The Hot Sheet

PA League of Young Voters Wins Home Grown Political Innovators Grant

PA League of Young Voters Wins

Home Grown Political Innovators Grant

Pittsburgh, PA—The PA League of Young Voters announced today the receipt of a three year, $250,000 grant for progressive state based organizations focusing on youth.  The Lewis/Rappaport Home Grown Political Innovators Grant starts February 1 and runs through 2009.

“We are really excited at the opportunities this opens for us” stated Khari Mosely, Regional Director for the League.  “We have been interested in expanding our efforts state wide for some time and this gives us the resources to do that.”  The league will expand into Erie and Harrisburg in 2007 and based on state wide political topography will expand to up to five further areas, likely in the central and North Eastern parts of the state in 2008 and 2009.

The grant, funded by philanthropist Peter Lewis and his son Jonathan Lewis and Andy and Deborah Rappaport supports both existing and new progressive organizations aimed at increasing youth participation in politics.  In addition, according to the mission of the grant; “progressives often create temporary election specific initiatives to reach voters. However the most successful voter engagement occurs through more lasting relationships.   Therefore effective electoral mobilization depends on continual out-of-cycle work.”

 

“The core mission of the Home Grown Political Innovators Grant dovetails with the philosophy of the League perfectly,” according to Khari Mosely.  “We have spent the last two years creating a progressive organization that seeks to engage, educate and empower young people through political participation.” 

The League uses traditional methods of organizing and mobilization such as door knocking and issue polling, but also has successfully implemented non-traditional “guerrilla” techniques to reach young people on their own ground and in their own words.  According to Nish Suvarnakar, Director of Field Operations, “we go into the clubs, schools, concerts, and neighborhoods to engage young voters in politics.  We use graffiti artist to create visually appealing voter guides, we throw parties, concerts, and slam poetry contests.  Politics should be an integral part of life, not a once every four years after thought. That’s our mission.”

For more information or to schedule an interview with a League representative, please contact Jennifer England at 412-513-9091 or jen@indyvoter.org

Tags: Home Grown Political Innovators Grant, pa league of young voters

What’s Wrong with Buses that Push Voting??

More obnoxious than the teacher who yells, “Wrong!” at an earnest student is the instructor who shuts up and shuts down pupils whose opinions differ from his. The Port Authority apparently has decided to be that obnoxious instructor. Last November, it rejected ads that the Pittsburgh League of Young Voters and the American Civil Liberties Union wanted to place on buses telling ex-criminal offenders that they had the right to vote in Pennsylvania. The Port Authority explained to the Young Voters and the ACLU that the authority, as a matter of policy, does not accept ads that are not commercial. This caused members of the ACLU and Young Voters to blink back disbelief — they’d seen plenty of noncommercial ads on buses. There were, for example, those from the Just Harvest Education Fund, the Women’s Law Project, the Pittsburgh Human Relations Commission, the Fair Housing Partnership, the Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.

Tags: pa league of young voters, pittsburgh, public transit, vote

Three League of Young Voters Executive Board Members Step Down to Work for Peduto Campaign

Three League of Young Voters Executive Committee Members Step Down to Work for Peduto Campaign
January 22, 2007 

Pittsburgh, PA—The League of Young Voters announced today the temporary resignation of three Executive Committee Members;  Matt Merriman-Preston, Lindsay Patross and Dan Lavelle.  The three informed the League that they had accepted positions with Bill Peduto’s Mayoral campaign and would therefore temporarily step aside for the duration of Councilman Peduto’s campaign.  Lindsay Patross will also temporarily step down as the National Council Representative. 

“While Matt, Lindsay and Dan remain committed to the work of the League of Young Voters, we all agree that it would be a conflict of interest to simultaneously serve on the Executive Committee while working as a paid staffer for a political campaign,” stated Khari Mosely, Regional Director of the League of Young Voters.

Along with engaging, educating and empowering young voters, the League seeks to foster leadership and self sustaining grass roots effort.  “This inevitably leads to separation,” said Mr. Mosely.  “But we enthusiastically support our executive committee members as they pursue opportunities in electoral politics. As volunteers, staffers, and executive committee members move forward, we see this as a testament to and evidence of our success.”

The League of Young Voters Executive Committee executive committee is a non-voting advisory board made up of the region’s leading young political leaders. It consists of fifteen talented young men and women who chair or co-chair one of our eight committees, which are Communications, Outreach, Policy, Politics, Operations, Technology, Development and Education. These individuals provide with the tactical support, as well as strategic guidance in the creation, maintenance and expansion of our infrastructure and future plans.

The National Council Representative serves a term of one year representing the volunteers on the League of Young Voters National Council.

Tags: Bll Peduto, pa league of young voters

The League of Young Voters Calls for a Better, not Cheaper Transit System

The League of Young Voters calls for Better not Cheaper Transit System

Pittsburgh, PA—This morning, at a pro-transit rally in Mellon Square, the League of Young Voters called for a the creation of a coalition of government, private business, public institutions and community groups to create a better solution to the transit crisis.
 

Khari Mosely, Director of the Pennsylvania League, said the both neither a state bailout nor a drastic reduction in services was the answer.  “We need to gather all the stakeholders together and find new solutions to the transit crisis.  We need to be thinking better, not cheaper”
 

Mosely suggested that not only county government and Port Authority, but representatives for downtown business leaders, community groups, the University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Public Schools—both of whom provide students with bus passes at reduced or no cost, City government—including both the Mayor and City Council, and Transit Workers should come together as a working group to find real solution.
 

 “We all know there is a crisis, but a crisis isn’t a loss.  We haven’t even begun to explore solutions.  This city has always been tough and always been able to find creative ways to come through adversity.  We have to be ready again to make the tough choices so that we can find a plan that is right for everyone.”
 

Whereas many advocates of transit have taken an adversarial position against either Port Authority or the County Executive, Mosely urged cooperation.  “Dan Onorato isn’t the enemy. Port Authority isn’t the enemy….Our enemies are political expediency and quick fixes.”

The League of Young Voters wants more study of the problem, including ways in which the system could be more efficient all the way around.  “We want a better system, not a cheaper one,” said Nish Suvarnakar, Field Director of the League.  He suggested that if a coalition, such as the one Mosely described, could come up with a plan to balance long term fiscal health with the civic necessity of strong public transit, it would go a long way to demonstrating to the rest of the state that Allegheny County and the Port Authority are not looking for a hand out.

Tags: allegheny county, pa league of young voters, pittsburgh, Port Authority