School Board District 1 public education forum

We are helping facilitate a Community Forum on Education & Schools for School Board District 1 - which includes the neighborhoods of Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar, Homewood North, Homewood South, East Hills, Friendship, Shadyside, Point Breeze, Larimer, and Point Breeze North

WHEN:  Monday, May 4th, 6pm - 8:00pm
WHERE:  Faison Primary School, 7430 Tioga Street 15208

The Community Empowerment Association is organizing this community forum to address topics effecting the community, parents, youth, teachers, and administrators from District 1.  They hope it will be the first of a series of discussions regarding reform in the Pittsburgh Public Schools.  All school board candidates for District 1 have been invited to attend and participate.

Tags: and Point Breeze North, board, candidates, christine stone, East Hills, forum, Friendship, Homewood North, Homewood South, Larimer, Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar, pittsburgh, Point Breeze, public schools, school, Shadyside, sharene shealey, sherry brooks

Get a Scholarship to NetRoots Nation

The 2009 Netroots Nation convention is the fourth annual gathering of the netroots community from across the country and includes panels and caucuses led by national and international experts; prominent political, issue and policy-oriented speakers; a progressive film screening series and the most concentrated gathering of high-profile progressive bloggers to date. Lots and lots of bloggers!  And this year’s convention is in Pittsburgh, PA from August 13th to 16th!

Lots of local activists, organizers, and caring volunteers are already planning to either attend or be a part of this thing.  It’s a big deal.

DFA and Netroots Nation sends a group of progressive activists who had proven their skills, but may not have the resources to get to the convention on their own. Last year, they sent 30 great progressive leaders.

THE COMPETITION STARTS TODAY - APPLY NOW

The scholarship covers the cost of admission and lodging.  Go here learn more about the NetRoots Nation event.

Tags: blogs, competition, contest, democracy for america, netroots nation, progressive, schoarship

Our mayor, our safety, our future!

Hear what the Pittsburgh mayoral candidates have to say on topics relating to our city’s safety and plans to address violence and crime in our neighborhoods.

Remember, what happens in any part of the city affects us all, so this is an important event not to miss!

Tags: debate, forum, gang, gun, mayoral, pittsburgh, public, safety, violence, Youth

Got a question for the mayoral candidates?

The PA League of Young Voters and the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh have teamed up with KDKA to bring you the best mayoral debate Pittsburgh’s had yet — one where citizens ask the questions!

Starting now , you can upload your question to the KDKA website.  Then, on April 15th at 7pm, tune in as mayoral candidates Luke Ravenstahl, Patrick Dowd, and Carmen Robinson will respond to the questions submitted!

The concept is based off the wildly-successful (in our opinion) YouTube Presidential Debates of last year…and we’re happy that KDKA was willing to take this innovative format on at their studios.

TIP: Direct your questions to all three candidates, and keep them under 30 seconds (which is plenty long for video!).  Don’t forget to say who you are and where you’re from, or what group you’re with, and a couple sentences about why you care about the topic (to make it more interesting).

UPLOAD YOUR QUESTION HERE:  http://kdka.com/debatequestion

PS — and don’t forget to check out our voter guide, being released this Saturday April 4th at The Town Tavern on the South Side –featuring a free “make-your-own-taco” bar, $2 drinks, DJ!  Probably a few candidates, too.  9pm-Midnight

Tags: carmen robinson, debate, KDKA, luke ravenstahl, mayor, mayoral, patrick dowd, pittsburgh

Voter Guide Release Party — Sat., April 4th

Join us upstairs at The Town Tavern on the South Side April 4th from 9pm to Midnight for our spring Voter Guide Release Party and fundraiser, where a $5 donation gets you:

* FREE food (build your own taco bar! cheese tray!  chips & salsa!) from 9pm-10pm

* $2 everything: glasses of wine, domestic bottles, well drinks

* Our primary voter guid e!

Roxanne will be guest bartending, and all day long prior to the party we’ll be tabling at Joseph Beth’s down the street where we get 20% of all purchases, so stop by and then hang out to get this political season kicked-off!

Tags: election, food, fundraiser, Party, Pennsylvania, pittsburgh, primary, release, the town tavern, vote, voter guide, Youth

People=Power: free workshop March 28th

SATURDAY MARCH 28th
GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING INSTITUTE: 
People = Power

The GO Institute is a program designed to train concerned citizens of the community to become more active in the political process, and to teach them how to encourage their fellow members of the community to get involved on a grassroots level.

The PA League of Young Voters Education Fund uses the expertise of people who have been active members in the community to train others in order to build power in communities that are disenfranchised and underserved.

This workshop will provide real-world insight, best practices, and guided practice about how to analyze and prepare information about your issue and the people you want to move.

Leading this Workshop:

* Roxanne Banks-Williams - Director of Education for PA League of Young Voters Education Fund

* Lou Takacs - political consultant & Policy Coordinator for the office of State Representative Chelsa Wagner

* Paradise Gray - Hip Hop Pioneer: DJ of the X Clan, founding member of One Hood, community activist

* Mac Booker - Finance Director of Patrick Dowd’s mayoral campaign and long-time political activist

SCHEDULE:
10:00am-10:30- Introductions and refreshments
10:30-11:30-Discussion: How to target the right people to reach out to in order to get your goal accomplished. (ie. Constituents, Community organizations, community leaders, and political leaders)
11:30-12:00pm- Conducting Background Research
12:00-12:15- Break
12:15-1:00- Research Exercise
1:00-1:30- LUNCH
1:30-2:00- Discussion: How to use who/what you know to build power
2:00-3:00- How to do Power Mapping

Please RSVP to roxanne@paleague.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you plan to attend; lunch is provided so your RSVP is necessary.

Pass it on:  this event is on Facebook

This training is FREE and open to the public!

Tags: free, organizing, pittsburgh, public, training, workshop, Youth

Get Early Voting signatures in Sen. Pippy’s District

On Saturday March 21st we will head to Mt. Lebanon to collect our last signatures in support of Early Voting.

Mt. Lebanon is in Sen. John Pippy’s district.  Sen Pippy is a member of the Senate State Government committee, where the early voting bill is currently under review.

We need volunteers to help canvass door-to-door for petition signatures!

Email adam@paleague.com to join us this Saturday, from 11-2 or 3-6pm.

Thanks!

Tags: canvassing, early voting

League Book Fair at Joseph Beth Saturday!

Come to Joseph Beth Booksellers in the South Side Works this Saturday, March 14 for a book fair and fundraiser. When you present our coupon (which you can find here) at the register, they will donate 20% of your purchase to us! How cool is that?

They’re open between 10 AM and 10 PM, and we’ll be there tabling and giving away baked goods between 12pm and 9pm that day. So come on down after the St. Patrick’s Day parade, buy books, and help empower the youth vote at the same time.

Tags: book fair, fundraiser, joseph beth

Canvass Opportunity: Mexican War Streets, this Thursday

Join us as we canvass the Mexican War Streets, on the North Side, to build support for Early Voting in Pennsylvania!

We will meet at Beleza Community Coffeehouse, at 1501 Buena Vista Street, at 3:30 PM. Let us know that you plan to come help by RSVP’ing on the Facebook event page.

Of course, you should sign the petition yourself, if you haven’t already.

Tags: canvassing, early voting

College: Becoming the Impossible Dream?

From Public Agenda: latest Squeeze Play survey finds many people feeling uneasy about a key element of the American dream: getting a college education. Even though a solid majority considers a college degree indispensable, even more say that college is financially out-of-reach for many qualified students. More than half say colleges behave more like businesses than educational institutions. Find out more about the survey, conducted for the National Center on Public Policy and Higher Education.

Join the PA League and the Community Empowerment Association TONIGHT for a screening of the documentary First Person, which takes a look at 6 high-schoolers from Philly as they struggle towards college.
Admission is FREE, events begins at 6pm at the CEA’s Cultural Center in Homewood.  All ages.  Light refreshments served, too!

Tags: college, community empowerment association, documentary, dream, pa league of young voters education fund, Pennsylvania, pittsburgh, reserach, young people, Youth