Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Know any good organizers?

Organizing for America
Friend --

This summer, Organizing for America will train a new team of summer organizers. The Summer Organizing Fellowship is a grassroots program that aims to put boots on the ground and help foster a new generation of leaders -- not just to help win elections, but to strengthen our democracy in communities across the country.

We're reminded nearly every day of the power of organizing -- of people standing up and speaking out in their communities. And that kind of effective organizing doesn't happen in a vacuum. It takes commitment, time, and hard work to build a movement around a cause.

That's exactly what our team of summer organizers will do.

They will be trained in the basic principles that have always built and powered effective grassroots movements, and will be assigned to a specific community where they'll work to organize supporters street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood. They'll recruit volunteers, run events, knock on doors, and do what it takes to support the President's agenda. And, in the end, their work will take our grassroots power to an impressive new level.

Apply now to be a summer organizer, or pass this email along to anyone else you know who might be interested.

Folks who trained in programs like this one have gained important skills that have since helped them in careers with OFA and beyond. And they had a good time doing it.

Becca Siegel, a student at Stanford University, spent the past two summers organizing in Colorado -- and she loved it. "Working as a summer organizer certainly taught me a diverse set of skills in a fast-paced environment. Each day brought new opportunities and challenges: a meeting with a local activist followed by voter registration at an outdoor concert, or a conference call with other organizers from around the country followed by volunteering at a community health clinic."

When she graduates from college later this year, Becca will take the skills she learned at OFA to a new job in South Africa.

You don't have to be a student, like Becca, or a recent graduate to be a summer organizer. Nikki Giancola, now a regional field director for OFA Illinois, was a middle school teacher for four years before becoming a summer organizer. "I will never forget the day the Affordable Care Act passed," she says. "It was a feeling like no other -- I had played a part in helping millions of people, and the summer organizer program gave me the chance to do so."

Summer organizer Paras Patel had a similarly unforgettable experience -- meeting President Obama at an event in Detroit. "He shook my hand and told me that he was proud of me and appreciated the work I was doing. I didn't know what to expect when I started at OFA, but meeting the President was definitely a surprise and something I will never forget!"

Successful movements have always been built and grown by ordinary people who take responsibility for organizing their fellow citizens to make their voices heard. We're looking for folks who are ready to work hard to support the President's agenda and lay new groundwork to carry this movement forward for years to come.

Click here to apply for the OFA summer organizers program or pass it on to a friend -- no experience is needed to apply:

http://my.barackobama.com/Summer-Organizers


Thanks for all you do,

Jeremy

Jeremy Bird
Deputy Director
Organizing for America




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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

What do you think?

Organizing for America
Friend --

This week, the President sent his budget to Congress.

It's a plan to rebuild our economy and win the future -- a plan that will prepare our country and our children for the jobs and industries of tomorrow.

It's a proposal to live within our means so we can invest in our future.

But the budget can be complex, confusing, and easy to distort in a partisan environment. President Obama will rely on our help -- the on-the-ground organizing we know works -- to make the case alongside him.

That's why we want your input.

Take a minute to learn about the President's top budget priorities, and then let us know which is the most important to you.

Your feedback will help guide the work we do and the strategies we employ in the coming months, as the fights in Washington over the budget come to a head.

The President's vision is ambitious yet responsible. While making the tough decisions on some things we can't afford, the budget also makes targeted investments where we need them to create jobs and secure a brighter future for new generations.

It comes down to whether we're able to live up to the vision the President laid out in five pillars:

     -- Innovate: Invest heavily in research and development, more than double funding for energy efficiency advances, and put 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.

     -- Educate: Expand the Race to the Top program, encourage school funding reform by rewarding success and innovation, train 100,000 new math and science teachers, and make it more affordable for millions more students to pay for college.

     -- Build: Create hundreds of thousands of jobs off the bat with investments in infrastructure, bring high-speed Internet access to 98 percent of Americans, and support the goal of supplying high-speed rail to 80 percent of Americans within 25 years.

     -- Be fiscally responsible: Reduce the deficit by more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years, bring non-security discretionary spending to the lowest levels since Eisenhower, and live up to the President's pledge to cut the deficit he inherited in half before the end of his first term.

     -- Reform government: Embrace competitive grant models that encourage innovation and save taxpayer dollars, cut administrative overhead costs by billions, and establish a process to reorganize government to make it better serve the goal of a competitive America.

Whether we can out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world depends on the direction this country takes right now.

And each of us is a critical messenger for this administration.

When we talk to friends and family, when we knock on our neighbors' doors, and when we discuss the news with coworkers, we communicate so much more than any talking head or political ad ever could.

We'll be the ones making the case in our communities. So weigh in on what part of the President's vision you want to see take priority:

http://my.barackobama.com/BudgetPriorities

Thanks,

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America




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Thursday, February 10, 2011

Not done

Organizing for America
Friend --

This movement was founded on a simple but game-changing idea:

That grassroots, on-the-ground organizing is the most powerful force in politics.

Powerful enough to win a historic presidential election and bring the country together after eight years of division -- powerful enough to achieve health reform 100 years in the making.

But we got here because millions of people committed to this idea in the years and months that came before these victories -- and President Obama will be the first to tell you that our work is not done.

Right now, Organizing for America is reinvesting in key states and districts, rebuilding our grassroots infrastructure, and preparing for the fights ahead.

Over the next few days, we'll be deciding where and exactly how much we can invest -- and with your help, we can be in the strongest position possible.

Will you donate $25 or more today to support Organizing for America?

When the President was elected on November 4th, 2008, it felt like the world had changed almost overnight.

After eight years of out-of-touch policies that drove our economy into a ditch, we had elected a leader with a new vision for government, a mandate for reforming Washington, and a personal story possible only in America.

But the truth is that nothing happened overnight.

That victory -- and every victory that followed -- is a credit to the power of this grassroots movement.

From the very first days of the presidential campaign in 2007 through the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in December -- the relationships you developed on the ground took root in unprecedented ways, and together, we made history.

We have to do it again.

President Obama has laid out an ambitious agenda for winning the future, calling on Congress to come together to make key investments in innovation, education, and infrastructure. To reform government, confront the deficit, and make sure the economy works for all Americans.

He can't do it alone. The challenges we'll face over the next months will call on each of us to remember why we are a part of this movement: because we believe in something bigger than politics. Because we now know what is possible when we invest not just in a campaign, but in one another.

Your support will help us make key decisions about where we can place staff and resources as we rebuild and plan the next phase of this movement.

Please donate $25 or more today:

https://donate.barackobama.com/Reinvesting

Thanks,

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America




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Contributions or gifts to the Democratic National Committee are not deductible as charitable contributions for income tax purposes.

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Thursday, February 3, 2011

Expose repeal

Organizing for America
Friend --

Yesterday, Democrats in the Senate successfully blocked the repeal of health reform -- preventing Republicans from tacking it on as an amendment to a completely unrelated bill.

But Republicans in Congress aren't finished with the political games.

Instead of focusing on creating jobs and growing the economy, they are insisting on re-litigating the battles of the last two years. They've vowed to do whatever it takes to tear apart the Affordable Care Act bit by bit, and they're already planning to go after it at every turn.

These opponents of reform are in full campaign mode.

But we don't just have the facts on our side -- we also have the millions of Americans who already benefit from reform. And it's up to us to help tell their stories, to make sure everyone understands the costs of repeal.

So, in the next week, we want to make sure those stories are on the letters pages of your local papers -- one place we know lawmakers and folks in your community are sure to look.

Will you write a letter to the editor exposing repeal -- and highlight how the Affordable Care Act is improving lives in your community?

Using our letter-to-the-editor tool is easy, and we'll even get you started with a few tips and helpful points you can use to make your case.

But, discussion points aside, you already know why we can't afford repeal. The Affordable Care Act is helping millions of people around the country -- and these are our friends and neighbors.

We're on their side.

We're on the side of the folks who used to worry about losing their coverage when someone on their plan got sick.

We're on the side of the young adults who can now stay on their parents' health plan until they turn 26.

We're on the side of the seniors who used to pay thousands out of pocket because they fell in the "donut hole" in prescription drug coverage.

We're on the side of the people the insurance companies can no longer discriminate against, like children who have a pre-existing condition.

That's why we fought for reform in the first place.

That's why we can't stand by while the other side tries to tear it down, exposing millions of Americans once again to the whims of the insurance industry.

It's why we can't just sit back while a few activist judges rehash last year's debate as they attempt to legislate from the bench and strike down provisions in the bill.

Because it shouldn't be repeal that we should be reading about in tomorrow's papers. The headlines we see should be about the people whose lives are improving because of reform.

They're counting on you.

Tell their story -- or yours. Write a letter to the editor today to protect our progress:

http://my.barackobama.com/RepealLTE

Thanks,

Yohannes

Yohannes Abraham
Political Director
Organizing for America




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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Thrilled

Friend --

I am thrilled to make sure you are the first to hear some very exciting news. Charlotte, North Carolina, will host the 46th Democratic National Convention in 2012.

Charlotte is a city marked by its southern charm, warm hospitality, and an "up by the bootstraps" mentality that has propelled the city forward as one of the fastest-growing in the South. Vibrant, diverse, and full of opportunity, the Queen City is home to innovative, hardworking folks with big hearts and open minds. And of course, great barbecue.

Barack and I spent a lot of time in North Carolina during the campaign -- from the Atlantic Coast to the Research Triangle to the Smoky Mountains and everywhere in between. Barack enjoyed Asheville so much when he spent several days preparing for the second presidential debate that our family vacationed there in 2009.

And my very first trip outside of Washington as First Lady was to Fort Bragg, where I started my effort to do all we can to help our heroic military families.

All the contending cities were places that Barack and I have grown to know and love, so it was a hard choice. But we are thrilled to be bringing the convention to Charlotte.

We hope many of you can join us in Charlotte the week of September 3rd, 2012. But if you can't, we intend to bring the spirit of the convention -- as well as actual, related events to your community and even your own backyard.

More than anything else, we want this to be a grassroots convention for the people. We will finance this convention differently than it's been done in the past, and we will make sure everyone feels closely tied in to what is happening in Charlotte. This will be a different convention, for a different time.

To help us make sure this is a grassroots convention -- The People's Convention -- we need to hear from you. We want to know what you'd like to see at next year's convention, how and where you plan on watching it -- and the very best way we can engage your friends and neighbors.

So, please share your input with us right now -- how can we make The People's Convention belong to you and your community?

I can't believe it has been more than two years since my brother Craig introduced me at the 2008 Convention in Denver. It truly feels like it was yesterday.

As I looked out at a sea of thousands of supporters that night, I spoke about my husband -- the man whom this country would go on to elect as the 44th president of the United States. I spoke about his fundamental belief -- a conviction at the very core of his life's work -- that each of us has something to contribute to the spirit of our nation.

That's also the belief at the core of The People's Convention. That the table we sit at together ought to be big enough for everyone. That the thread that binds us -- a belief in the promise of this country -- is strong enough to sustain us through good times and bad.

Barack talked at the State of the Union of his vision for how America can win the future. That must be the focus now, and I know so many of you will help talk about our plans with your neighbors -- that through innovation, education, reform, and responsibility we can make sure America realizes this vision.

But, conventions take time to plan, so please help us make sure that your thoughts and your ideas will ring all the way to Charlotte. Get started now:

http://my.barackobama.com/PeoplesConvention

Looking forward to sharing this together,

Michelle



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