The League's Tunnel Builder Institute held a training w/ young organizers in Tallahassee recently. Check it out a testimonial from attendee Szor-Danner Jones:

"TBI was a wonderful experience not only for myself, but for the entire Community Empowerment Organization and our guest. Our passions about informing voters of their options in the Tallahassee community have been re-ignited. With the information obtained from the training we have already strategically planned GOTV and social events to aid us in recruitment as well as selected are target areas and demographics for the upcoming election season.

I would recommend TBI to anyone who is serious about organizing and helping communities find their voice in the political arena. The sessions are informative, fun and are organized in a way that participants can easily adapt the information to what is going on in their area. TBI really put in perspective the goals of the new administration and helped me as an organizer, realize the impact myself and particularly the Community Empowerment Organization has on the areas we target.

Thank you for the experience!"

Shady politicians around the country are rushing to pass terrible legislation that would prevent honest people from voting. They claim they want to prevent voter fraud and keep voter rolls accurate. But we can see these laws for what they really are: an attempt to disenfranchise voters by placing barriers every step of the way.

We need to take a stand and demand that our elected officials respect everyone's fundamental right to vote!

Stand with us in telling state legislators -- across the county -- to reject laws that will infringe the rights of voters EVERYWHERE.

LYVEF is teaming up with Van Jones' Green For All to bring youth from across the country to a unique League training at the Dream Reborn conference.

Learn more about the young leaders you can help send to this amazing conference.

Apply for the Tunnel Builder Institute March 15-19 in Washington, D.C.

We wanna thank you all!!!

Check out the full list of our heroic 2007 donors.

Let's get our issues heard We're going to be in Iowa this weekend to make sure the presidential candidates hear our issues. Let us know what issues are important to you. Or read some responses here.

In less than 40 days, voters in Iowa will head to the polls to cast their vote in the caucuses for the next president of the United States.  Candidates from both sides of the aisle have made Iowa their second home.

But here's the deal with Iowa: not only is the population of Iowa one of the oldest in the nation, but people of color only make up 6% of the state's population. Yeah, our peers in Iowa are out there representing for what's important to them -- but as always­ the candidates are following Jay Z's mantra of "We don't believe you, you need more people."

So the League has linked up with The Brown and Black Presidential Forum to shake things up and make sure our issues GET HEARD!

We wil­l be there this weekend with Black Youth Vote to host a powerful civic participation training for young people of color and…CHECK THIS OUT:  we will also have direct access to the candidates to ask OUR questions after the live Presidential Debate Saturday night on HDNET at 7:30 pm eastern time.

And come Sunday, rest assured our voice will continue to be heard, because we have linked up with a group of community activists who will be caucusing, bird-dogging, and organizing their peers to make sure that League issues are represented in Iowa. Because like many in the League network, these activists are fighting against unprecedented levels of African American incarceration and high school expulsion rates.

Wanna be a part of it??  Let us know what issues are important to you.  We will pass them on to our folks on the ground.  And if your question is super on-point we will post it on our website, so send us a picture along with your question. (Yes, web 2.0'ers you can send Youtube links too.)

Trust me, Iowa is important.  The eyes of the whole country are about to be focused there.  We're not going to just stand by and hope our issues get discussed.  This is the most important election of our lifetime and we are gonna pour our sweat and tears in to make sure that everyone is represented.


holla back,

Rob "biko" Baker
League Organizing Director

Click here to read some of the responses that have come in from around the country.

The League just made history in Maine.

Remember a couple months ago, when we told you that the League in Maine was working to get an initiative on the November ballot to get rid of debt for college students? ­

This week the state legislature voted overwhelmingly to pass the "Opportunity Maine" initiative as a bill. Now, students who stay in Maine after they graduate will be able to receive up to $32,000 towards their college debt.

­Read the full story -- or -- visit the Opportunity Maine website

Let's own this movement!

When we found out last week that we had lost nearly a third of our budget in funding we were hit hard with a fact we already knew: we can’t depend on big funders to build our movement. If we are this movement, we need to own this movement.

So we're asking you to step up right now and get your friends involved. Can you ask your friends and family to throw down to make sure the League survives?

Hell yes.

As of early April, Milwaukee's Mayfair mall isn't letting young people in by themselves without government issued ids. They say they want the mall to be "family friendly" but the League's Milwaukee affiliate -- the Campaign Against Violence -- knows it's really just haterism.

"It's like adults don't get. We cruise because there is nothing to. We go to the mall because it's the last safe place for us to go," says 18 year-old Lanisha Colfax. "If people were really concerned about the violence, they would provide opportunities for us. But I really think adults don't want to listen to us."

Watch the video above from Fox News in Milwaukee. And click here to see Fox News cover the rally CAV organized on the day the the new id-check began.

Portland organizer Alec Maybarduk passes out after helping collect more than 73,000 signatures.

We think so too. And the Portland League has been working since last November to change that. In February, they presented more than 73,000 signatures of Maine voters who support student debt relief to the Secretary of State. That means that this November, we'll put this question to the voters: Do you want to allow tax credits for college loan repayments?

This is an important first step to making affordable college a national priority. Talk about progressive power!

Read first hand from Portland organizer Alec Maybarduk about the campaign for college affordability.

Khari Mosely, the League's Pennsylvania State Director, speaks at the Port Authority rally.

 

Members of the Pittsburgh League joined a rally in mid-January to protect public transit from major cuts. "The elected officials are making sure the Pittsburgh Penguins stay in the city," said DeShauna Ponton. "I can't afford to go to a Penguins game. I'd rather they worry about whether people can go to work."

 

Read the whole story at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Generations of cool

"Tag, Brother. You're it."

Check out this article from the April 2007 issue of Ebony Magazine for this "conversation between a legend and a legend in training."

Then go pick up a copy to support!

Next fall, the Portland League is working with Opportunity Maine to pass a ballot initiative that would allow the state government to give a huge tax credit to any student with school loans who stays in Maine to work after they graduate. That means no crazy students loans to payback after college. Talk about progressive power.

What can you do? First, let us know that you're down with this. Then check out Opportunity Maine and add them as a friend on MySpace and Facebook.

Are you down?	You know this matters, so...

"We have to stand up and represent our issues and our interests," says Bobby Drake of the Campaign Against Violence. Watch the coverage from Milwaukee's Fox 6 above.

Check out this sample from the beginning of the Election-Edition Mixtape from the Milwaukee League (a.k.a. "Campaign Against Violence").

When Cincinnati City Council voted to spend $20 million on a temporary jail and 100 new police officers the city didn't even ask for, the Nati League/Campaign 4 Youth organized thousands of letters and phone calls demanding relevant youth programs. Listen to the League's hot radio spot!

The Campaign Against Violence, the Milwaukee chapter of the League, registered more than 2,000 young voters with their nontraditional strategy and is pushing for change in the streets this November. Listen to their radio ad.

When talk-jock Tom Barnard of the "KQ Morning Show" broadcast racist comments against the hip hop and Hmong communities, the Minnesota League showed up to call him out. "We can't let people get away with things like this," said MN League member Sam Buffington. "They are equating killings to hip hop and hip hop to black people and their insensitivity takes away from the tragedy of events when young people are being killed."

Read the full front-page story from the Hmong Times.

They've been trying to pull this voter suppression crap on us for decades. This time it's the Hyde Bill (HR 4844), which blocks seniors, minority voters, poor voters, students and young voters, and voters with disabilities from the polls. Read the letter to Congress we signed with the National Network for Election Reform.

When the Pittsburgh Port Authority refused to place ads in city buses informing former felons of their voting rights, they told us it wasn't illegal censorship. Now the Pittsburgh League is getting mad media hype for teaming with the ACLU to set the record straight.