegate and Democratic National Committee Member from California. Strait is the 276th superdelegate to endorse Obama. Obama is 155 delegates away from securing the Democratic nomination.

Strait said, "While representing the Young Democrats of America at the DNC, my number one priority is to ensure that young people are fully represented at the polls and in the Party. Barack Obama has shown a real commitment to young voters in his campaign and in response young people have overwhelmingly voted and caucused for Obama in these primary contests. We know that if a young person votes three times in a row for a Party, they become a Party voter for life. We know that because of high youth turnout in 2004 and 2006, 2008 is the third and critical election for young voters. And that's why I know I want to pledge my delegate vote to Barack Obama."

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The Young and College Democrats have 5 combined super delegate votes. So far the count stands at 1 and 1. Francisco Domenech, Crystal Strait's male counterpart at the DNC, declared his support for Sen. Clinton months ago.

Still to endorse: David Hardt, the President of YDA and both delegates from the College Democrats: Lauren Wolfe, the President of CDA, and Awais Khaleel, CDA's VP. Wolfe and Khaleel have posted a YouTube video asking young people how they should cast their ballots.