Okay, THIS is cool!
Democracy for America (DFA) has launched an exciting new project to help activists and organizers achieve their goals with a far more powerful set of tools than they would have otherwise. It’s called YouPower and it’s revolutionary.
Here’s how my pal Alex Showerman, DFA’s New Media Manager, explained it to me:
YouPower is a campaign in a box. It starts with an online petition, but, unlike most tools out there, we view the petition as just the starting point not the end. We will offer campaigns access to our field organizers and communications staff so that they have the know-how and knowledge to take the online petition and turn into off-line change.
Here are my friends Governor Howard Dean, founder of DFA, and DFA Executive Director Arshad Hasan talking about YouPower:
Gov. Dean posted a piece at Huffington Post that explains the program in greater detail:
Whether you’re trying to create a bike path in your community or take action on national legislation, YouPower gives you access to the online tools and the offline resources of a one million member national progressive organization to help you create change from the bottom up.It all starts online. The YouPower platform allows just about anyone to launch, promote, and update their campaign as the issue develops. YouPower then helps you take your fight offline — giving you access to DFA’s dedicated staff of field organizers on the ground all across the country, a nationally-respected training program and a cutting edge communications team committed to helping you win.
To be clear, YouPower isn’t just another petition tool. While other organizations give activists access to petition creation tools, no one else can share with you the tested offline resources and proven talent that DFA has at its disposal. From strategy sessions with organizers who know how to take action effectively to contact with DFA members who’ve been organizing in your area for years, YouPower gives you what it takes to make lasting change in your community.
Their first campaign with YouPower is with Equality Michigan. With a recent poll showing that a majority of Michiganders favor marriage equality for ALL of our citizens, the time is ripe for a campaign like this to be successful.
From their petition:
In 2004, a despicable amendment was enshrined in our constitution blocking equal rights for thousands of Michigan citizens. Michigan’s ban on marriage equality leaves families vulnerable by allowing discrimination against same sex couples. Currently 12 states have laws affirming the right of people to marry who they love. At Equality Michigan we are working hard to repeal the 2004 law and the latest polls show that the citizens of Michigan are ready.We want you to be the first to know when Michigan’s equality champions unveil the plan to repeal the 2004 constitutional amendment banning marriage equality in the state of Michigan.
Click through to sign their petition and to see how you can get involved.
And then consider how you or your organization might use YouPower to super-charge your issue-based campaign.
