The Proposal

What is the student activism blog?

This blog will be a venue for students to share the different ways they have implemented action campaigns on their campuses. When we share our success, we build our success, so let us inspire each other by promoting what we’ve accomplished.

Every week, DM coordinators are implementing successful action campaigns, and each coordinator puts their own style on the activism templates provided on the website to best suite the needs and environment of their campus. By sharing the stories of successfully implemented campaigns, Democracy Matters will promote and acknowledge the hard work put forth by the coordinators, provide a more in depth look at how the action campaigns are implemented on the ground, and be a source of inspiration for those who want to be involved in the Clean Elections movement.

Take a look at Jay Mandle’s “Money On My Mind,” which for all intents and purposes, is a blog. He writes an article each month and posts the entry on an online journal. The huge benefit of “Money On My Mind” is that it is an accessible and consistently updated journal that educates readers on how money in politics and privately funded campaigns continue to affect a number of domestic and international issues. The field organizers email the coordinators links to these articles all the time to further educate them on the specifics of the clean election issue. Democracy Matters should also provide the same accessibility and service for those interested in learning more about the activism side of the issue and of the organization.

It will be great to be able to encourage a coordinator to launch a specific campaign and then direct him/her to an article about how another student has implemented that same campaign. This will not only provide that coordinators with some ideas and strategies shared by their colleagues, but also prove to them that the campaigns can and have been implemented successfully.

How it will work?

The blog will only be updated by full-time DM staff (directors and organizers), not by the coordinators themselves. Each week the regional field organizers would pick one or two coordinators who have recently implemented a successful campaign on their campus. The coordinators would be asked to write a brief (250-500 words) article telling the story about their campaign and responding to some of the following questions: What was your goal? How many people were involved? What did you accomplish? How did you tailor it to your campus? What kind of prep work was required? How do you plan on following up? Did you make any essential contacts? What were some key strategies for success? What advice would you provide for someone thinking about doing a similar campaign? What lessons did you learn about activism and organizing? Etc. Coordinators would also be encouraged to include pictures of their campaigns to accompany the articles.

What this blog will allow for is easy, updated access to educational and informative articles about how Democracy Matters does activism. Last week I gave a seminar to a group of high school students and the first question from the audience was, “So what can we do to address this issue?” I described one of the action campaigns on the website, but I found myself wishing I could direct these potential advocates to the site and have them read stories, written by other young people, about what we are doing and how we have been creative and successful.

This blog will be a source for students to inspire students, which I believe is an integral part in getting new people involved, keeping dedicated members motivated, and advancing the movement as a whole.

Peace,

Daryn Cambridge

Regional Field Organizer