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Heartland Democracy is proud and excited to announce that we have launched Empowering U with two terrific partners this March. Empowering U is our innovative, deep civic empowerment program. Through a series of guided discussions, participants discover the tangible benefits of involvement in community, politics, and self-governance. They develop the motivation and tools to become active, informed members of their communities. Heartland Democracy works with partner groups serving our neighbors with little or no experience of participation in community, government, or politics. Hence, Twin Cities Rise!, which provides employment training to adults who have faced challenges in gaining and holding jobs, is a natural host. TCR! understands that when their participants learn the methods for networking to achieve a community or political goal, that same network pays off in job networking, the identification of resources, financial stability, and wealth. In other words, when we till the roots of democracy, we cultivate the roots of the economy as well. Similarly, we are working with juvenile ex-offenders under the auspices of 180 Degrees. Both cohorts are in St. Paul.
Heartland Democracy is able to bring Empowering U to our St. Paul area neighbors at Twin Cities Rise!, 180 Degrees, and, later this year, Unity Leadership's high school internship program with the generous support of the F. R. Bigelow Foundation and the St. Paul Foundation. In this way, we are helping more and more Minnesotans realize their own self-interest in the full range of citizenship.
Minnesota's Senate is about to take up a bill proposing a constitutional amendment to require a photo id. card of all voters -- a textbook case of a wolf in sheep's clothing. Read on and let every adult Minnesotan know your views as soon as possible: every hour counts until the Senate votes, possibly as soon as Thursday, March 22.
A photo id. would prevent many voters from voting: elders, youth, and other non-drivers without driver's licenses or state-issued photo identification cards. Why is this proposal before the Legislature? To reduce the number of voters. This is difficult to say -- we do not reach this conclusion lightly -- yet it's the bald truth. Ostensibly, proponents reason that photo identification would prevent voter fraud.
Yet the incidence of such fraud is so very rare -- 1 instance in millions of votes cast -- that the harm done by rejecting thousands of would-be voters far outweighs any good from it. Physicians' Hippocratic oath applies here: in reforming our democracy, let us "Do No Harm."
What's more, Minnesota's Secretary of State, Mark Ritchie, has proposed a much better and cheaper solution: voters who have lost an ID or no longer carry one could have an election official call up their identification from state records, if necessary, at the polling place, via an electronic "poll book." Did we mention that 84,000 Minnesota voters do not carry a photo ID? Those without an ID could have a photo scanned into the database or have their photo taken at the polling place.
“We would not be disenfranchising anybody and we would not be breaking the bank,” Secretary Ritchie has said.
Heartland Democracy proposed another systemic reform in early 2009 -- the implementation of a universal and automatic voter registration system. Such a system would further reduce the already extremely slim chances for voter fraud, willful or inadvertent. To see our report, which was hailed at the time by the Star Tribune's editorial page, former longtime Secretary of State Joan Growe, and New York University's Brennan Center, among others, click here: 21st Century Voter Registration Report.
Our democracy requires a number of significant reforms; voter photo id. at the polls is not one of them. It would dampen, rather than renew, voter participation -- and for no good cause. Let us call it what it is: a cynical, indecent attempt to disenfranchise voters, similar to the old poll tax used to bar voters of fewer means. Let's not erect barriers to participation in democracy; let's dismantle them.
Remember: the Minnesota Senate will vote soon. Inform yourself, tell your kith and kin, and -- most of all -- tell your state senator what you think! Thank you for your consideration.
Heartlanders, please help us find our new coaches for Empowering U, our innovative deep civic empowerment program. We are growing, and we are looking for enthusiastic, savvy educators and experts in community, government, politics, and public policy. Direct potential applicants to this handy posting on the job board of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits for details: Coach Search. Thanks for your help!
"Citizenship in a Sound Bite Era" is the topic for this community forum from 6:00 to 8:00 pm in the Hill Ballroom at Kagin Commons at Macalester College, Tuesday, December 6, 2011 in St. Paul. RSVP at www.worldsavvy.org/events. "Anyone interested in civic engagement, youth development and education" should attend. Panelists will include Minnesota's innovative Secretary of State, Mark Ritchie; Trista Harris, Executive Director of Headwaters Foundation for Justice; Brian Rosenberg, President of Macalester; Jamal Thompson, Director of Education for the National Black MBA Association; and Dana Mortenson, Executive Director of World Savvy. David O'Fallon, President and CEO of the Minnesota Humanities Center, will moderate the panel's discussion.
Click on the headline above to reach our full News Blog and a short TEDx talk video on Empowering U -- TEDx Video -- in which Tom Vellenga makes the case for robust civic empowerment programs such as ours. The Blandin Foundation sponsored a conference -- Expanding Opportunity: Economy, Education, and Inclusion -- using the TEDx format. Listen to Tom describe critical challenges to our democracy, our response, and the crucial benefits to our people, our communities, and our economy. Spread the word to others! Make a tax-deductible donation now to help scale up Empowering U to serve more people through our host and partner organizations.
On November 16 "Give to the Max" to Heartland Democracy and all your favorite charities. Bake a bigger pie and share larger slices with your best 501(c)(3) nonprofit groups! You can give directly to us through our Donate button or go to GiveMN's page on Razoo at Heartland Democracy on Razoo's GiveMN. That same web page will also provide you with an updated summary of our deep civic empowerment program, Empowering U, and the first-of-its-kind project we coordinated with five allied groups, the Framework for Governing, which we will release soon.
We are preparing to scale up Empowering U in 2012 with the help of foundations, donors, and three new partners -- Twin Cities Rise!, 180 Degrees, and Unity Leadership, whose participants we will serve and whose staff we will train. This is how we are getting "the uninvolved" back into their community, the wider democracy, and the networked grassroots economy -- and providing them with the tools and motivation to stay involved long after they have completed Empowering U. That is one crucial strategy for reviving community, democracy, and the networks that sustain local economies. In 2012, a new grant from the F.R. Bigelow Foundation will allow us to realize our dream of scaling up Empowering U with an expanded curriculum, training for additional trainers, and many more participants in the St. Paul region.
The Framework for Governing gathered together statewide initiatives for Minnesota from Envision Minnesota's 12-member collaborative, the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, Growth & Justice, Ready 4 K, TakeAction Minnesota's ReNewMN values statements, and the report of the Legislative Commission to End Poverty. Heartland Democracy identified the themes and values common to all the initiatives and statements, organized them in a framework of values, and crafted a case for a practical, progressive approach to governing ourselves. The top three values emerging from the policy initiatives: Community, Justice, and Equality of Opportunity. If we truly conceive of every person and resource in Minnesota as part of one community, we will make the best and most sustainable decisions for Minnesota over the long term. Early reviewers have remarked that the Values Framework is beautifully written...we look forward to sharing it with policymakers, you, our allied groups, and the media soon.
November 12 from 8:00 to 9:30 am please join the Stone Arch discussion series for remarks and a discussion on these great questions: 1) How can we get more neighbors involved in community and politics and 2) How can we win over more hearts and minds to progressive goals? Why are these twin challenges so absolutely critical to our fate? What does "progressive" mean in 2011? Heartland Democracy's Tom Vellenga will present our innovative responses to these timely questions, followed by an hour of discussion.
Breakfast foods, coffee, and other savories will greet you at the Gardens of Salonica (specializing in Greek delicacies), at 19 Fifth Street Northeast in Minneapolis. The event is free and open to all. Tell your friends!
Tune in at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, Memorial Day on 90.3 and 106.7 FM in the Twin Cities area to hear a one-hour broadcast of our recent Forum on Values in Governing. Held on Wednesday, May 18, the forum featured panelists Dane Smith of Growth & Justice, Wesley Walker of the Northway Community Trust, Alison Norman of the Minnesota State College Student Association, Steve Rogness of TakeAction Minnesota, and Tom Vellenga of Heartland Democracy. Phyllis Stenerson, who leads and writes for ProgressiveValues.Org and is a Fellow of Heartland Democracy, moderated the Forum, which took place at the First Universalist Church in South Minnesota. Radio KFAI's Truth to Tell team was there to tape the forum. Led by Truth to Tell's host, Andy Driscoll, KFAI is providing an edited broadcast of the original two-hour forum to provide a one-hour broadcast.
With the help of the audience's tough questions and insightful comments, our panel offered diverse perspectives on the values we all bring to the challenge of self-governance, using our collaboration's practical and progressive Framework for Governing as a touchstone for conversation. We joined with Growth & Justice, Ready 4 K, a collaboration led by 1,000 Friends of Minnesota, the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, and TakeAction Minnesota to create the Framework. Our collaborators contributed policy proposals for Minnesota across a wide range of issues. Heartland Democracy worked with its collaborators to fashion a Values Framework that identified the values and themes common to all initiatives. In this way, we are making the progressive approach to governing more coherent. The Framework is a tool with which progressives can make decisions as well as communicate them. We presented the Framework to the Governor, his aides, and agency commissioners. Soon we will provide it to legislators, other groups, the media, and the public.
On Wednesday, May 18, the First Universalist Church in South Minneapolis will host a public forum on the values in our Framework for Governing, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The Framework for Governing is a collaboration of half a dozen progressive groups and collaborations, initiated and coordinated by Heartland Democracy to serve the state of Minnesota. It includes policy proposals spanning a wide range of public issues as well as a set of values common to all the initiatives. A "Values Framework" within the larger Framework for Governing identifies the values running throughout the Framework and makes the case for a coherent progressive approach to governing based upon those shared values. By identifying the relationship of the principles and concepts that drive progressive ideas across a range of issues, we hope to serve progressives in every sphere as they solve public problems and communicate their approach. At the Forum, panelists representing a range of progressive groups and constituencies will speak briefly to the sources of their public values, particularly as they relate to spirituality and the Framework for Governing. Following their very brief remarks, Phyllis Stenerson, a Fellow of Heartland Democracy and the founder and writer for ProgressiveValues.Org, will moderate a discussion with the audience. Watch this space for information on the panelists. First Universalist Church is located at 34th Street and Dupont Avenue in South Minneapolis.
Saturday, December 11, from 8:00 to 9:30 a.m., Tom Vellenga of Heartland Democracy will talk with the Stone Arch Discussion Group about non-partisan strategies to win over hearts and minds to progressive goals. The Stone Arch Group meets at the Gardens of Salonica in Northeast Minneapolis, at 19 Fifth Street NE. This event is FREE.
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