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Steny Hoyer, Tom Daschle to Speak at 80 Million Strong National Summit

As you know, Future Majority is on the Steering Committee of 80 Million Strong. Our National Summit is taking place next Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington, DC. We've got a great group of young leaders coming to DC to bring their ideas and perspectives to bear on the growing youth unemployment crisis (including FM's Sarah Burris). After the Summit, we will be sponsoring a grant summit in Chicago, IL (October, most likely), to fund some of the top legislative ideas and advocacy campaigns that arise from the July 14 and 15 Summit - Karlo

Young Leaders Gaining Support, Creating Ideas for 21st Century Jobs

Washington, D.C. – 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs, a coalition of 28 national youth organizations, will convene a summit of over 150 young people representing more than 30 states in Washington, D.C. on July 14 &15 in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.

Summit participants will develop legislative proposals in reaction to the disproportionate effects of the recession on young Americans.

Confirmed speakers include:

  • Steny Hoyer, Majority Leader, U.S. Congress
  • Tom Daschle, Former Majority Leader, U.S. Senate
  • James Clyburn, Majority Whip, U.S. Congress
  • Jared Bernstein, Senior Economic Adviser to Vice President Joe Biden
  • Van Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality

Young Americans have been hit hardest by the economic downturn and face an unemployment rate of 17.8%, almost 9 points higher than the national average. College graduates are entering one of the worst job markets in decades with an average $27, 000 dollars of student loan debt and little to no income with which to make payments.

80 Million Strong members will address this crisis head-on at the summit, where diverse young people from across the country will discuss the precarious financial health of our generation, propose solutions and package these recommendations into federal legislation. Our goal is to support and inspire entrepreneurship, widen the path from volunteerism to careers in public service, and commit a new generation to a new economy defined by higher education, good health, robust security, and sustainable living. We will leverage our coalition's influential and growing voting bloc to move jobs legislation through Congress, which will serve as a rallying point for us to engage in advocacy and increase civic participation at the grassroots and national level.

For more information please visit our website at http://80millionstrong.org/.

Summit Information:
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 – Conference
Capitol Visitor Center, Rm. 215 A&B
8:30am to 7:00pm

Wednesday, July 15, 2009 – Advocacy Day
Capitol Hill
9:00am to 12:00pm

80 Million Strong Contact Information:

Matthew Segal, Executive Director, Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE), National Co-Chair, 80 Million Strong

847-502-5012

July 9th, 2009 1:19pm
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Street Team '08: Blogging the Election

MTV Street Team interviews me about what its like blogging the election and young voters. Cool thing is that it got picked up by AP and is now posted on AOL and USNews and World Reports.


My major point emphasizing the importance of blogs is that it allows for you to completely cover something that mainstream media ignores... like.... um... what is a good example of an issue that the media doesn't cover or totally gets wrong? Gosh... there must be something... oh yeah! THE YOUTH MOVEMENT!

When I first started blogging it was 2004 and I pretty much had no idea wtf I was doing. I was a front page reader of Kos but didn't understand where all the other blogs were.... seriously.... I didn't get it, I didn't know too much about politics and all I knew was that I was pissed about the way I saw the Kerry campaign running and that my candidate was losing right along with him.

What a difference 4 years makes... Either way, thanks to all you great readers who, on occasions, think I sound lucid. And thanks to the other bloggers I so deeply admire.

October 23rd, 2008 10:47pm
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Our Own Sarah Burris Selected in NLC 40 Under 40 Emerging Leaders

The New Leaders Council has announced its honorees in the first annual Emerging Leaders 40 under 40. Our very own Sarah Burris has been selected as one of those emerging leaders.

It's encouraging to see that progressive organizations are beginning to address and nurture our young talent, and the New Leaders Council may be at the vanguard of that effort.

Here are the honorees:

Libuse Binder
Author of Ten Ways to Change the World In Your Twenties.

Aimee Boone
Deputy Executive Director/Finance Director for the Texas Democratic Party.

Raven Brooks and Gina Cooper
Leaders of Netroots Nation, the key organization focusing on how progressives can use technology to shift the public policy debate.

David Burd and Ethan Porter
Founders of the College Democrats of America Alumni Association.

Sarah Burris
Reporter for Rock The Vote, fundraiser for campaigns in OK, KS, CA, NV and civic youth organizations.

Elizabeth Caputo
President of Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century, New York's premier forum for bringing together progressive candidates and young leaders.

Andre Carson
Won special election in 2008 to represent the 7th Congressional District in Indiana.

Won Choi
Executive Director of Tying Nashville Together, major Tennessee citizen coalition of churches and businesses.

Aimée Christensen
Energy and environment consultant to Virgin, involved in many entrepreneurial efforts, and Board Member of Apollo Alliance.

Jack Conway
Attorney General of Kentucky and leader in public safety issues.

Judith Freeman
Director of the New Organizing Institute, training progressive online organizers and communicators.

Gabrielle Giffords
Congresswoman from Arizona, member of House Armed Services Committee.

Amy Graham
Director of Operations for LiveFeed – hunger relief efforts.

Anton Gunn
Author of Revolution Driven Life, speaker and South Carolina political leader.

Tyler Hudson
Communications pro, youngest staff member and speechwriter of the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

Aaron Keyak
Press Secretary for the National Jewish Democratic Council.

Scott Kleeb
Rancher, PhD, and Nebraska Senate Candidate.

Rachel Kleinfeld and Matt Spence
Co-Directors of Truman National Security Project, the nation's only organization that recruits and trains progressive national security leaders.

Anima LaVoy
Executive Director of Swing Semester, the nation's first political immersion program providing students with 10-week grassroots electoral jobs in swing states.

Ricky Le
Executive Director of California Democratic Congressional Delegation and key leader of Vietnamese community in San Jose, CA.

Sarah Leonard
VP of Glover Park Group Los Angeles, former Spokesperson for America Coming Together, leader of many California campaign efforts.

Nate Loewentheil and Kai Stinchcombe
Executive Director and Founder of the Roosevelt Institute college student policy think tank.

Ian Manheimer
Director of www.Glassbooth.org, which provides info on what Presidential candidate supports your beliefs.

Dyana Mason
Executive Director of Equality Virginia, Virginia's major organization working for full legal equality for GLBT citizens.

Peter Murray
President of the Center for Progressive Leadership, which has trained 3000 young progressive leaders across the nation.

Tony Payton Jr. and Josh Shapiro
The youngest legislator in PA and the Deputy Speaker of the PA State House.

Jon Powers
Iraq War Veteran, teacher and candidate for Congress in NY-26.

Ben Rahn and Jonathan Zucker
Leaders of www.ActBlue.com, the nation's largest online fundraising clearinghouse, with over $60 million raised since 2004.

Edmundo Rocha
Owner of "Para Justicia y Libertad" blog - http://xicanopwr.com/.

Justin Rockfeller
Co-founder of Generation Engage non-partisan youth civic engagement organization.

Tim Ryan
Ohio Congressman since 2003, Appropriations Committee Member.

Sam Stein
Leading political blogger seen on www.HuffingtonPost.com.

Emily Sussman
President and Founder of www.ThinkBlue.net, which researches and supports candidates best helping to engage young voters.

Shaunna Thomas
Director of the Young People For (YP4) program of People for the American Way.

Congratulations to all the honorees and keep up the good work.

September 3rd, 2008 4:28pm
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The Future Majority Bloggers

If you ever wanted to know what we all looked like here we are.

Michael Connery, Sarah Burris, and Kevin Bondelli

August 28th, 2008 12:35pm
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About Future Majority

Future Majority is a blog dedicated to covering the involvement of young voters in progressive politics. The site was founded in August of 2006 by Michael Connery, Alex Urevick-Acklesberg, and Josh Koenig.

The site features original reporting on progressive youth organizing, polling analysis, opinion pieces, and guest blogs by leaders in the progressive youth movement.

The site is built on the Drupal open source platform and is hosted by Chapter Three LLC. The site design is by Nica Lorber and the implementation was done by ZivTech.

Our Team

Sarah Burris has worked with numerous campaigns from presidential to city council races. She says she likes the smaller campaigns the best and prefers the Red-States. Recently, she worked for Skyline Public Works where she helped state based youth organizations connect with major funders across the country and develop better networking opportunities. In 2008 Sarah was named one of the five Rock the Vote Rock the Trail Reporters and traveled the country during the 2008 Elections covering the campaign from the youth perspective. She's reported from both conventions and debates and followed candidates on youth tours through their states. Sarah was also a recipient of the Democracy for America Netroots Nation scholarship and was named by the New Leader's Council as one of the 40 Emerging Leaders Under 40. She is a founding blogger at Everyday Citizen, a long time writer and researcher for Wiretap Magazine, and a new partner at Mixed Media. Sarah's writing focus has been faith based politics, rural youth, young progressive democracy, and youth specific legislation. You may contact her at sarahkatheryn at gmail dot com.

Kevin Bondelli has been working in youth activism and Democratic politics since 2000. He has served as Young Democrats of America (YDA) Communications Chair, YDA Southwest Region Director, YDA Convention Credentials Chair, YDA Parliamentarian, YDA Judicial Council Member, YDAZ National Committeeman, and YDAZ Vice-President of Finance.

Kevin was Undergraduate Student Government Vice-President of Arizona State University in 2003-2004 and in 2009 was a recipient of a Democracy for America Netroots Nation Scholarship.

Professionally Kevin has been Internet Organizer, Non-Traditional Campaigns Director, and Internet and Technology Strategist for the Arizona Democratic Party. He currently consults as a web/graphic designer, writer, and internet strategist and also writes on KevinBondelli.com.

Craig Berger has been interested in civic engagement, politics, Millennial Generation, and higher education for several years. Craig is currently employed as Coordinator of Campus and Civic Engagement at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Craig recently completed his Master of Science degree in Student Affairs in Higher Education at Miami University in 2011; prior to graduate school, Craig was employed at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College working in Residence Life. Craig received his BA in Political Science at Allegheny College in 2006. While there, Craig served as President of the Allegheny College Democrats in 2003 and 2004, organizing Democratic students and liberals on campus in support of John Kerry. Craig resides in Owings Mills, MD.

Karlo Barrios Marcelo is a policy researcher and writer. He got his professional start as Research Associate at The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). While at CIRCLE he published numerous fact sheets and academic articles on youth civic engagement, especially youth volunteering and voting. During the 2008 presidential election, he wrote about young voters and young politics for WireTap Magazine. More recently, he worked at The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program where he supported the advancement of microenterprise development organizations from across the U.S. Along with Mike Connery, Karlo serves on the Advisory Board of HeadCount. He holds a B.A. from the University of Maryland, where he was a CIVICUS Associate and Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow, and a M.P.P. from the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Originally from the Chicago suburbs, Karlo now lives in Washington, DC.

FM Team

Mike, Sarah and Kevin at the DNC.

Emeritus

Michael Connery is the author of Youth to Power: How Today's Young Voters Are Building Tomorrow's Progressive Majority, a book about the role of the Millennial Generation in progressive politics. In addition to blogging at Future Majority, Michael is an occasional contributor to MyDD, TechPresident, and the Huffington Post's "Off the Bus" blog.

Michael is a Board Member of the Young Voter PAC, an At-Large member of the DNC Youth Council, and sits on the Advisory Board of HeadCount, a non profit that registers young voters at live music events. In 2003, he was the cofounder of a similar organization called Music for America, and served as its Communications Director and Web Editor in 2003 and 2004. In 2008, he was a National New Media Fellow with the Center for Independent Media.

Michael has a BA in English and Philosophy from Boston College and an MA in English from Indiana University in Bloomington.

Josh Koenig is an internet technologist, Drupal sensei, outlandish blogger and self-described velvet revolutionary. He helped instigate the DeanSpace project, driving grassroots web technology for Howard Dean's presidential campaign, in mid 2003. He later served as Technical Director for Music For America from its foundation as a 527 through the end of 2004. Josh is currently pioneering the internet-enabled rural lifestyle in the State of Jefferson, spending most days fulfilling his role as a founding partner of Chapter Three LLC, a next-generation internet organizing consultancy (which also hosts Future Majority, natch).

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberg has been working in technology since 1999, and with Drupal since he hooked up with Music for America, a voter education and registration initiative, during the U.S. 2004 presidential campaign. He has helped to create numerous blogs and online communities including Young Philly Politics, a local political blog, Blue Force, a progressive national security site, and Future Majority, which looks at the intersections of youth, culture, and politics. Alex worked at The New School for Social Research in New York City for eight years, where he also received his Bachelors and Masters degrees, both of which focused on psychology, politics, and communications. After he left the New School, Alex worked various jobs in politics and communications, including doing Online Marketing/Internet Outreach for the award winning film The War Tapes, working as the Youth and Cultural Field Organizer for Philadelphians Against Santorum, and managing a City Council race in Philadelphia. In early 2007 Alex decided to pursue Drupal Development full time, and he hasn't looked back since. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, dog, cats, and a salt-water reef tank that scares his wife half to death every time he's away on business (which is fairly frequently).

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