Yesterday, I had the insightful opportunity of attending the annual Campus Progress National Conference in Washington, DC. Similar to YP4, Campus Progress recognizes, challenges, and celebrates the young progressives to bring out positive social change.

I've attended my share of "progressive" conferences. The night before, I usually think about what kind of people might I expect to be participating in this year's conference. Questions like, how do the conference planner select this year's participants, or what are the participants' respective experiences and interests with regards to the progressive movement, usually come to mind.

Many, if not most, in the progressive community are voting for change this year- we saw it in the primaries and the polls suggest we'll see it at all levels of government in November. What is also clear is that the movement has a candidate in Barack Obama, or so he claims.

It is both prudent and wise for youth movement leaders to be optimistic about change, cautious about the possibility of progress, and realistic about how much progressive change Obama and other candidates are actually in favor of, regardless of their ability to realize those changes.

Growing up as Catholic, I understood that the Church was not one to endorse candidates, but was rather, issue-based. While mainstream media portrayed the Church as ultra-conservative and seemingly detached from social realities, I knew it be otherwise. Religious leaders from Archbishop Romero, who connoted the term, "liberation theology," God's preference for the poor, to more familiar names including Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa, and the basis of my faith, Jesus, all worked tirelessly to turn the world on its head, taking the risk to challenge the status quo as a means of improving the lives of marginalized groups.

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I hope this "outreach dream list" will inspire you!!! Let's spread the word now as much as possible, Remember the motto "If there is a will there is always a way, especially if it is the will of God!"

I remember attending a progressive/public service-oriented leadership conference two years ago where I had the opportunity to momentarily step out of my San Francisco bubble and interact with other young people around the country. As usual, I engaged in dialogue with other service-oriented idealists about the need to wake up government and inspire action among our less active young counterparts. As the participants and myself got to know each other more, the seem to be quite receptive to, if not in awe of, my Bay Area background. While hailing from "liberal utopia" sat well with my colleagues, many appeared puzzled by my religious affiliation.

"Did you say you were Catholic? Well, you're not like other church people I know."

I am truly baffled when honest, hard-working Americans –good people with big hearts – support the causes and politicians of the Right.  My own step father, one of the greatest men I’ve ever known, who is kind, loving and intelligent (despite his questionable political leanings), somehow believes that the plight of Republicans best represents him and his values.  I, of course, highly disagree.  He is a man of integrity, who served his country in the U.S.Army for over twenty years and he has seen first hand – on a level that even I can never understand – what can happen when irresponsible men abuse unlimited power.  And still, he claims to be Republican and is going to vote for John McC

When I went to the conference in DC, I had two ideas in mind for my Blueprints. The first was a river-bank clean-up. The Green Team at my former uni has one every semester; they're tons of fun and it's always exciting to see what people can find. Plus you're allowed to keep whatever you find, and there's a contest for the most interesting garbage. The first semester I participated, I found a roll of film and got it developed. I've also excavated a submerged couch, carried a living room back up a cliff, and rolled a 60-pound semi tire several hundred feet up a steep hill.

The conservative movement, through patient, long-term planning and protracted, diligent work, came to dominate all three branches of the U.S. government. The Republicans captured a commanding majority of the legislative branch during the 1994 "Contract with America" and proceeded to run roughshod over many long-standing deliberative traditions in the House and Senate. Ronald Reagan, as president, moved U.S. domestic and foreign policy drastically to the right, most notably in eroding the progressive structure of the income tax and encouraging privatization or deregulation of previously public or regulated-monopoly infrastructure. The judicial branch, needless to say, has become overrun with right-wing ideologues.

I had the extreme pleasure this weekend to host two high school students (a senior and junior) for the REACH! Shadow Night. REACH! is one of five student-initiated recruitment and retention centers (RRCs) on campus that works to actively outreach to students of color from the elementary to community college level. REACH! in particular caters to the Asian/Pacific Islander communities, such as Southeast Asian refugee communities (Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, Hmong, Mien, among others).