Marshall Ganz: One thing about MA, is that MA has opportunity to show what change looks like on the ground. Four things about the campaign. 1) Campaign took leadership and organizing seriously — not just at the top, but throughout. Campaign valued people’s time, energy and effort. It equipped people with the tools they needed. 2) It was an arena for people to come together around shared values, not just issues. It was broad and powerful and diverse. 3) There were clear strategic direction — broken down by state and community. One could see where one fit in the overall picture. 4) There was local creativity and ownership of success.
Juan Leyton: It was fascinating to be in a place where we all felt excited about what was going on on election day. It was an important day for people of color and people of low income. We need to talk about the challenges. The challenges come from the here and now. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Everyone felt comfortable that MA was progressive. But we missed an opportunity in other local elections that were going on at the same time. We need to figure out this will work at the local, state, and national level. This should also be an effort of people of color and immigrants. The campaign also demonstrated the importance of technology and of youth. Technology should not, however, remove the importance of one-on-one conversations. The Obama administration has a good vision, but it will come down to who is on the ground. We should keep organizing.
See the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFFQmASf_6w
Ethan Winn: I could talk for a very long time about how the Obama campaign was special with respect to technology — open design, text messages to pull in youth. The big lesson though, is that organizing practices apply online and it’s a powerful combination. It empowers group at a local level to meet and to leverage community networks. The number one innovation that made that possible came out of the Dean campaign — the meet-up. Once people were meeting locally, you can give them something to do — canvassing, phone banking, etc.
Alan Khazei: Applause for the human arrows that helped everyone get here — shows how well organized this is. This campaign was a social movement. The technology enabled it. It was inclusive. Each individual was empowered. Everyone could decide how much they wanted to participate and the sky was the limit. We had a lot of energy in MA and put that towards other states. Also, young people got engaged more than I’ve ever seen. A leader called them to get involved and they responded. The Serve America act was passed with the leadership of Senator Kennedy. That is another bridge. It will allow 250,000 people to serve and that will turn on their justice nerves. Lessons: the agenda is currently health, energy and education. I hope after that we find a way to launch a new movement to fight poverty. Service is an entry point. We need to make opportunity available for everyone in the nation.
Question: Technology drew people in. What do we do to reach people who don’t have access to technology?
Ethan: People who do have access need to bring people into the movement. Also, people have access to varying degrees and to different kinds of technology. A lot of people have access to cell phones with text messages. People need to be creative and think about how we can best reach out.
Marshall: It’s important to distinguish between carpenters and tools. The best tools in the world don’t build a house. The campaign made the tools and equipped people to use the tools. The Dean campaign was successful in using technology to fund raise but the meet ups were not successful — no one knew what to do. The Obama campaign did that part well. People were hungry for tools to work with one another successfully. The technology AND the leadership together were what made the campaign successful. Also, the use of YouTube to enable people to tell their stories was extraordinary. That tool has just begun to realize its potential.
Juan: We shouldn’t look at technology as an absolute. We still need face-to-face communication. Also there is a technology gap for people of color.
Sarah: I hope that technology never replaces face-to-face contact. When canvassing to NH, we tried to have a carpool in every town. Those carpools were also meetings and got people engaged. A proof that that was more successful in some ways than technology, the national campaign sent out a blast email about Drive for Change, but we got thousands more people to canvass through word of mouth.
Ethan: I agree with need for balance. I want to bring it back to local. As much technology can only augment local networks, it is a big multiplier in your effectiveness. There are local campaigns to get universal broadband access, local technology centers, adult education, etc. It is a justice issue. Everyone should have access and be able to use the tools and be a change maker in their community.
Question: What needs to be done to capture the energy from the campaign? How do we stay enthused? There are people not quite as involved as those who are here. What needs to be done to capture and channel the energy and convince people that change is possible?
Alan: The answer is in this room. You all are here. It is unprecedented for a campaign to keep going. And that is what happening. Ask this question during your breakout sessions. How do we put poverty at the top of the agenda. It is a moral issue. There are two groups — the old poor and new poor. The new poor is people we know. There is an opening for a new discussion. We are all nervous about our jobs. Also, this is a great question for breakouts — how do we get twice as many people to the next meeting.
Juan: We need to walk the walk. We say this is a new era. We need
to change the debate. Otherwise it will remain the old way of doing things. We have a hard time disagreeing. We all have different perspectives and we need to figure out how to work with those perspectives.
Marshall: How can we work together and accomplish real objectives we can achieve? What would it mean to translate change into reality here? Pitch for labor unions: strengthening them would help alleviate poverty. We need to ask ourselves: “what is so urgent that we can’t deny it? Let’s focus on those issues.”
Sarah: People are getting more involved locally. We need to draw people in and educate them about not just national issues, but local issues. We don’t all have to work for candidates, we can be candidates — we can be leaders. That will help people stay engaged
