Common Power works to foster, support and amplify a democracy that is just and inclusive. We provide creative on-ramps to civic fieldwork, expand the people engaging in and benefiting from it, and sustain this effort by investing in the next generation of leaders.
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After a series of jobs in marketing and media during her first decade after college, Justine Lee was motivated by Donald Trump's election to augment her career. She created Make America Dinner Again based on this simple premise: Gathering politically diverse strangers for good food and guided conversation about hot-button issues could improve listening skills and enhance cross-ideology understanding — and as a result make a small but meaningful dent in the polarized partisanship at the core of our democracy's challenges. Thousands of dinner participants and almost four years later, there are chapters in a dozen cities. Lee runs the operation in New York while working as an audience development consultant. Her answers have been edited for clarity and length.
What's the tweet-length description of your organization?
We do not aim to change minds, but to help people grow by sharing stories and learning from one another. There are many avenues to protest, donate, fight and be heard; our gatherings are an avenue to listen.
Facebook launched a new tool Thursday to help millions of Americans register to vote and keep up with election changes this fall.
The Voting Information Center, billed as a "one-stop shop to give people in the U.S. the tools and information they need to make their voices heard at the ballot box," will live on both Facebook and Instagram. The campaign was modeled after the social media platform's Covid-19 Information Center, which offers users updates from public health officials.
Facebook created its new tool following a surge in voting by mail and other election changes caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But the social media company has been sharply criticized by Democrats and voting rights advocates for not fact-checking or removing President Trump's false and misleading claims about mail-in voting fraud.
He's only 22 and a year out of college, but Troy Fritzhand's resume describes experience in commercial real estate, investment banking, event planning, high-end athletic shoe sales — and good-government websites, created with the help of older brother Tyler and younger brother Brad. First was the boldly named Ballot, software local governments can purchase to verify the authenticity of signatures on absentee ballot forms. (While pitching that product two summers ago the brothers got arrested in a restricted Senate hallway. The Capitol Police alleged the trio falsely claimed to work for Sen. Chuck Schumer when confronted. They denied that but agreed to perform community service to settle the case.) For the past six months Fritzhand has been pitching Let Them Know, a free civic education and grassroots advocacy site. His answers have been edited for clarity and length.
What's the tweet-length description of your organization?
A mobile and web-based civic engagement platform that helps educate Americans on the issues important to them, reach out to their members in Congress and easily register to vote.
Organizer: Citizen University
Civic Saturday encourages us to reflect with others around our common civic purpose, challenges us to consider how we are living up to the American creed, and inspires us to live like citizens now and in the future. Tune in to the livestream as we sing classic Civic Saturday songs, hear poetry and civic scripture, and a civic sermon from Eric Liu.
Location: Virtual
