Putting Obama in office was just the beginning. We’ve won a major battle but not the whole war. Now we have the equally daunting and critical challenge of making sure that Obama is able to fulfill the promise that he represents. We need to keep working to take back our democracy and advance Obama’s progressive agenda.
That’s why I’m working with a network of progressive people throughout Maryland to get communities across the state organized and mobilized to in support of building a new clean green, inclusive energy economy and bold federal climate action – two major priorities for president Obama. We’ve teamed up with an amazing national grassroots climate campaign called 1Sky whose goal is to build volunteer climate action teams in every community that will push our congressional leaders to be champions of bold federal climate and clean energy policy. For more info go to http://local.1sky.org/en/.
As you may know, Maryland Congresspeople including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Chris Van Hollen, and John Sarbanes are extremely influential and will have a big impact on the type of climate policy that congress passes. By influencing them we can have a huge influence on the climate fight, but we need to act now because Congress is working on climate legislation as we speak.
2009 is going to be the pivotal year for climate action! If you care about the issue this is the year to act. You can make a difference in just a few hours a month. Help us make history. Please contact me today to let me know if your interested in joining our local 1Sky climate precinct team!
Keith Harrington
MD 1Sky Field Organizer
Chesapeake Climate Action Network
240-396-1985
keith@chesapeakeclimate.org
I'm a Red Cross Disaster Volunteer. Are you? If not , why not? Join today.
January 23rd, 2009Did you see the article, “Volunteer to Save the Economy,” in the New York Times today?As a consultant for social networking and non-profit outreach, this article hits close to my heart. With unemployment soaring near 6%, and almost double that for women in the NYC vicinity, we need to support alternative employment opportunities for working moms and students at both the undergraduate and graduate level. If our communities expand telecommuting options and better care for infants and young children, they will allow more women to enter the workforce and provide better financial support for their families. The commercial goods and services industry already knows that moms are their most important consumer base, the government needs to remember these women in its Economic Stimulus Plan. Please read the article below, which explains the importance of the SERVE AMERICA ACT.NYT Article: Volunteer to Save the EconomyBy BRUCE REED and JOHN BRIDGELANDPublished: January 22, 2009, Washingtonhttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/opinion/23reed.html?emc=eta1
Read more commentary on my blog at http://www.kristinreign.com
The on-line survey the campaign is currently asking supporters to fill out should be titled, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" because they don't ask the hard questions so supporters don't have the chance to tell the campaign about any problems or negative experiences encountered while volunteering.
All the survey's questions are framed in the positive and the answer options are only positive. They are as useful and insightful as asking, "Which superlative would you use describe our phenomenal campaign staff?"
a. fantastic
b. wonderful
c. fabulous
d. the best darn team ever to run a campaign
Is this anyway to collect meaningful information?
The survey never asked
a. What did the campaign do that impeded your volunteer efforts?
b. Were the on-line tools easy to use?
c. Were the on-line tools were useful?
d. Was your training adequate?
e. Did you feel your phone calling or canvassing had a positive effect on voters you contacted?
f. Did the state or national Obama campaign headquarters provide appropriate support to the office where you volunteered?
g. What did you like least about your volunteer experience?
I hope I'm wrong, but it seems Plouffe and company don't ask the tough questions because they don't want supporters to tell them the sometimes ugly truth.
Has any volunteer received thanks or recognition for the work you did for the Obama campaign? Any contributors?
I'm not feeling the love. I contributed thousands of dollars and three weeks of 12-15 hour days working in Virginia, but haven't heard a word from the campaign -- except requests for more money. Mark Warner's campaign thanked me, but not Plouffe and company. At best this is bad manners, at worst it shows the campaign was merely paying lip service to the notion of valuing everyone's contribution.
I hope this lapse is not a foreshadowing of things to come in the next four years.
Tonight I attended a very special house party. It wasn't a typical house party, it wasn't held in a house, nor was it a party. More than 25 people came to Cafe Kili in Temple Terrace. For team members who worked with Field Organizer's Genora Reed, Sheila Cherizard Donovan Nwokeji and Jill Stracko, Cafe Kili was our satellite North Tampa Field Office, our outpost, our home. Special, because Patrick and Rose, the owners, are Kenyans; they opened their shop to us, even opening for us on their one day off; they sacrificed their only day of rest to help the Obama Campaign, they gave more than any of us had been asked to give. You see, their son died in Iraq - the first Kenyan-American to die in service to our country. They knew the importance of our mission, they knew we needed the Change Barack Obama would bring; a man whose Kenyan heritage was part of their family and their countries, Kenya and America.
We listened to the message from the incoming Administration; we listened to our Field Organizers, Sheila Cherizard and Ryan Metcalf and from Jerid Fox, Biji Anchery and others who attested to the resolve of every individual who contributed their precious time canvassing, phone banking and registering voters. People who worked the Early Vote, Vote by Mail and finally the Get Out The Vote campaigns, the local candidate literature drops and even on Election Day were canvassing or driving people to the polls. We shared stories of the recent past while at the same time looked forward to, and planned for the future.
The Obama Administration has developed Obama 2.0, tech speak for the next phase. This Presidency is like no other in our generation. They built a network of communities, of neighborhoods; they spent countless hours and many millions of dollars to wake the sleeping giant of Democrats and Progressives in America. Scores of volunteers and organizers, who maybe until now had not realized their potential, who rose to the challenge, who now are recognized in their own towns as citizens engaged in the process of government; who found their voice. We can and we will Change the face of politics in America.
There will be one more house party, this one in a house and it is a party. Dr. Alayne Unterberger is a proud community organizer, who as one of the founders of the Florida Institute for Community Studies, was chosen to introduce Senator Hillary Clinton during the Florida campaign effort. She has worked to educate a community who others have ignored, her organization teaches English, conducts AIDS education and testing, provides health assessments for those at risk of Diabetes and offers after school child care. Her center is even a "Safe Place" chartered by the State of Florida is so committed to being the "Change We have been Waiting For" that she has opened her home to the campaign once again, this time not as a staging location for canvassers, but to continue to Change America has been waiting for effort.
If you can, please join us Monday, December 15th at 7pm to be a part of the Change which has come to America, to continue your service to your neighborhood, or to begin your journey of civic engagement.
Whether you are a Democrat, an Independent, an informed Republican, a Green Party member, or any associated with any other affiliation, you can bring Change to America, you can make a difference. Your community needs you. Tampa needs you, Temple Terrace needs you, and your neighbor needs you. Come to find out how you can make a difference.
Visit BarackObama.com search events for your zip code on a regular basis. We are out here, waiting for you, welcoming you, engaged in service to our community.
Wishing you Peace,
Lisa Montelione
I wrote this on Tuesday, November 11th.
I thought maybe I was crazy for missing the election. After each debate, I heaved a sigh of relief that it was one less I would have to watch. I am guess I am relieved to know the outcome; not to have to worry anymore. However, now that the election is gone, I miss it terribly. Not the debates, of course! They were something close to torture.
I wrote this back on October 16th.
Guess what? You don't have to be in the military or the Peace Corps to serve your country. No, you can do something as simple as taking a day off work on November 4th, and volunteering. I have volunteered to give rides to people who would not otherwise have a way to get to the polls on election day.
See the intro: Oh, what a feeling!
My day as a volunteer evolved from the time I called to express my interest right down to the last two hours before the polls closed. The Obama campaign was not just organized, but also agile. As needs changed or were fulfilled, the organizers quickly “re-prioritized”.
I volunteered all day on November 4th, election day. Afterwards, I wished I had done more! Never mind that the actual value I contributed in the big picture was probably quite small.
I wrote this back on November 3rd.
I'm so excited. I voted absentee this morning. I had volunteered for the Obama campaign tomorrow. I had thought I would have time during the day to vote, but they had to do some last minute "reprioritization", so I am now being bused down to a town 30 minutes away for almost the entire voting period to go door to door in a last minute "get out the vote" effort. I got the call on Saturday.
