"No great piece of reform ever starts in Washington. It starts in places like this, starts in union halls, it starts with people's ideas – it doesn’t start with someone having a bill number in mind. You are honoring our founding fathers by being here on this beautiful Saturday morning. Somewhere, Ben Franklin is looking down and saying, ‘Boy, what a great country we have, because here you are coming off a victory saying, ‘How are we going to win the next one?'"
— Rep. Anthony Weiner, speaking to local grassroots volunteers in NYC, April 24, 2010
The calm before the storm early on Saturday, April 24, when approximately 125 volunteers attended an education and training session to get fired up and ready to go for November 2010!
Last week, Femlaw wrote a wonderful diary on recent trainings in California and the importance of Vote 2010. And DNC New Media Director, Natalie Foster, published this moving piece on a training held in the oldest African-American bookstore in the country in San Francisco.
Not to be outdone by the Left Coast, we had several highly-successful events in NYC as well. Casperr and her all-volunteer team ran a great event on financial reform and getting ready for the election on Thursday, April 22. And on Saturday, April 24, Tribeca for Change, a grassroots neighborhood group that collaborates with OFA, delivered an entirely volunteer-planned and run education and training session designed to build the grassroots network in NYC and prepare for the elections in November.
Erica Sagrans, blogger for the national office of OFA, wrote a great piece on the event here.
Organizing for America held Camp OFAs across the country last weekend — trainings where volunteers gathered to strategize about 2010, learn the skills they'll need, and get fired up about the road ahead.
Many of our staff at OFA headquarters took advantage of the opportunity to hear from the volunteers who make up the heart of this movement, and were on hand at Camp OFAs from New York to Seattle. I left D.C. Friday night to take part in an event in New York City the following morning. As the warm, sunny day began, New Yorkers were just starting to go outside and ride bikes, walk dogs, and bring kids to play in the park. But in the theater at Dixon Place on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, more than 100 volunteers were gathering to spend the day learning, planning, and gearing up for the fights ahead.
Checking in on the brand-new electronic system designed by volunteers with the help of staff from OFA-NYC.
Deputy Field Director, Geoff Berman, and OFA blogger, Erica Sagrans, enjoying the energy of the arriving volunteers.
Community Organizer (volunteer), Reno, welcoming the crowd and ginning everyone up for a day of great camaraderie and important work.
Geoff Berman took a few mintues to greet attendees and introduce Rep. Weiner.
Although he hadn't known if his schedule would permit a visit, Rep. Weiner came to make the point to new and old volunteers alike that their work is critical and very visible in Washington, D.C.
He went on to say:
"No great piece of reform ever starts in Washington. It starts in places like this, starts in union halls, it starts with people's ideas – it doesn’t start with someone having a bill number in mind. You are honoring our founding fathers by being here on this beautiful Saturday morning. Somewhere, Ben Franklin is looking down and saying, ‘Boy, what a great country we have, because here you are coming off a victory saying, ‘How are we going to win the next one?'"
And the crowd agreed with him.
There was more applause when he reminded us that you "can't bring library books to a knife fight." LOL.
Health care expert, Mark Hannay, addressed attendees on the the current bill and next steps to stengthen the national law and create pilot programs in NYS.
Financial reform expert, Chuck Bell, provided easy-to-understand information and talking points for volunteers to use in speaking with other voters.
I was delighted to be asked to facilitate the breakout groups, during which participants brainstormed on action agendae for health care and financial reform, and the elections in November.
The attendees were engaged and focused and motivated all day long.
After a delicious lunch, Community Organizer (volunteer), Alan, passionately primed the group for our final breakouts into Neighborhood Teams. There we devised personal action plans and made activist pledges (my secret training weapon :-) that we shared with each other. I was so excited to discover almost a dozen volunteers in my group (Go Brooklyn, Queeens, and Staten Island!) who were eager to step up to the plate and take on leadership positions organizing their neighborhoods for the first time since November 2008.
Organizing for America Director Mitch Stewart recently sent the following email, inviting supporters to join him and David Plouffe for an online strategy session on the 2010 elections on Monday, May 3:
This week, President Obama outlined our top priority for the 2010 elections: Making sure first-time voters from 2008 return to the polls.
Now, it's up to us to make it happen.
So I hope you will join David Plouffe and me for our Vote 2010 online Strategy Session next Monday at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time, where we'll detail our plans to organize supporters and volunteers and get the job done.
You'll get the inside scoop on the plan you helped create, have a chance to ask questions, and participate in an online discussion with other supporters in your state.
Join us for the Vote 2010 Strategy Session this Monday at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Please RSVP today.
Over the past few months, we've held hundreds of local strategy planning meetings across the country to make our 2010 campaign the most effective it can be. We've incorporated your feedback into a comprehensive electoral plan we think will make the difference in the November elections.
You told us your top priority was clear -- getting the millions of first-time voters from 2008 out to the polls once again. During Monday's Strategy Session, you'll find out exactly how we plan to make that happen.
We'll detail the role organizers and supporters like you will play and give you an insider look at our plan. You'll have a chance to ask David and me questions -- and we'll connect you in a live chat with staff and volunteers in your area so you can talk about your local strategy.
We've set an ambitious goal to protect the progress we've made together. And with corporate special interests able to spend freely to elect their allies, we can't afford to fail. All that we've worked for is at stake.
Once again, our strength will come from volunteers and organizers in every city and town. You will lead us to victory in November -- so we wanted to organize this special briefing to give you a closer look at our plans.
RSVP today:
http://my.barackobama.com/...
Thanks,
Mitch
Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America
You can learn more about "Vote 2010" here and find events and trainings in your district or neighborhood. There's even an online voter registration tool for every state in the union!
Let's get ready to rumble!
And finally, along with the adorable Edith Ann, here's the indomitable committee chair of the day's event, Reno, who deserves all kinds of kudos, along with the rest of the volunteers that planned and ran this training: Alan, Charles, Debo, Jackie, Janna, Joyce, Judy, Judyth, Leslie, Laurie, Ling, Margaret, Onni and Susan. Special thanks, also, to Bill Gordon, New Media Director of OFA-NY, for many of the photos in this diary. Although I do fancy myself Gumby, it really was impossible to facilitate and photograph simultaneously. :-)