While it's not always the case that the blogger community and campus activists are on the same political page, plenty of people are starting to think about online networking as a component of youth movement building. As someone who frequents conferences and "youth progressive movement" panels often, I was pleased with a recent round-up of individuals and organizations at Yearly Kos (disclaimer: I am one of the panelists). There were many more young people in attendance this year (though still not enough). Panels like this should help keep young bloggers engaged in the future.

The most pointed and substantive remarks came during the Q&A session — If you are going to pick one YouTube link, I would go for Q&A Parts 1 and 2, which spoke to collaboration, election-year organizing and sustainability in the movement discussions.

Videos of the panel are now up on Mike Connery's blog at Future Majority.

Adam Conner, a 2006 YP4 Fellow who appeared on the Building a Progressive Youth Movement panel at YearlyKos, posted today about the Kossacks Under 35 series and Mike Connery’s question:

How can the progressive youth movement form stronger ties with the progressive blogosphere?

Yesterday YP4's time at Yearly Kos 2007 wrapped up. It was an AMAZING experience getting to hang out with the YP4 Staff, Senior Fellows, Steering Committee Members, and others.

All I can really say is that the future of YP4 is very strong. The YP4 Staff has great ideas and strategies to increase the outreach, diversity, support, and programs for all of us fortunate enough to be fellows at Young People For. Be excited about the future of the program - I know I am!

Not only was the YP4 meeting great but we had some great times at Yearly Kos.

Politicians! Howard Dean says you’d better pay attention to young people.

Maybe you’ve heard the numbers by now: 56 percent of voters ages 18–29 voted for Kerry in the 2004 election, making young voters the only age group in which he won. Turnout among young voters in 2006 was 53 percent.

But there’s an even more urgent reason to care about young voters.

I'm sitting here in the Southern Caucus at the Yearly Kos convention.  Shawn, former YP4 Staff and always a part of the YP4 family, is up on the panel.

The discussion is focused on how to move progressive power in Southern states. There is also a sense that there are huge misconceptions about the "make-up" of the south.  Not to mention the stereotypes we hear every day.

Read more after the fold

The Young People For Staff and Steering Committee Fellows are meeting at the Yearly Kos 2007 and I have the good fortune of being able to be a part of it!

An interesting observation that I have seen is the demographics of the Kos convention, which could be interpreted/translated to perhaps represent the demographics of political and social issue bloggers in general.

Read on for more.

What up YP4 and fellow progressives, I'm in Chi town at yearlykos and the conference is cool, Manisha and myself just came back from a session about building an activist base hosted by DFA.

The rest of this week, I will be spending in Chicago attending the last Steering Committee Meeting  as well as attending sessions in the YearlyKos Convention. This morning I attended a session on building an active volunteer base for whatever organization or campaign you are running.

MONEY! MONEY! MONEY! wHO wants money? We all do, if we're being honest. At the "Creating a Culture of Grassroots Giving" session, I got an ear-full on how to get that money into the causes we love and live to serve. The guy that manages Obama's contributions spoke and seeing as Senor Obama has raked in more small donations than anyone else, these comments are kid-tested and mother approved. I apologize that I didn't catch each panelist's name but here are some highlights of how to get (progressively) mo' cash:

1. You must have many SMALL donors.

2. "Lower the barriers to giving...Raise expectations of what it means to be a supporter." Make giving push-of-a-button simple and ask supporters not just to read the blogs, but to donate money and tell 10 friends to do the same.
   
   
3. Encourage activists to use TALENTS not just DOLLARS.
   
   
4. Train your children to give with allowance money.
   
   
5. "Put a face on the donor". Allow donors a space to express why they are giving.

Yep. Bet you're feeling fatter pockets in our progressive future, already. Up next... Why are liberals such soul-less, god-less heathens and how to trick a liberal into going to church. (I cringe each time progressive equated with "secular".)

Starting Thursday, Young People For staff and Fellows will be liveblogging from YearlyKos.

Watch this space.