The US progressive movement saw historic gains in 2008 with the election of Barack Obama and the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of citizen activists and new voters, particularly in disenfranchised communities. Our movement is at an exciting tipping point, now facing the task of creating and moving a strong progressive agenda, while building a solid infrastructure that will guarantee future victories.
Change-oriented nonprofit organizations are a critical part of this movement, and will play a significant role in advancing a policy agenda and engaging in grassroots base-building in their constituencies. These organizations often work for change along only one dimension, such as legislative advocacy or electoral mobilization. This single-channel approach to change fails to take full advantage of the movement-building power of these organizations.
Wellstone Action's new Movement Building Project (MBP) is designed to empower these organizations to effectively pivot their voter engagement efforts into strong policy development, issue advocacy, and candidate accountability in 2009 and beyond. An outgrowth of our Voter Engagement Schools and customized trainings, MBP partners with nonprofits to design tailored training programs that train to their particular goals and work plans, helping them build long-term power and increase their impact. We equip organizations with the skills they need to move a progressive issue agenda forward by integrating their policy work with electoral engagement and grassroots base-building on an ongoing basis, rather than the more typical boom-bust cycles of electoral and legislative activity.
By building a critical mass of highly-skilled and engaged organizations, MBP helps to strengthen the progressive voice in all levels of public life, build power in underrepresented communities, move a national progressive policy agenda that represents the needs of all Americans, and increase the number of people who are engaged and effective in addressing global climate change, immigration rights, green jobs, health care, education access, racial justice, domestic violence, and other critical issues.
We recently joined forces with New Jersey Working Families
-- a coalition of organizations that represent retail workers, nurses,
environmentalists, retirees, consumers, parents and ordinary citizens
who are tired of an unaccountable state and local government.
