Winning "Ideas for Change in America" to be presented during Inauguration Day

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From: Change.org

Winners of the Ideas for Change in America Competition

January 17th, 2009

There are four days until the Inauguration, and the country is alight with excitement, not just about the arrival of Barack Obama in the White House but also for the beginning of a new era of civic engagement.

We’ve tapped into this energy with our Ideas for Change in America, and today we held a press event at the National Press Club in Washington DC to announce the winners of the competition. The 10 winning ideas reflect the diverse interests of the millions of people calling for change across the country, and include ideas for securing universal heath care, LGBT rights, and sustainable green energy. All winning ideas can be viewed at www.change.org/ideas.

The winning ideas were accepted on behalf of the Presidential Transition Team by Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media and the person who oversees our second-favorite website, Change.gov. Macon then addressed the attendees of the event, which included nonprofit leaders and grassroots activists, and spoke about the importance the administration will place on citizen-driven efforts like Ideas for Change.

After 656,991 votes for 7,847 ideas, we present the top 10 ideas for change (in no particular order):

• Pass the DREAM Act - Support Higher Education for All Students Dream ACTivist (add a suggestion)
• Appoint Secretary of Peace in Department of Peace and Non-Violence Stephen Zendt (add a suggestion)
• Free Single Payer Health Care Jared S (add a suggestion)
• Develop & Implement a National Strategy for Sustainability Rob Wheeler (add a suggestion)
• Pass Marriage Equality Rights for LGBT Couples Nationwide Jen N. (add a suggestion)

• Make the grid green in 10 years Liz Rose (add a suggestion)
• Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana Jose Torres (add a suggestion)
• Get FISA Right, repeal the PATRIOT Act, and restore our civil liberties Jon Pincus (add a suggestion)
• Save Small Business From the CPSIA Cecilia Leibovitz (add a suggestion)
• Health Freedom IS Our First Freedom Bill Pleasants (add a suggestion)

Over the next week we will be working with nonprofit sponsors for each idea, including 1Sky, Healthcare-NOW!, and The Peace Alliance, to craft national campaigns around each idea. In the meantime, we have opened discussion for how to most effectively turn each idea into a successful national campaign, and would love your suggestions.

We also want to recognize the additional 25 ideas that received over 2500 votes, each of which attracted an impressive community. We are excited to be able to support these and other ideas as well over the next year as we build out a broader platform for individuals and organizations to promote the changes they seek.

• ReBuild and RePower America with a Green Stimulus Package. Jake Brewer (add a suggestion)
• Bridging the Empathy Gap - Yes We Can! Jori Manske (add a suggestion)
• High Speed Rail Trains to Cut Emissions, Cost of Travel and Create Jobs David Cohn (add a suggestion)
• Victory Gardens 2.0 Roger Doiron (add a suggestion)
• END CORPORATE "PERSONHOOD" ED CIACCIO (add a suggestion)
• Repeal the Patriot Act Pierre Loiselle (add a suggestion)
• Legalize Milk Charles N. Rutledge (add a suggestion)
• Leave Iraq Now! Clint Tomlinson (add a suggestion)
• Introduce Esperanto as a foreign language subject in schools to help American kids succeed Oleg Izyumenko (add a suggestion)
• Forgive Student Loans: Stimulate the Middle and Lower Middle Class Sarah Szalavitz (add a suggestion)
• Appoint a Special Prosecutor for the Crimes of the Bush Administration Bob Fertik (add a suggestion)
• Stop Animal Torture Ginette Callaway (add a suggestion)
• Restore Investments In Rail Service And Infrastructure Baratunde Thurston (add a suggestion)

• US Leadership to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Globally David Krieger (add a suggestion)
• Fully Fund Medicaid Waivers for the Developmentally Disabled Renee Beauregard (add a suggestion)
• Abortion rights Suzanne Davis (add a suggestion)
• Mobilize Mentors, Tutors, and Citizen Teachers to Help Kids Succeed Eric Schwarz (add a suggestion)
• Make FREE Trade FAIR Trade For Them AND for US Keith Rouda (add a suggestion)
• Ban Breed Specific Legislation Whitney Fisher (add a suggestion)
• Protect Our Food Supply – Stop NAIS! Pamela Matlack Klein (add a suggestion)
• Solar power: yes we can! Bob Cohen (add a suggestion)
• Healthful school lunch options Alex Hershaft (add a suggestion)
• Pass the Puppy Uniform Protection Statute to Help Stop Puppy Mills Carie Lewis (add a suggestion)
• Solve The Credit Crisis From The Bottom Up Through Social Lending Scott Krager (add a suggestion)
• End the Genocide in Darfur Jerry Fowler (add a suggestio

>All Things Reform Mobile: allthingsreform.mofuse.mobi >Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 (not toll-free) >US House/Senate Mobile: bit.ly/members >Contact your reps tips: bit.ly/dear >Shortened All Things Reform URL: bit.ly/dw

Join Social Actions contest to create an activist tool on the web

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From: Social Actions

Online Competition Aims to Change the World by Changing the Web

Social Actions' Change the Web Challenge will create tools for citizens to be activists wherever they are online


Berkeley, CA (PRWEB) December 15, 2008 -- Web developers who enter the Social Actions' Change the Web Challenge will help make the world a better place, and have a chance to share $10,000 in prize money.

Social Actions, a web-based nonprofit initiative, is launching the Challenge in January 2009 to facilitate the creation of innovative tools to help people find and share opportunities to take action on the websites, blogs, and social networks that they already visit everyday.

Competitors will build web applications that draw on Social Actions' open database of over 20,000 concrete actions people can take across a range of issues - from climate change, to education, to ending the genocide in Darfur.

"By connecting people to high impact actions they wouldn't have otherwise known about, we hope to create explosions of real-world change all over the globe," says Peter Deitz, Social Actions' Founder.

Social Actions currently aggregates opportunities to make a difference from over 30 online platforms, including VolunteerMatch, Kiva.org, DonorsChoose.org, GlobalGiving, Idealist.org, Nabuur, Care2, ThePoint, and Change.org. The contest's creators hope that the tools created by the Change the Web Challenge will make it easier for web users to find and participate in fundraising campaigns, microloans, petitions, volunteer opportunities and other social change projects created by nonprofits and individuals.

"Imagine if you're reading a story about homelessness on nytimes.com and an opportunity to volunteer at your local shelter popped up - that's an example of what we want to inspire with Change the Web. Making actions one click away could be huge for getting people to actually take action," notes Joe Solomon, Director of the Change the Web Challenge.

The Change the Web Challenge seeks to engage web developers, bloggers, and online do-gooders of all stripes to transform the web for change. One Social Actions community member, TechSoup Global's Co-CEO, Marnie Webb, has already modified a Firefox extension to enable anyone to search Social Actions' database of opportunities just by highlighting a phrase on any web page. After all the submissions have been received, community members and a panel of expert judges will decide who the winners are.

As philanthropy blogger, Lucy Bernholz, writes on her popular blog, Philanthropy 2173, initiatives like Change the Web are essential in these cash-strapped times, "Putting action wherever the people are. Letting you be a 'click away' from volunteering, giving, petitioning, or any other kind of social action whenever you are online, on your mobile phone, or just about anywhere. Making the web into the philanthropic web ... All this 'easy' may just help people give."

The Change the Web Challenge builds on the success of online competitions for social innovation such as The American Express Card Members Competition, The Case Foundation's Giving Challenges, Ashoka's Open Sourcing Solutions, The Knight News Challenge, Advanta's Ideablob Competition and the NetSquared Mashup Challenge.

"Far more than a brain-tickling challenge to the scores of technical wizards and digital activists roaming the Web ... It also holds the potential of unleashing (and sustaining) a massive wave of humanitarian action; ultimately shaping how the Web is used by its audience and maximizing the impact of social change campaigns," blogger Romina Oliverio recently posted on We-Magazine.net.

Social Actions will launch the Change the Web Challenge in late January 2009. More information and current opportunities to get involved can be found at www.ChangetheWeb2009.com.

About Social Actions:

Social Actions (http://www.SocialActions.com) is a nonprofit initiative committed to making it easier for people to find and share opportunities to make a difference.

A search engine on SocialActions.com helps users find ways to take action for the causes they care about from over 30 action sources drawn from sites like Kiva.org, DonorsChoose.org, Change.org, DemocracyinAction, GlobalGiving, Idealist, SixDegrees, VolunteerMatch and Care2. Users can also share ways for others to take action on their website, blog, or mobile device with a variety of web applications built from the Social Actions' API.

In 2008, Social Actions was a 2008 Stockholm Challenge finalist, and a recipient of the NetSquared Mashup Challenge and DonateNow Mashup Challenge award. Social Actions has been covered by PBS Online, SFGate.com, The Wall Street Journal, and The Daily Telegraph, as well as leading tech blogs like TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, and Mashable.

# # #

SocialActions Change the Web 2009

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: social media)

Change the Web 2009

Join us:

• Change the Web on Facebook
• Change the Web on Twitter
• Read the Change the Web 2009 factsheet (PDF)
• Nine advertisements for Change the Web 2009

Wanna Get Involved? Please contact:

Joe Solomon
Director, Change the Web 2009 (a Social Actions Challenge)
Email: Joe@SocialActions.com
Tel: (415) 683 6185

>All Things Reform Mobile: allthingsreform.mofuse.mobi >Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 (not toll-free) >US House/Senate Mobile: bit.ly/members >Contact your reps tips: bit.ly/dear >Shortened All Things Reform URL: bit.ly/dw

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Vote at Change.org to get a public financing proposal presented to the Obama Administration on Inauguration Day

Government reform orgs. deliver news on major events within their areas of expertise.
From: You Street

Vote to make public funding an Obama priority

If you support public funding of elections, here's a great way to show it. By taking just a few minutes to actually "vote" for this idea, you can help us get a public funding proposal presented to the Obama Administration on Inauguration Day!

Our friends and allies at Change.org are conducting a nationwide vote on the best "Ideas for Change in America." Only the top two vote-getters will make the cut, and so far publicly funded elections is one of the two — but only narrowly. Will you help put public funding over the top? We only have until Wednesday, 12/31 — vote now!

If we can get enough votes, Change.org "will then build a national campaign to advance [the] idea in Congress, marshaling the resources of Change.org, MySpace, and our dozens of partner organizations and millions of combined members." Wouldn't that be a great way to ring in the New Year?

Voting is quick and easy. Just click here and click the blue button that says "Vote!" with a number over it. Then sign up for Change.org (if you haven't already), then check for a confirmation email and confirm your account by clicking the link. Click the "Vote!" button again and your vote for publicly funded elections will be counted.

And please be sure to help us get out the vote by alerting your friends, so we can build the movement and make sure we're high on President Obama's agenda.

>All Things Reform Mobile: allthingsreform.mofuse.mobi >Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 (not toll-free) >US House/Senate Mobile: bit.ly/members >Contact your reps tips: bit.ly/dear >Shortened All Things Reform URL: bit.ly/dw

Dec. 10th is the deadline for students to enter the Students Face Up to the Nation's Finances contest

Government reform orgs. deliver news on major events within their areas of expertise.
From: Facing Up to the Nation's Finances

Students Face Up to the Nation's Finances

The Federal Budget Deficit And The National Debt: Let's Hear Your Plan!

The Challenge

Be the policymaker, the advisor, or the opinion columnist. What do you think about the federal government’s fiscal crisis, and what do you think should be done?

Make your voice heard and submit your thoughts as part of a national contest (as well as for an assignment in your class). Please write a short essay or create a video or other multimedia presentation (“Entry”) addressing any or all of these questions:

• Please discuss the causes and potential consequences of growing national debt for America and your generation.


• What are some reforms that you would support in order to reduce debt and restore a healthier economic future for the United States?

In addition to being part of a national competition with four prizes of $500 each awarded at the end of the semester, your work may be posted on Public Agenda’s website, featured on YouTube, and elsewhere, republished in other forms, and brought to the attention of national leaders and news media.

Deadlines

Entries will be accepted starting Oct. 1, 2008, on FacingUp.org. All Entries must be received by Dec. 10, 2008, at 11:59 p.m. ET. The winners in all categories will be selected by Dec. 19, 2008, and announced on the FacingUp.org website that day.

Eligibility

Students are eligible to participate if they are currently enrolled in a participating college or university and have participated in Students Face Up in a course or in an event on your campus. Proof of participation will be required by the winner.

Each participant can only submit one entry.

[Facing Up article has further contest details]


>All Things Reform Mobile: allthingsreform.mofuse.mobi >Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 (not toll-free) >US House/Senate Mobile: bit.ly/members >Contact your reps tips: bit.ly/dear >Shortened All Things Reform URL: bit.ly/dw

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