Saturday, July 31st
St. Peters Church
1763 Cleveland Avenue
10am – 2pm
Hosted by Kwesi Low and featuring hip hop artist Rasul the Knowbody
Beverages and Snacks will be provided
Kwesi Low, Ohio Coordinator
Columbus, OH – Based in Columbus since 2004, LYVEF Ohio has had strong community and campus chapters around the state, especially in Toledo and Cincinnati, which have risen and fallen with funding capacity. Over the years, LYVEF Ohio has focused on college access and affordability, economic and social justice issues, as well as nonpartisan voter registration, GOTV, election protection and election administration. In 2009, LYVEF Ohio focused on green jobs, gun violence, and affordable house and recreation programs for youth. We will continue to build and strengthen our states wide coalition and do sufficient trainings to have our constituents doing lobbying on the state level by midyear. We also worked to list build and register voters in preparation for the 2010 midterm elections, as well as promote participation in the census. In February we hired on Kwesi Low as a community organizer in Columbus, Ohio as part of our State Based Apprenticeship Program to ramp-up our civic engagement and census activities.
Biko Baker, Executive Director of the League of Young Voters Education Fund, was on the seen at Netroots Nation 2010, participating in two fascinating panels that are viewable online, right now:
We’ve joined with 9 other progressive 501c3s, including the United States Student Association, Keystone Progress and the Inner City Law Center to sweep Pepsi’s Refresh Everything contest in August.
We’re all in the running for a total of over $500,000 in grants, and all you have to do to get involved is sign up to be a daily voter right here. LYVEF will use our $50,000 piece of the pie to register thousands of new voters and get the word out about the importance of youth participation in the November Elections.
A Green Economy is how we began to intellectually take care of our planet and the people at the same time. We can produce mass opportunity in job and business creation as well as free ourselves from our addiction to fossil fuels.
To really understand this is to simply transform what is, into what is possible. Therefore, this is technical issue and not a political issue.
In order for this idea to materialize, there must be huge investments in infrastructure and environmental projects along with mobilization of all people through information. Information is the only way we can move from profit and self interest toward creativity, unity and progress.
Our communities need to emerge in these turbulent times. “Going Green” is the answer to our problems.
How do we make Green Real? Learn as much as you can about renewable energy, urban agriculture, recycling, climate change, environmental justice and beyond. Join the Movement today!
Download Making Milwaukee Green Coalition Community Guide
Help Shape a Sustainable Milwaukee!
Recent Highlights:
Campus
LYVEF Florida
Tally Census Kick-Off: FAMU Marching Band led a parade in the community of Frenchtown for the Tally Census kick off. LYVEF Executive Director Biko Baker was a guest panelist at FAMU for their State of the Student Union. Topics included civic engagement, census and voter empowerment. Other panelists were Cornell West, Ralph Nader, and Susan Taylor.
LYVEF Nevada
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity events.
LYVEF Texas
College Campus Tour: On-Campus talks centered around LYVEF, the Census, youth empowerment and civic engagement.
Off-Campus Community Organizing
This February we hired four bright young individuals (State-Based Apprentices) to work on “Numbers Don’t Lie” (our Census Campaign) and Voter Registration. Each of our Apprentices have amassed solid volunteer bases in order to assist them as they get out the message around our two core 2010 Campaigns. This work has included Census canvassing events, radio appearances, school seminars and panels, rallies, etc. Our Apprentices are currently in Tallahassee FL, Las Vegas, NV, Columbus OH, and Houston TX. Our Training Director, CJ, has been traveling to each state, making sure the Apprentices are trained, understand their mission and are empowered to be the next young leaders in their communities.
Engaging with elected officials
(LYVEF OH) – Kwesi and Deputy Director Carey Jenkins attended an Education Town Hall at the Sawyer Recreational Center in April to speak with Senator-elect Oyanago Senell in April.
(LYVEF OH) – We put together an Earth Day Action in conjunction with 1Sky, meeting with with Congressional Rep Mary Jo Kilroy.
(LYVEF NV) – Carey Jenkins met with Howard Watts from Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada.
(LYVEF NV) – During her Earth Day Action in NV, Krysten Hughes met with Senator Harry Reid’s Land and Energy Representative Sara Moffat
(LYVEF FL) – On April 22, Jabari Paul met with District Representative Brad Johnson and had lunch to discuss LYVEF and how we can work together going forward.
(LYVEF TX) – In Houston, TX Christina Sanders has been working closely with Senator Rodney Ellis daily.
(LYVEF TX) – On Earth Day, Christina recruited 15 volunteers to meet with Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green.
(LYVEF National) – Twice in the last two quarters Deputy Director Carey Jenkins was invited to the White House to speak about youth jobs, civic participation and violence, as well as to offer solutions to the problems facing our constituency.
Working with Non-Student/High School Youth
Leadership Development:
The better part of 2010 has been centered on our leadership on the ground. Since the common thread between everything we do is Leadership Development, the journey from being a kid signing a Census Pledge to a young adult that is fully engaged and bought in to community organizing is contingent upon a strong training program. Tunnel Builder Trainings provide the knowledge and tools that give youth that are being introduced to civic engagement for the first time a crash course in why it’s important to do more than just be sporadically or half-heartedly involved in the political process. By delving into the issues that most affect these youth personally and collectively, Tunnel Builder Trainings, led by Deputy Director Carey Jenkins, provide a strong foundation for youth to ask questions, learn politics 101 and feel informed enough to leave the trainings as leaders as opposed to struggling youth still trying to define their direction. If this is true of our Training Program then our Apprentice Program is its perfect compliment.
Apprentice Program:
Our Apprentice Program is the bridge between our training programs and civic engagement programming. Our Apprentice Program is infused with Leadership Development. We take fledgling young leaders and imbue them with training and tools to carry out our civic engagement model, which is proven to hit metric goals, much in the same way that we impart community organizer skills to youth in our training program.
We currently have four Apprentices on the ground that we are cultivating into major community organizers in Tallahassee, FL; Las Vegas, NV; Columbus, OH and Houston, TX. Our Apprentices hold local events in their areas to draw youth out and give them the chance to personally connect to LYVEF’s message. By training our Apprentices to meet deliverables like recruiting volunteers, holding events to re-educate their communities about civic issues (each having 2,900 overall contacts) and turning in census pledges, these Apprentices learn the value of follow up. This is a crucial lesson to learn, so that after they make that connection with the young people they inspire, they are compelled to reach back out to them and put in the work it takes to take each individual from interested to invested. Developing these young people for successful transitions into other work and pushing them to grow and become personally accountable is at the heart of our State-Based Apprenticeship Program. By culling youth that have grown up locally in these areas, we are able to pull from the intrinsic knowledge they have of their communities, which enables us to go deeper in some of our historically targeted areas. Each Apprentice is encouraged to build a volunteer base within their community to solidify community ties.
The lessons we have learned over the years are compressed into practice within our Apprentices, who get to go from novice to expert all under LYVEF’s wing, becoming “total Leaguers’” by the end of their apprenticeship. They also gain online experience by blogging weekly for our social/pop/political blog 99problems.org. Partway through their journey, each Apprentice is visited and evaluated by Carey Jenkins, who provides on-the-spot training and mentoring to each Apprentice, accentuating their individual strengths and mentoring their personal weaknesses. By touring and stopping into each of their cities and working with them, CJ is able to see firsthand what they are excelling in and struggling with, in order to provide valuable on-site training.
Tunnel Builder Stats:
27 young people in Chicago – Alliance w/ The Gathering For Justice at Southwest Youth Collaborative. We were asked by The Gathering to come and train young adults on community organizing and power analysis. The young people were working on a campaign that would stop Chicago police from using assault rifles on the street.
13 young people at YP4 – YP4 (Young People For America) training in Washington, DC.
12 young people in Arkansas – In Little Rock, we were asked by The Gathering for Justice to train young adults on community organizing and civic engagement. This event was evaluated by CIRCLE.
19 young people in NYC – Back to School Jam on September 19th, CBT (Coaltion Trade for Black Unionist), community organizing and conflict resolution training.
11 young people in DC for Inauguration – Adrian University students trained in conflict resolution and community organizing/civic engagement.
14 young people in Ohio – Asked by the Gathering for Justice to do a 3-day training on conflict resolution, community organizing, civic engagement, power analysis and volunteer recruitment strategy.
