Extra Credit

Five Ways to Show Support for Healthcare Reform

By The Nation

By Kristina Rizga

Even before last November's election, young adults listed healthcare among their top three issues. That compelled a gathering of over 40 youth groups convened by Generational Alliance in November of 2008 to put healthcare at the top of their collective agenda. Now, Generational Alliance members plan to host 16 events in 8 different states to raise the volume of youth voices.

Despite this enthusiasm, as non-profit youth groups tried to get funding to channel the youth energy inspired by the Obama campaign into healthcare reform, funding for many of them didn't come through. Young organizers blame some of the problem on the recession, but some of it they cite as an oversight by the foundation world. "It's a huge tactical mistake since this is the most supportive demographic for healthcare reform," Matt Singer, 26, CEO and founder of Forward Montana, a youth-based group in Missoula, explains referring to a recent poll by SurveyUSA.

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September 15, 2009

Orchestrated Intimidation: We Won’t Stand For It

By The Nation

This post was written by Natasha Bowens and was originally published at CampusProgress.org.

Organized mobs of right wing activists are disrupting town halls this first week of Congressional recess to try to intimidate fellow constituents and put their representatives on the defensive in regards to healthcare reform.

ThinkProgress reported that "By delaying a vote until after the August recess, lobbyists are now seizing upon recess town halls as opportunities to ambush lawmakers and fool them into believing there is wide opposition to reform."

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August 4, 2009

The Nation/Campus Progress Youth Journalism Conference

By The Nation

On Thursday, July 9, The Nation is teaming up with Campus Progress to present a day-long journalism conference in Washington, DC -- our fourth annual confab!

We've got some great journalists secured for a great day of workshops, a panel and a keynote speech. And it's all free -- even the food and t-shirts thanks to our friends at Campus Progress.

Here's a run-down of what the day will look like:

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May 26, 2009

Four Dead in Ohio

By The Nation

Today is the 39th anniversary of the infamous killings of four student antiwar protesters at Kent State University by members of the Ohio National Guard. Nine other students were wounded, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.

Some of the students had been protesting on campus against the American invasion of Cambodia, which then-President Richard Nixon had recently announced in a television address on April 30. Other students who were shot had merely been walking nearby or observing the protest from a distance.

The killings helped galvanize antiwar sentiment even further especially among young people, as hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools closed throughout the United States due to a student strike of eight million students in protest of the shootings.

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May 4, 2009

How Will the Budget Affect Students in Your State?

By The Nation

It's no secret that higher education is becoming too expensive for many middle-class families to bear. Today's New York Post breaks down the cost of one year at New York University. The total? A shocking $54,441!

Meanwhile, as USA Today recently reported, "Increases of at least five percent to six percent -- and in many cases higher -- are expected at public universities as university administrators struggle to maintain quality education amid state budget cuts."

Since its inception in 1965 as part of the Higher Education Act, the Pell Grant program has been the primary means to allow lower-income students to go to college. More than 5.1 million students benefited from the program during the 2006-07 school year. The problem with Pell Grants, as Pedro de la Torre details at Campus Progress, is that the program, by law, must rely on the annual budgeting and appropriations process for funding, which means that award levels often fail to keep place with inflation and/or college costs. The result has been a steep decline in the purchasing power of the grant. In 1976 the maximum Pell Grant covered 72 percent of the average cost of attendance at a public four-year college. By 2006 this figure had fallen to a paltry 33 percent. And since the recession, the value have the grants have been plummeting even further.

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April 29, 2009

Youth Stay Connected

By The Nation

Students and youth across the country will be following closely as the House Energy and Commerce Committee holds the first hearings on the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act this week. Young people from the DC area will attend the hearings wearing green hard hats in support of bold climate and energy policy. They are using text messaging, Twitter, and phone calls to update their peers across the country, especially those in the committee members' home districts.

See the PowerShift site for more details and tips on getting involved.

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April 22, 2009

Save Our Schools

By The Nation

Written by Peter Laumann.

Higher education in Florida has been put at risk by draconian budget cuts that have put entire departments and, even, universities in jeopardy throughout the state. Students are not sitting idly by, and have determined to give voice to our concerns and interests as participants in the process of deciding the future of our education. To this end, a new coalition, Save Our Schools, has brought together thousands of students and numerous student organizations who are deeply concerned about the future of Florida higher education and willing to take a stand to save it.

We are a coalition of students committed to maintaining the quality of higher education in the state of Florida. Taking into account the constraints in Florida's education budget, we are dedicated to working with staff, faculty, administration, and alumni to generate and advance a conversation on the issue. We hope to build the widest and largest possible cross-section of students, faculty, and other interests in order to press for a solution to our budget crisis that protects Florida's higher education.

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April 5, 2009

Tweeting Through the Pain

By The Nation

As admissions letters pour in, the Twitter boards are lighting up with howls of anger, bafflement, and resignation. The Daly Beast has collected some illuminating samples. Here are a few that prove brevity can be the soul of agony, too.

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March 31, 2009

Live from Powershift 2009

By The Nation

Here at the Washington Convention Center, the atmosphere most closely approximates that of a highly charged airport--that is, one milling with thousands of youth, thrumming with a steady, expectant hum.

It's the first full day of Powershift 2009, and over 11,000 have descended on downtown DC's largest venue for a weekend of training, rallying, and climate action lobbying.

More youth keep coming in waves, many with the attitude of embarking on a journey: full Nalgenes, sleeping bags, and stuffed backpacks. They crowd the cavernous halls, lying belly-flat on the geometric-patterned carpeting, pursing their lips over a schedule that spans some 200 events, chatting curiously.

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March 4, 2009

Power Shift 09

By The Nation

As the battle to pass the stimulus bill demonstrates, real change will not come easily. And it won't come at all without popular pressure pushing the White House and Congress on numerous fronts.

There are currently countless efforts among progressive groups to harness the energy of young people engaged by politics during the last election. At StudentNation, Kristina Rizga has been spearheading a new series of activist profiles looking at different issues young activists are taking on. Few issues have engaged young people more than saving the planet and few green organizations have been more successful at engaging young people than the Energy Action Coalition, the group behind the PowerShift conferences.

In two weeks Power Shift '09 will bring more than 10,000 youth leaders to Washington DC to get inspired, trained, networked and to lobby their members of Congress.

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February 16, 2009