thank you

I'm writing today to say thank you on behalf of 17 exceptional individuals that your generosity helped bring to the Yearlykos Convention in Chicago.

We did this together.

Whether it was the 17 generous donors from Dailykos who provided registration grants for each of our recipients ($4,300 in donations)...or the 72 donors who pledged Last Mile donations (to the tune of $3,700 in direct contributions)...or the 5 donors who provided airline frequent flier miles ($2,450 in-kind donations)...or the countless local and regional contributors in our recipients' home states who raised, at last count, $4,100 in contributions large and small...this was a group effort.  

With my partners, Howie Klein and Vicki Cosgrove, I can't thank everyone involved in this project enough.

That being said, I'd like to share a couple things with you today.

First, I'd like to introduce you to 17 voices that anyone attending YearlykosChicago or reading about it online will have a chance to get to know better. Every one of these grantees was a full partner in this effort. In fact, Howie and Vicki and I couldn't have done this project if everyone involved, especially the grantees, had not worked together at every step of the way.

Please welcome and congratulate the 17 participants in the Chicago Grant program:

• Aarti Shahani, NYC immigrant rights activist and founder of the organization Families for Freedom
• diarist Land of Enchantment who will bring her incisive voice to this gathering of bloggers in Chicago
• a young Democrat from rural Alabama named Trent Thompson, ably supported by a blograiser from his home state, and very much a part of the future of Democratic politics there
• a member of the Young Elected Officials Network from Madison, Wisconsin: Dane County Supervisor Ashok Kumar
• Jose, a Latino student activist from Los Angeles who is a veteran of the youth-oriented movement around civil and immigrant rights in Southern California
• Amber McZeal, a New Orleans resident at the time of Hurricane Katrina and currently an activist with Color of Change and the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project
• Matt Thompson, a teenage blogger from South Dakota who is committed to building the Dakota blogospheres
• Matt Ortega a millenial organizer instrumental in the Defenders of Wildlife campaign to unseat Richard Pombo and a blogger at diverse outposts like Firedoglake, the Huffington Post and the Rights Field
• John Leek, a young Democrat, a kossack and founder of the "lone Democratic blog" in Mississippi, Cottonmouth Blog
• Susan Madrak, founder of the blog Suburban Guerrilla and an activist committed to bringing working class voices to progressive politics
• Nezua, the blogger and powerful voice behind theUnapologeticMexican
• Kenneth Quinnell, a Florida blogger and activist with the Florida Progresssive Coalition
• Brandon White, Detroit student organizer and mass transit activist and co-author of the blog the SuperSpade
• Carla Axtman, blogger, journalist and mom from the Pacific Northwest
• Terri Macmillan, a long-time kossack and DFA Activist whose life experience spans her childhood in New York City to her current work in Japan.
• Ryan McCleod, political organizer and the blogger behind the Louisiana blog, the DailyKingfish
• Bernita Smith, a blogger and political demographer from Atlanta, Georgia (Blog for Democracy and Tondee's Tavern) and one of the voices behind Blog Talk Radio's Kudzu Vine

To say that these voices will enrich the convention in Chicago is a vast understatement. These 17 participants at Yearlykos will add to the wealth of voices and experiences that gathers around the table in Chicago. Every one who attends the convention will benefit from their insights and perspectives.

We did this together.

This project, from start to finish, was a grassroots effort. This is what we can do when we work together. Which brings me to my second point.

::

Diversity, as I explained as I raised the money and sought out the grantees for this program, means something richer and deeper than what we've often been led to believe.

True diversity takes into account regional, economic, cultural and ethnic points of view. The philosophy of diversity Howie Klein, Vicki Cosgrove and I brought to this program recognized as its core start point that we are only as strong as the breadth and depth of the voices we have invited to the table.

The grantees above are attending Yearlykos because we asked them to, because we invited them. In getting behind this effort, you were a part of that. I thank every last one of you who made this possible.

When I spoke with each of the 17 participants in this program I asked them to do two simple things. First, I asked them to bring their voice to the convention. Second, I asked them to take what they'd seen and learned in Chicago...the connections they'd made, the knowledge they'd gained...back home with them to share.

So many of these grantees are young. They are the future of progressive politics. For some of them, this is their first convention. They will be welcomed with open arms.

I am so proud of what we've done together, and eager to participate in the convention in Chicago and see this project through. Together, we did a small, good thing. We made an investment in our future.

On behalf of everyone involved in this project, I want to thank you so much.