Addressing the Homeless Politically - University of San Francisco

On Wed. April 30, 2008 the University of San Francisco
chapter of Democracy Matters hosted and moderated an
event titled: "Addressing the Homeless Politically". 
We had a panel of two speakers present the connection
between homelessness and the current political system.
 The first speaker is a Professor at University of San
Francisco, Roberta Johnson.  Professor Johnson has
worked closely with a variety of outreach
organizations in San Francisco that serve the
homeless.  She was able to provide great insight into
the political system from the perspective of a
homeless person. The second speaker, Robert Arnow,
helped pass legislation to make public funding
available for the SF mayoral race.  Together, they
were able to outline the possible benefits of clean
elections for the homeless.  When elected officials
are not distracted by big money constituents, the
homeless and homeless advocates will have more of an
opportunity to voice their needs.  

After the panelists were done speaking, they opened it
up for questions which spurred a round-table
discussion of clean elections in general.  There were
a few students attending that were unfamiliar with
Clean Elections and it was great to review the process
with them.    The event was incredibly informative
especially in terms of learning more about what clean
election elements were already in place in the city of
San Francisco.  The Democracy Matters members were
really excited to hear about the network of people in
San Francisco that already support Clean Elections.  
Mr. Arnow was also invited by the students attending
the event to speak more about the strategy of his
campaign to pass clean election funding for the
Mayoral Office.  The chocolate chip cookies were
everyone's favorite. 

Lacy Clark
University of San Francisco Campus Coordinator

Actifest at the U of Minnesota- Twin Cities

Democracy Matters was once again involved in the third annual spring week of action for groups on campus that focus on social justice issues. This year the week was called Actifest, and it was organized by a coalition of 13 different student groups called the Justice League. This collaboration included MPIRG, Amnesty International, University Pro Choice Coalition, the All Campus Election Commission, Substance, and the Black Student Union among others. During the week we share publicity for individual events focusing on each group’s major campaign, and we also collaborate on a carnival where there is free food and interactive games explaining our issues, and a concert to wrap up the week on Saturday (The Justice Jam) which features major local artists of many genres including hip hop, spoken word, rock, folk, etc. The carnival and the concert were both highly attended.

Democracy Matters’ event this year was called The Election Report, and was a comedy talk show along the lines of The Daily show and the Colbert Report. It was done in front of a live audience of about 75 people on Thursday, May 1^st, but it was also a full film production set up. We hope to have the video editing completed and ready to post on you tube shortly.

For the show, our host did a monologue focusing on national and community issues, and interviewed political figures. Two of the interviews were with Senate candidates, Steve Williams (IP) and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer (DFL)—they were asked about issues relating to the student and graduate community and also some direct question about campaign finance and Fair Elections. Both are supporters of publicly financed elections. The other interview was with Mark Ritchie, the MN Secretary of State, who explained his role in the upcoming elections and how his office is trying to reach more voters than ever.

Between interviews we had report segments, either video or live, that gave humorous updates on issues like rising tuition, the job market, corporate influence on college campuses, and why in the world Al Franken’s campaign people kicked us off their property when we pitched a tent in his parking lot.

The comedy was very well received—both the viewers and the participants seemed to be having a good time, but also learning about and explaining the issues they care about.

After the show there was a reception that was supposed to feature a cake with a picture of our host in front of an American flag, but it didn’t show so we had cookies. Guests could mingle with the politicians who were interviewed and ask them questions about their positions, as well as talk to a Democracy Matters rep about what we do.

Feedback from a viewer: “I think that the Election Report was even better than the Daily Show… No, I mean it! The Daily Show talks to their audience like they are intelligent, but you guys just took it to a whole new level.”

Sarah Emmel

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities