Photo by Tanya Paperny, Campus Progress

On Thursday, June 25, thousands of people gathered at the Upper Senate Park in Washington, DC to rally for health care reform. Speakers including former DNC Chairman Howard Dean and actress Edie Falco, who played Carmela on HBO’s The Sopranos, gave inspirational speeches and led the crowd into chants that echoed over the Capitol.

The national rally took place in the early afternoon and was followed by lobby meetings and town hall meetings with constituents who traveled by the bus-load from around the country to demand health care for all from their members of Congress. The rally was organized by Health Care for America NOW (HCAN), a national grassroots campaign of more than 1,000 organizations representing 30 million people.

Among the unions, community organizers, and national and local advocacy groups, Campus Progress stood strong to represent young people and ensure that young people have a voice in the health care debate. We spoke to several young people about their personal stories with the current health care system and distributed facts about how young people are being affected by the health care crisis:

Young Adults Suffer from the Health Care Crisis More Than Most

• Young adults between the ages of 19 and 34 represent over one-third (34.7 %) of the entire uninsured population.

• Over half (54 %) of all young adults have low incomes (below 200% of the federal poverty level, $21,660 for a single person in 2009). Low-income young adults are more than 2.5 times as likely to be uninsured as higher income young adults.

Young Workers Get Screwed by the System

• 56 % of uninsured young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 are full-time workers.

• Over half of uninsured young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 (55 %) work for small businesses which are less likely to offer health coverage than larger firms.

• Young adult workers are half as likely to be covered by their employer as older workers.

Young Adults are Hit Hard by Skyrocketing Healthcare Costs

• Two-thirds (66 %) of uninsured young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 went without necessary care because of costs in 2007.

• Half (49 %) of uninsured young adults ages 19-29 and more than one-third (35 %) of all young adults report having medical bill problems.

Campus Progress joined Generational Alliance partners and Choice USA at the rally. Audriannah Levine, a student from Mills College involved with Choice USA, shared her story of battling Crohn’s Disease without health insurance and minimal income.

The convening of thousands like her on the Hill yesterday is proof that Audriannah is not alone in her fight against our broken health care system. Campus Progress joins HCAN and all its members in asking Congress for a public plan that will force the health insurance companies to compete on equal footing, and will provide health care for all. We will not stand for the “co-op” or “trigger” compromises that weaken and fracture a true public plan; this system is broken, and it needs to be fixed…now!

For more information on the ongoing health care debate, visit Campus Progress’ blog Funding Our Future.

Campus Progress Action Grantee and former Intern Tony Anderson, is now the host of a newly launched series on Mother Nature Network.

A graduate of Morehouse College, Anderson created the “Let’s Raise a Million” campaign which focuses on distributing environmentally friendly compact florescent light bulbs to low-income communities. Last February, during Campus Progress’s Southern Regional Conference, more than a hundred student volunteers traveled to a neighborhood in Atlanta to install over a thousand energy-efficient light bulbs. These bulbs resulted in the community saving an estimated $80,000 in energy bills, and also contributed to a decrease in the particulate emissions in the area.

The new show, “Green Jobs with Tony Anderson,” will explore the emerging field of green-collar jobs by focusing on the innovations and contributions coming from ordinary people and their everyday experiences.

Campus Progress congratulates Tony on his accomplishments and looks forward to seeing what he does next as he works towards, in his own words, “A cleaner, healthier, greener and more livable tomorrow.”

Check out a clip of Tony talking about green jobs in the current economy:

Campus Progress is pleased to announce that three more outstanding student publications have joined our progressive publications network. These organizations will receive funding, journalism trainings and other support beginning immediately.

The newspapers and magazines joining the 50 members already in Campus Progress’ network include:

Nommo Newsmagazine – Nommo is UCLA’s Afrikan student and community newsmagazine. It strives to be the source for vital information to those who have an interest in community organizing, educational issues, the arts, and social justice issues that affect members of the Afrikan diaspora. Nommo encourages activism and discussion of how Afrikans fit into the scheme of social justice and equality.

The Kosmopolitian Online - The Kosmopolitan is an online journal of relevant culture, politics, and the arts, based at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

OutWrite Newsmagazine – OutWrite is the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer newsmagazine at UCLA. It provides coverage of political and social issues and events that occur in the LGBTIQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and questioning) community at UCLA, and it aims to cover the LGBTIQ experience with a unique level of depth.

Check out all the publications in our network here. It's also not too late to apply to join the network and receive a grant! Check out the online application here today!

Campus Progress Student Representative and recent graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, 23-year-old Hooman Hedayati, has been featured in both The Wall Street Journal and Public Radio International’s The World for his work organizing a rally set for Wednesday at the Texas state capitol to protest the controversial results of the Iranian election.

On Friday, June 12, presidential elections were held in Iran. The close results revealed incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be the winner and prompted protests and claims of fraud by many Iranians at home and abroad who were hoping for a regime change throughout the country.

Originally from Iran, Hedayati has been a Campus Progress Representative for several years, receiving action grants for his work against the death penalty in Texas. He also served on the Campus Progress Student Advisory Board and won the award for Best Student Representative in 2008.

Quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Hedayati said, “The main similarities between the post-revolution generation and our parents who were protesting in the streets of 1978 is that we are both hoping to create a free democratic government where our civil rights and liberties are respected. But the difference is that the young people who are protesting today, unlike in the '70s, are very educated and envision a more secular form of government with more personal freedoms.”

Hedayati, who voted in a polling booth in Austin, is disillusioned by what has transpired since the election. As he told PRI’s The World, “After voting and seeing the results of the election and what’s happening in Iran, it’s really sad and disappointing. I’m not sure anymore if my vote has been counted. I’m not sure about the truth of this election anymore.”

Check out Hooman's video footage from the rally here.

Campus Progress applauds the House for recently passing the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public Schools Facilities Act (H.R. 2187). This legislation will provide public schools with funding for modernization and renovation, encourage energy efficiency and renewable resource use, and provide added funding for schools still recovering from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf Coast areas.

Schools are where young people spend the majority of their time; they should be safe havens and promote learning in a healthy environment. Unfortunately, all too often -- and especially in public schools -- children and teenagers are exposed to crumbling infrastructures, poor learning conditions, and inefficient energy systems. According to recent studies, our nation’s schools are billions of dollars short of the funding needed to remedy these poor conditions and research has shown a correlation between the quality of school facilities and student achievement. This legislation will not only address this important issue, but it will simultaneously reduce the amount of emissions our schools are contributing to global warming -- and create green jobs in the process.

Congress has already made the “greening” of schools a priority when they passed green school modernization, renovation, and repair as part of an allowable use of funds under the state fiscal stabilization fund in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The 21st Century Green High-Performing Public Schools Facilities Act calls for more funding:

·     $6.4 billion for school facilities projects for fiscal year 2010 and ensures school districts will quickly receive funds for school modernization, renovation, and repairs that create healthier, safer, and more energy-efficient teaching and learning environments

·     Guarantee a minimum of $5,000 to districts that receive funding under Part A of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

The Act will also encourage energy efficiency and the use of renewable resources in schools by:

·     Requiring 100% of the funds by 2015 be used for projects that meet green building standards

·     Requiring schools districts to publicly report the educational, energy and environmental benefits of the projects, how they comply with green building standards, and the percentage of funds used for projects in low-income, rural and charter schools.

·     Requiring the Secretary of Education, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy and the EPA, to disseminate best practices in school construction and to provide technical assistance to states and school districts regarding best practice.

The Act also authorizes separate funds, $600 million over six years, for public schools affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, where many students are still attending school in temporary facilities.

Our schools are literally an investment in the future - where we teach and prepare the next generation of leaders. Calling for the most sustainable and responsible way to support that learning environment, while addressing the need for more renewable energy use, green jobs, and economic stimulation, makes a bold statement on our future priorities.

Green DMV is a non-profit organization seeking to promote clean energy and green jobs in low-income communities across America as a pathway out of poverty. Green DMV (the DMV stands for Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia) was founded by CAP’s own Rhon Hayes, and Philip E. O'Neal in hopes of influencing policy change in the region that will spur sustainable green job growth and equitable environmental policies.

Green DMV believes that by helping low income communities to realize the true benefit of clean energy, we can increase the vitality of the small business community, educate the next generation on environmental stewardship and strengthen the effectiveness of community stakeholders by encouraging participation in the political process to make a measurable difference in saving the environment.

Earlier this week, Green DMV held an Environmental Awareness Day at Jefferson-Houston Elementary School in Alexandria, VA. The goal of the day was to expose students to several environmental issues facing us today, such as climate change, through activities that helped show them the relationship between the environment and their everyday lives. Most importantly, the students were able to take what they learned back home to their parents who will play an integral role in strengthening their interest in the environment. Green DMV’s Program Associate Adam Levine describes the day, which was a huge success:

“The day began with Green DMV Co-founder Philip O’Neal leading gymnasium full of elementary school students in the chant of “We are, we are green kids! Green kids!”, to the tune of Queen’s “We will Rock You.”  If there was a bleary eye in the gym that morning, it was wide awake by the time the students were done singing.  The affirming mantra segued into a brief introduction to the concept of climate change and a discussion about the power and responsibility that we have to make choices in our lives that consider the environmental impact of our actions.  By the end of the morning assembly, the students at Jefferson-Houston elementary were beginning to understand just what being a “green kid” meant.

The morning assembly was the beginning of a day-long fair that was held at Jefferson-Houston Elementary in Alexandria, Virginia. This environmental awareness day was the product a partnership between Green DMV, a D.C.-based environmental organization, and Jefferson-Houston elementary. The event introduced students to the environmental challenges that we face while equipping them with the tools to make smart, environmentally conscious choices in their lives.

Throughout the day, students visited various stations where they were able to start their own vegetable gardens, decorate reusable canvass tote bags, plant a tree, sign an eco-pledge, and make their own ice cream (serving the dual purpose of cooling off on an unseasonably warm spring day, and saving on packaging and shipping as compared with buying it from the store). A host of motivated and indispensable volunteers and teachers made the day a great success and an absolute joy for everyone involved. 

Photo courtesy Pridesource.com

Tiff Thompson is the co-president of Wayne State University's GLBTA Student Union and co-founder of the school's Gender and Sexuality Resource Community.

She was recently featured in Michigan’s most popular LGBT magazine, Pridesource.com. Check out the awesome profile here!

The GLBTA Student Union at Wayne State University is actively committed to establishing a welcoming and safe campus environment that embodies justice and equality for all, regardless of sexual orientation. Last year, the GLBTA Student Union received an action grant from Campus Progress to raise awareness about issues of gender and sexuality on campus. This year, they’re working with Wayne State’s student-run Gender and Sexuality Resource Community to organize and fund workshops to train volunteers as GLBT allies, sexual assault prevention advocates, and peer counselors.

Recently, they hosted S.A.F.E (Students, Administrators, And Faculty for Equality) trainings for members of the community who want to be better allies to the GLBTA community. They are also petitioning the campus to include gender identity in the non-discrimination policy.

For more information about Campus Progress Action Grants, click here.

Last month, Campus Progress Deputy Director Erica Williams and Jessy Tolkan, the Executive Director of Energy Action Coalition talked to Bob Woodruff about Powershift 2009, and how youth activism is having a huge impact on the climate movement. Check out the clip below!

Last month, CP Student Rep. Zim Ugochukwu launched a new campaign, The Ignite Greensboro [got two?] Project, to encourage students in the Greensboro area to become more involved in their community by supporting the refurbishment of the International Civil Rights Museum. The campaign will feature a year-long series of interactive exhibitions that will take place bi-monthly at different colleges and universities in the Greensboro area. During these exhibitions, students will be canvassing and collecting $2 from students while educating them about the importance of the International Civil Rights Museum and urging them to remember the obligation that they have to their community and history. The money raised will be separated into four categories: The museum, speakers, scholarships and service projects. The project is being co-sponsored by Campus Progress and DoSomething.org.

“I started this project because I noticed that a lot of students were failing to reach outside of their respective institutions. As a result, I found that they knew little about the history and culture of Greensboro, and even less about the International Civil Rights Museum,” said Zim. “Ultimately, I hope that this campaign will not only establish unity within the Greensboro community through a diverse, cohesive and educational project, but will also drive commonalities and engage the future generation of leaders.”

Zim is already making a real impact in her community. Check her out on one of the local Greensboro news stations:

For the second year in a row, anti-war students from across the country came together for “Our Spring Break.” This two week event held from March 8 to March 21st (see ourspringbreak.org) provided over 50 student activists with the opportunity to hold direct action and lobbying efforts to end the war in Iraq.  We attempted to “match actions with words” as Martin Luther King prescribed in his seminal call for anti-war activism within his speech Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. The parallels between the America King saw then and the America we see today are uncanny, and we modeled our efforts to demand an end to the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan after King’s example.

Our Spring Break included a whirlwind of trainings provided by the staff of Campus Progress, Witness Against Torture, and other organizations. While we did not always agree about the specific ways to make our work most effective, we all came together for various events, including various speeches, our Cost of War rally, as well as our March of the Dead action.

While spring break is over, Our Spring Break continues through various new media tools. We are specifically coordinating our efforts through the aptly named Break Silence wiki in order to organize the various blog posts and hours of video footage we created in order to do our part to, well, Break Silence! The Our Spring Break Video Hub is a particularly useful resource if you are interested in seeing and tangentially experiencing what we were up to, and you can also go to the Breaking the Silence on Our Spring Break page if you would like to check out our new media campaigns in real time.

While the wiki is still in development, when it is finished, we will use it to distribute these videos through various social networks like Twitter, with the firm goal in mind of achieving mainstream media attention.

We would love to have your advice and support as we continue King’s effort to “transform the jangling discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.”

This post was written by Harry Waisbren, a member of Campus Progress, on behalf of recent action grant recipient, Our Spring Break.

They said youth activism was just a phase, but we didn’t stop on Nov 4th! Since the election, young people across the country have continued to be involved in politics and organizing -- and they are following up on their vow to hold the President and Congress accountable for the promises they made in the run-up to Election Day.

Campus Progress is hosting a discussion in Washington, D.C. at the end of April that will examine the first 100 days of Obama’s presidency, and we want to feature your stories about how you are continuing to make a difference on your campus and in your community. Contact speakers@campusprogress.org and send us your stories and photos today!

Interested in hosting your own discussion? E-mail us for a copy of our 100 Days Tool Kit.

On Thursday, March 27, Campus Progress attended the press conference held by The Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE) at the U.S. Capitol today to announce the introduction of The Student Voter Opportunity to Encourage Registration Act (Student VOTER Act), a federal bill conceived and developed by SAVE student members and sponsored by Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Steven LaTourette (R-OH), as well as Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL).

The Student VOTER Act promotes easier access to voter registration for students by requiring all colleges and universities that receive federal funds to provide students with the opportunity to register to vote when enrolling in classes. The VOTER act builds off the successful model of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) which requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to offer voter registration to citizens when obtaining their driver’s license.

“It just makes sense”, as Rep. LaTourette (R-OH) stated at the press conference, “When lining up to register for classes, you can register to vote too.”

Despite the turnout of 23 million young voters in the presidential election last November, voter turnout among young Americans remains significantly lower than that of older voters. This is in part due to obstacles that young people and students face in the registration process. Evidence indicates that voter registration is the greatest hurdle to young voter participation. According to a 2004 study by CIRCLE, 32% of 18-29 year olds who did not participate in the election did so because of uncertainties or difficulties in the registration process. This seems especially true for students dealing with the confusion of absentee ballots and residency requirements when attending school away from their home voting district.

Check out a video on SAVE featuring Reps. Schakowsky, Ryan, Meek, & Wasserman Schultz:

"We need to get more people to vote, not put up barriers for them to vote" stated Rep. Schakowsky (D-IL). In the Higher Education Act of 1998, Congress attempted to address this issue by requiring universities to make a "good faith effort" to offer voter registration to students. According to a 2004 Harvard University study, only 40% of universities are following through on that "good faith" and lack guidelines and tools for effective implementation. The Student VOTER Act will help institutionalize knowledge of voting procedure, register more young people in an organized, non-partisan capacity and provide students with an easy and accessible place to register.

"The very introduction of this bill is a monumental victory for young voters," said Matthew Segal, the Executive Director of SAVE, "While many congressional members play lip service to the idea of increasing civic engagement, it is refreshing to see Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Schakowsky and Mr. LaTourette act and call on our education institutions to be more proactive in getting students signed up and aware of the laws in their various states and districts." Campus Progress couldn't agree more, which is why we have signed on as an official supporter of the Student VOTER Act.

SAVE is pushing for this legislation to be passed through the House by this summer. The legislation has received increased support not only from the members of congress introducing the bill, but also from 11 university presidents and a number of national organizations.

Campus Progress applauds the overwhelming passage of the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act yesterday in the House of Representatives. The GIVE Act answers President Obama’s call to create new opportunities for all Americans – and specifically young people – to engage in service and volunteerism to improve their communities and the country as a whole. The GIVE Act encourages the enthusiasm, passion and drive of young people in uncertain times by rewarding service with essential support for their education and professional development. It also represents an important step towards ensuring that young people of all economic backgrounds are able to play a crucial role in tackling our nation’s problems head on and building a better a future.

Campus Progress is especially inspired by the provisions of the GIVE Act that attempt to address the pressing problems of the rising costs of higher education and climate change, specifically:

- Tripling the number of AmeriCorps volunteers, from the 75,000 to 250,000, and increasing the education reward they receive to $5,350 for next year, the same as the maximum Pell Grant scholarship award. Awards will also keep pace with future increases in Pell Grant scholarship in order to account for rising college costs.

- Placing a high priority on green initiatives, such as environmental and energy conservation, urban and rural development, and disaster relief. The GIVE Act also creates green and other new service corps to address the needs of low-income, traditionally under-served communities.

Other highlights of the GIVE Act include:

- Recognizing and supporting colleges and universities engaged in service by establishing a “Campuses of Service” initiative.

- Boosting opportunities for disadvantaged youth, including people with disabilities, to help them become more involved in service.

- Establishing a “Summer of Service” program that engages middle and high school students in volunteer activities in their communities and allows them to earn a $500 education award to be used for college costs.

- Making high school students part of the solution to challenges in their communities by establishing Youth Engagement Zones, a new service-learning program.

- Creating a national call to service campaign to encourage all Americans to get involved in service and designating September 11th a National Day of Service and Remembrance.

The GIVE Act now faces a critical vote in the Senate. Call or write your Senator today to tell them to support this important legislation!

For more detailed information on the GIVE Act, please click here.

Campus Progress is excited to announce that Artair Rogers, a former Events Team intern, won the race for President of the Student Body at the University of Mississippi on February 19, 2009, making him the school’s first African American Student Body President in almost ten years. Check out one of Artair’s campaign videos here.

Artair won in a run-off election after the first vote was too close to call (the difference was only 90+ votes.) Over 4,100 students voted in the election, and 4,000 returned to vote in the run-off. Artair’s superior campus campaigning tactics on run-off day earned him 54.3% of the vote, meaning that he not only held on to his own supporters, he was also able to convince students to come over to his side.

“I thank the student body for listening to everything that I have to say and really taking it in, and really accepting me,” Artair told the Daily Mississippian. “I promise you that I am going to work diligently to make this campus better before my time is over with.”

The University of Mississippi has already benefited from Artair’s leadership; Campus Progress has no doubt that in this new role, he will have an even bigger, lasting positive impact on his campus community and the community at large!

CP's Climate Guru Tommaso Boggia reports:

On February 27th, more than 12,000 young climate leaders from throughout the nation (really, all 50 states, most congressional districts, even all territories!) made their way to Washington D.C. to demand action on the climate crisis at the 2009 Power Shift Conference. Power Shift was organized by the Energy Action Coalition, a group of over 50 the diverse local and national organizations working together to support and strengthen the student and youth clean energy movement in North America. As a part of the Energy Action Coalition, Campus Progress staff and student representatives worked tirelessly in the preceding months, and in the end, we were able to recruit over 300 people from campuses and communities across the country to join us at this year’s Power Shift.

Over the course of 3 days at Power Shift, attendees heard from amazing speakers like Van Jones, Majora Carter, and Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming Ed Markey, learned essential organizing skills, and grappled with many of the controversial issues facing the environmental movement, from the deceiving malice of Natural Gas to the promise of renewable energy to empower indigenous communities. The conference culminated in a lobby day, in which young people rallied on the lawn of the Capitol demanding action on climate change, and met with their local representatives to lay out their demands for decisive action on the climate crisis.

Not only was the conference a blast, I heard people say over and over that Power Shift had changed their lives. 

As Saturday’s headlining musical act the Roots left the stage, it was close to midnight, and I was ready to fall asleep right then and there. My feet hurt from a long, fulfilling day, and I was not willing to wrestle the crowd to leave the building. Instead, I hung back and waited for a while, as the 12,000 people left the room that they worked so hard to fill. Finally, as the crowds were thinning, I started to make my way out of the room. That’s when I heard a familiar chant coming from the atrium: "Power Shift! Power Shift! Power Shift!" Although I thought it was pretty cool, I moved on, expecting the chant to end and the crowd to disperse any second. It didn't. For over 30 minutes, thousands of young people refused to leave the Conference Center where they had been for over 12 hours. Full of energy, they continued to chant, and the more they chanted, the more the movement became their own. Finally, the excitement turned to chills and brought me close to tears.

And now, after thousands of people rushed Capitol Hill calling for climate justice, Power Shift is continuing throughout the nation. Those who came to D.C. are returning to their communities to recruit more young leaders to the cause. They are building relationships with their representatives to ensure that the principles of Power Shift will be the guiding force for the 111th Congress. In fact, on April 6 -19, you can join the Power Shifters in your home district to lobby your representatives while they are on recess.

I remember when I started working on this issue and it was so hard to mobilize anyone. People didn't get it. They felt a distant connection to the issues of climate change, but few owned the movement. Things have finally changed. Our generation not only gets it, we own it. We are determined to put an end to the reign of death of the “Fossil Fools.” We are ready for a Power Shift!

Campus Progress’ Deputy Director Erica Williams was invited to speak at the 2009 State of the Black Union Conference, held at the Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA on February 28th. This year marked the 10th Anniversary of the annual conference, which was launched in 1998 by radio and TV personality Tavis Smiley to serve as a means to “educate, enlighten and empower America by bringing people together and engaging them in thoughtful dialogue, leading the way to constructive action.”

The event was broken down into two 4 hour long segments, each segment featuring a panel of well-recognized and respected opinion leaders within the African American community. Erica was the only young person appearing on either panel and presented along with heavy hitters like the Reverend Al Sharpton, GOP Chairman Michael Steele, Cornel West, and Rep. Maxine Waters. As you can see from the video below, Erica more than held her own!

Our favorite moment? Erica responding to the post-election rhetoric of service that has pigeon-holed young people: "Pardon me if I don't wash your feet but try to actually go figure out how you can buy some shoes."

On March 2, approximately 150 people, including students from the University of Denver and members of the broader Denver community, attended an exclusive screening of the award-winning new film Courting Condi. The screening was sponsored by Campus Progress and the student-run newspaper the [dis]claimer.

The film, a first-of-its-kind "musical docu-tragi-comedy," follows a love-struck man’s hilarious, emotionally engaging, and ultimately shocking quest to woo DU alumna and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The film was very well received by the audience. DU Freshman Ariel Kay said that the film was "smart, witty, really funny on many levels and made sure to get down to who Condi is as a person."

Following the screening, Director Sebastian Doggart answered audience questions, which ranged from ascertaining the moment Rice "turned," to his childhood fantasies about Margaret Thatcher. The event concluded with a pointed, passionate debate between DU Professor Alan Gilbert and Colorado State Senator Shawn Mitchell (R-Dist. 23) that tackled the question of whether or not Rice should stand trial for war crimes. The audience was drawn into the debate as well, as many responded with sharp questions for the two participants. Overall, the event proved to be both entertaining and thought-provoking.

For more information about Courting Condi, check out the film’s website.

During his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, the President set a bold new goal for American parents and educators: by 2020 the US should again lead the world in the proportion of our population with a college degree. This week, Campus Progress was excited to see the Obama administration take the first steps toward the attainment of this goal by laying out a progressive funding plan for higher education in the 2010 budget.

The 2010 budget includes several higher education policies that will improve access and completion rates and reduce college costs while expanding, simplifying, and strengthening the programs that students rely on for grants and financial aid. Here are some of the major policy changes for Higher Education:

- Tying Pell Grant Funding to Inflation: Pell grants are currently funded through the annual budgeting process, which means that growth is unpredictable, and that it is often stagnant for years. This legislation would make Pell Grant funding mandatory, and tie future funding to a rate that is 1% above the Consumer Price Index.

- Making the Student Loan Program Reliable and Efficient: There are currently two federal systems used to distribute the same kinds of student loans: the “Direct Loan Program,” and what is nicknamed the “Guaranteed Loan Program” or FFELP. The new legislation would create all new federal student loans through the Direct Loan Program, which is much more cost-efficient and reliable for students and families. The administration estimates that a $5,000 loan made through the Direct Loan Program would cost taxpayers approximately $200 less over the life of the loan than the same loan made through the FFELP. By eliminating FFELP, we will be saving an estimated $24.3 billion which will be use to help fund need-based grant aid.

- Creating Federal-State Partnerships to Improve Access and Completion: This legislation will create a $2.5 billion fund for partnerships that aim to support students from under-served backgrounds, and improve completion rates at colleges and universities.

- Improving Education Tax Credits and the Perkins Loan Program: The American Opportunity Tax Credit was created as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (“the stimulus bill”), and offers a partially refundable $2,500 tax credit for tuition, books and other college-related expenses. This legislation would make it permanent. It also reforms the Perkins Loan program to provide more options to students facing gaps or emergencies, better target the program to those that need it most, and to reward schools that control costs and provide need-based aid. 

Campus Progress looks forward to working with the administration, Congress, partner organizations, and students to support these vital reforms.

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More Resources:

Read more about the education provisions in the budget here.

To learn more about why increasing America’s educational attainment rates should be national priority, please click here to read a new report from the Lumina Foundation.

Read Campus Progress' crib sheet that explains the differences between the Direct Loan Program and the Guaranteed Loan Program.

For more of the Center for American Progress' views on the future of higher education, please read this new article.

People don’t normally campaign publicly for a presidential appointment, because it’s a pretty good way to guarantee that you won’t get the job. The more tasteful and effective way to lobby for a position with the Obama Administration – something an enormous number of people have been doing for the past few months – is to push like heck behind the scenes. But Carl Malamud isn’t just any ordinary person. 

Carl, our former colleague at the Center for American Progress, practically invented the Internet, or at least Internet radio. His relentless crusade for government openness and for citizen access to government information – from the SEC, the federal courts, the Smithsonian, etc. -- has made him a hero to many and a thorn in the side of the lazy, selfish, corrupt, and greedy.  This recent New York Times story and Carl's website will tell you more about him.

Anyway, what job does Carl want?  Public Printer of the United States, the head of the Government Printing Office. From that position, Carl wants to reboot government and accountability – getting more information to people so we can have full debates and make the right decisions. I have endorsed the campaign (and refuse to call it “quixotic”). In fact, I am apparently an honorary co-chair, alongside my awesome law school classmate Larry Lessig. Please check it out and join the campaign, “Yes We Scan.”

~David Halperin 

Campus Progress is proud to announce that it has joined a coalition of over 140 organizations and advocacy groups asking President Obama to end funding for abstinence-only education and to increase funding for comprehensive sex education in the 2010 budget.

Here is an excerpt from the official letter which the coalition sent yesterday to the White House, as well as House and Senate leadership:

 “Despite the growing body of evidence that federally funded abstinence programs deny young people the critical information they need to make safe and responsible life decisions, the federal government has poured more than $1.3 billion in federal funds into these programs since 1997.  In your budget for 2010, we urge you to eliminate funds for the three separate federal abstinence-only-until-marriage programs -- Title V of the Social Security Act, the Community-Based Abstinence Education program, and a portion of funding for the Adolescent Family Life Act.  In fiscal year 2008 alone, these programs received $176 million.

 At a time when the American economy is struggling and families are in need of preventive health measures to improve their lives, government must end this wasteful spending and only invest in effective programs that will protect teen health. In this vein, we are asking that you create a dedicated federal funding stream of at least $50 million in your 2010 budget to fund comprehensive sex education programs that teach young people about both abstinence and contraception–programs that are consistent with your stated desire to promote policies based on science rather than politics. In order to make responsible, healthy decisions, young people need—and society has an obligation to provide—medically accurate, age-appropriate information about sex and sexuality.” 

You can read the full letter here.  

Interested in advocating for comprehensive sex education? Learn how to take action today by visiting Nomoremoney.org. The No More Money Campaign is a project of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS). Since 1964, SIECUS has dedicated itself to educating the public about sexuality and sexual and reproductive health, and advocating for sound reproductive health and sex education policy.