As I mentioned in parts one and two of this series, there’s power in funding your own movement and in having a broad base of support. When we support our own projects, we get to decide what we work on and our continued existence becomes less dependent on any single source.

As part of walking the walk here, we’re now accepting blogads in the sidebar of the YP4 Blog. We’re screening them for congruence with our values. Nonprofits, progressive blogs and socially responsible businesses? Absolutely. Soulless corporations? Not so much.

We intend blog advertising to become another intentional way to build our network and strengthen our partnerships.

As I mentioned in part 1, providing financial support for our own movements is key to their sustainability. In the words of Andrea del Moral, it can “keep us true to our visions, flexible in our goals, and relevant to the people who yearn and strive for justice.”

Sounds good, right? So how do we do it? Read on, friends, read on.

I recently read The Revolution Will Not Be Funded, published in 2007 by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence. One of the book’s arguments is that the ubiquity of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit model limits the political left’s imagination and “threatens to permanently eclipse autonomous grassroots-movement building in the arena of social justice.”

This is a group for the Young People For Fellows of 2008. Congratulations on being chosen.

This is a forum so we can all start to get acquainted with each other. Knowing who we are makes all the difference!!  See everyone on Thursday.

FACEBOOK

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MYSPACE

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Tonight 15 local activists got together in the Andrew Heiskell Center for Democracy (NYC) to watch the second National Network Training along with hundreds of other activists across the country to learn the fundamentals of grassroots mobilization, including volunteer recruitment, direct voter outreach and integrating leadership development into every effort. We gathered at the Andrew Heiskell Center at People For the American Way.

Using a combination of a training video, live conference call with a national expert, and small group interactives, we learned about tools needed to make a difference in our communities. Specifically, we learned to develop a solid grounding in some of the skills necessary to engage in effective volunteer recruitment and voter outreach, as well as to gain a deeper understanding of grassroots organizing and how we can use it to strengthen the progressive movement. Center for Progressive Leadership Action Network hosted the trainings. Get connected to other activists in your community and get involved in the next network training!