LIVE: Grassroots Organizing Forum

Live-blogging the OFA-MA Grassroots Organizing Forum. Latest comments at the bottom of the post.

8:00 AM: Registration.

8:13 AM: Attendees are starting to trickle in.

8:58 AM: Lots of attendees coming in now. Lots of chatting.

9:08 AM: Brigid Kennedy-Pfister gives important information about fire exits and restrooms.

9:10 AM: Sarah Compton gives opening remarks.

9:11 AM: Applause for all the volunteers who helped put this event together.

9:14 AM: Michael Fadel, Executive Vice President, MA Division, SEIU 1199: Events don't happen in the passive voice. Volunteers do the work and make it happen. That's why we're here today...to continue the work. "Let's go and organize the country!"

9:16 AM: Video greeting from Governor Deval Patrick. Chuckles because the video is not working while the audio plays.

9:20 AM: Governor's video is skipped due to technical difficulty. John Walsh introduced.

9:21 AM: John Walsh: "We may be crazy, but I think we're crazy like a fox because of the way things are going."

9:23 AM: John Walsh: Today was a tough call for the Governor. He has a commitment to the future and he had to choose between speaking to a graduating class and speaking to a grassroots organizing forum.

9:27 AM: Mitch Stewart: Barack Obama's message was about hope and change. Here's an example of how that came true. The President brought together six groups in health care and they committed to saving $2 trillion in health care costs.

9:31 AM: Mitch Stewart: After the campaign, Barack said that the work is just beginning. That's how Organizing for America was born. We're here to support the President's agenda. Here's a recap of what we've accomplished to date and where we're going. The first order of business was economy recovery. OFA sent out a request for questions about the economic recovery act and for stories about the need for it. The great thing about grassroots organizing is that we have a unique opportunity to hear real-life stories. The economy recovery package was passed and we moved on to the budget. We had 100's of thousands of volunteers call their representatives in Congress about the budget.

9:31 AM: Mitch Stewart: Congress is moving on energy and the environment. There is an opening on the Supreme Court coming up and the other side is already raising funds for a fight. We need to be ready.

9:33 AM: Mitch Stewart: We've done 228 listening tours. This is the largest yet.

9:38 AM: Mitch Stewart: There are platforms for debating policy (whitehouse.gov). OFA is not one of those. We are a grassroots organizing forum. Your representatives are largely supportive of the President's agenda but you have been and can continue to be effective in working with neighboring states. Be cognizant that our energy's will be targeted to where there is need. There will be a paid staff here in MA, though it won't be as large as in other states. We will have a physical location where people can organize. We will have a large presence in Texas, Arizona, Montana, North Dakota -- not just swing states, but in places where we think an organization can be built. During the campaign we increased the win percentage in almost every county in the country. We've already sacrificed a lot and we can't let that be for naught. "We've given ourselves an opportunity but we have to see it through."

9:39 AM: Question: We've organized for health care reform. How can we broaden its reach and impact? Answer: Talk to your Congress people. Use MyBO -- it has broad and lenient terms of use. Go to whitehouse.gov.

9:43 AM: Question: How do local DNC chapters work with OFA? Answer: We've had lots of conference calls about this. In many states we are housed in the state parties. We are not trying to take over. We support the President's agenda and a lot of time that is what the state party is doing -- so there isn't much difference. In some states there will be uncomfortable moments when the groups disagree. In OFA, nothing will come above supporting the President's agenda. State parties understand that.

9:45 AM: Question: Does participation in OFA and board membership on non-profits compromise the non-profit status? Answer: Talk to an attorney to be sure.

9:46 AM: Question: What role do electoral and process reforms play in moving Obama's agenda forward? Answer: We are not an electoral entity. A number of states that don't have early voting want to get that issue on the ballot. Some states have a great system. A lot of supporters are advocating for this, even though it is not part of the OFA agenda.

9:47 AM: Question: How does MA help organize other states? Phone banks? Answer: During your break out sessions, come up with ideas and run that up the structure. We will capture and spread your enthusiasm.

9:50 AM: Question: There is a growing need for service. How can help with that? Answer: There are a number of worthy service projects in local communities. There is something in the works to aid in this. It's important because you get to see the fruits of your labor, unlike what sometimes happens when working on policies in Washington.

9:51 AM: Question: We need to find different voices to make change. How is OFA encouraging new voices? Answer: We are reaching out to Republicans. Volunteers from John McCain's campaign are joining us. If you have policy suggestions, go to whitehouse.gov. If you have other suggestions, bring them up here.

9:55 AM: Mitch Stewart: The President is very receptive to feedback. If you don't agree with one of his policies and don't feel comfortable advocating for it, then don't. We want healthy discussions, but don't lose the forest for the trees. 90% agreement is really good.

10:00 AM: Marshall Ganz: We've all passed the first test -- we found this place -- our first success (Applause). I'm going to put this into historical context. Martin Luther King coined the term "the fierce urgency of now". We often remember the dream, but we forget the nightmare before the dream. That is what significant about now. Criticality -- clear understanding of the world's problems. Hope -- clear understanding of the possibilities for a better world. The juxtaposition of those two is where we are now. One of the things about being a policy expert is that you get really good at being critical. We need to ensure we step up to the politics of hope. We need to exercise our imaginative skills. We need to break out of habits of limitations into the domain of possibilities. How can we take advantage of this moment. Change is episodic, not incremental. It goes all the way back to movements in the Jeffersonian era. This is the first time a movement was born in an electoral campaign. How do we build on this movement? On the appetite for citizenship? Before this, the consensus was that nobody cared. How different is it now? People are hungry for change. Change happens large and small, top and bottom. The successful movements of the past have been successful because they were organized locally but acted nationally. But also the national action affected local communities. We at the base need to step up to the challenge. "Change is slow except when it's fast. We're in a fast movement now so let's not lose it."

10:05 AM: Hanna Banks: MA contributed more funds per capita than other state during the campaign.

10:10 AM: Robert Barber: We raised 10's of millions of dollars during the campaign. Now we need to raise money to support the President's agenda. There are going to be offices all across the country. There is a contribution form in the packets given out. The next New England Finance Committee meeting is June 18. Vice President Biden will be in town at Fenway Park on June 15 for a fundraiser.

10:12 AM: Sarah-Ann Shaw introduces panelists.

10:13 AM: Question: What was special about and what did you learn from the campaign?

10:16 AM: Sarah Compton: What was most special was the inspiring candidate we had. Also, people were empowered and everyone felt that what they were doing was crucial to getting Barack elected. The other thing that is special is that we are still here and want to do everything we can to support the President in his office. Lessons learned: MA is a different animal -- we're blue. People thought we didn't need resources, but we were able to help in many places, in addition to the usual help in NH. We didn't wait for direction. We got organized and empowered people. We reached more voters across the country because we were so well organized. (Applause)

10:17 AM: Marshall Ganz: One thing about MA, is that MA has opportunity to show what change looks like on the ground. Four things about the campaign. 1) Campaign took leadership and organizing seriously -- not just at the top, but throughout. Campaign valued people's time, energy and effort. It equipped people with the tools they needed. 2) It was an arena for people to come together around shared values, not just issues. It was broad and powerful and diverse. 3) There were clear strategic direction -- broken down by state and community. One could see where one fit in the overall picture. 4) There was local creativity and ownership of success.

10:20 AM: Juan Leyton: It was fascinating to be in a place where we all felt excited about what was going on on election day. It was an important day for people of color and people of low income. We need to talk about the challenges. The challenges come from the here and now. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Everyone felt comfortable that MA was progressive. But we missed an opportunity in other local elections that were going on at the same time. We need to figure out this will work at the local, state, and national level. This should also be an effort of people of color and immigrants. The campaign also demonstrated the importance of technology and of youth. Technology should not, however, remove the importance of one-on-one conversations. The Obama administration has a good vision, but it will come down to who is on the ground. We should keep organizing.

10:26 AM: Ethan Winn: I could talk for a very long time about how the Obama campaign was special with respect to technology -- open design, text messages to pull in youth. The big lesson though, is that organizing practices apply online and it's a powerful combination. It empowers group at a local level to meet and to leverage community networks. The number one innovation that made that possible came out of the Dean campaign -- the meet-up. Once people were meeting locally, you can give them something to do -- canvassing, phone banking, etc.

10:29 AM: Alan Khazei: Applause for the human arrows that helped everyone get here -- shows how well organized this is. This campaign was a social movement. The technology enabled it. It was inclusive. Each individual was empowered. Everyone could decide how much they wanted to participate and the sky was the limit. We had a lot of energy in MA and put that towards other states. Also, young people got engaged more than I've ever seen. A leader called them to get involved and they responded. The Serve America act was passed with the leadership of Senator Kennedy. That is another bridge. It will allow 250,000 people to serve and that will turn on their justice nerves. Lessons: the agenda is currently health, energy and education. I hope after that we find a way to launch a new movement to fight poverty. Service is an entry point. We need to make opportunity available for everyone in the nation.

10:32 AM: Question: Technology drew people in. What do we do to reach people who don't have access to technology?

10:34 AM: Ethan: People who do have access need to bring people into the movement. Also, people have access to varying degrees and to different kinds of technology. A lot of people have access to cell phones with text messages. People need to be creative and think about how we can best reach out.

10:36 AM: Marshall: It's important to distinguish between carpenters and tools. The best tools in the world don't build a house. The campaign made the tools and equipped people to use the tools. The Dean campaign was successful in using technology to fund raise but the meet ups were not successful -- no one knew what to do. The Obama campaign did that part well. People were hungry for tools to work with one another successfully. The technology AND the leadership together were what made the campaign successful. Also, the use of YouTube to enable people to tell their stories was extraordinary. That tool has just begun to realize its potential.

10:38 AM: Juan: We shouldn't look at technology as an absolute. We still need face-to-face communication. Also there is a technology gap for people of color.

10:40 AM: Sarah: I hope that technology never replaces face-to-face contact. When canvassing to NH, we tried to have a carpool in every town. Those carpools were also meetings and got people engaged. A proof that that was more successful in some ways than technology, the national campaign sent out a blast email about Drive for Change, but we got thousands more people to canvass through word of mouth.

10:41 AM: Ethan: I agree with need for balance. I want to bring it back to local. As much technology can only augment local networks, it is a big multiplier in your effectiveness. There are local campaigns to get universal broadband access, local technology centers, adult education, etc. It is a justice issue. Everyone should have access and be able to use the tools and be a change maker in their community.

10:43 AM: Marshall: I have a distance learning course for this.

10:44 AM: Question: What needs to be done to capture the energy from the campaign? How do we stay enthused? There are people not quite as involved as those who are here. What needs to be done to capture and channel the energy and convince people that change is possible?

10:45 AM: Alan: The answer is in this room. You all are here. It is unprecedented for a campaign to keep going. And that is what happening. Ask this question during your breakout sessions. How do we put poverty at the top of the agenda. It is a moral issue. There are two groups -- the old poor and new poor. The new poor is people we know. There is an opening for a new discussion. We are all nervous about our jobs. Also, this is a great question for breakouts -- how do we get twice as many people to the next meeting.

10:47 AM: Juan: We need to walk the walk. We say this is a new era. We need to change the debate. Otherwise it will remain the old way of doing things. We have a hard time disagreeing. We all have different perspectives and we need to figure out how to work with those perspectives.

10:48 AM: Marshall: How can we work together and accomplish real objectives we can achieve? What would it mean to translate change into reality here? Pitch for labor unions: strengthening them would help alleviate poverty. We need to ask ourselves: "what is so urgent that we can't deny it? Let's focus on those issues."

10:50 AM: Sarah: People are getting more involved locally. We need to draw people in and educate them about not just national issues, but local issues. We don't all have to work for candidates, we can be candidates -- we can be leaders. That will help people stay engaged.

10:53 AM: Intermission between panels.

10:57 AM: Getting the program back underway.

11:05 AM: Cynthia Ward: Some people come into politics for campaigns, some people come for issues. I came for health care. I want you to turn to someone near your seat and introduce yourself and describe one hope for what we can accomplish this year. (The auditorium gets very loud with lots of great conversations)

11:05 AM: Cynthia: Shout out some of those hopes. (Control of the federal reserve!) (Fair taxes!) (Energy policy!)

11:07 AM: Jeff Blodgett (via video): The way Obama won the election is what we need to do now to win on the policy agenda. By inspiring, mobilizing, empowering huge numbers of people. Here is the Wellstone Action take on how to win on issue advocacy campaigns. Campaigns start with a good plan. A good plan involves succinct focused message. What is the compelling argument you are making about what you want. You also want a focussed internal message. Second, you want to be targeted. Who are the people that you want to take action. Who are the key people who hold the levers of power on your issue. Third, the strategy to organize people. What are the ways you are going to organize individuals. Forth, the tactics and tools to exert grassroots power. Finally, timeline. Timelines are important because there are deadlines you need to hit. That's our quick take on how run successful advocacy campaigns. Seek out more info at www.wellstone.org. Good luck, learn a lot and change the world!

11:12 AM: Question: Gay marriage was seen as an impossible dream, now it is happening. What role did grassroots play in this success?

11:14 AM: Matthew O'Malley: Seven plaintiff couples sued the Commonwealth, seeking a marriage license. The court ruled in favor of the couples, to the surprise of some. It was done through the judicial process. The Constitutional Convention had a vote to put forth a Civil Unions bill to negate marriage equality. Through grassroots organizing, we got 151 representatives to kill the bill and ensure marriage equality in the state. It was a broad based movement of people all across the state -- including new people that weren't involved in politics. It was a civil rights issue, not just an LGBT issue. We are still knocking on doors, and still advocating for this issue in NH.

11:18 AM: Question: SEIU was a leading force in healthcare reform in MA. With the nation now facing this battle, what lessons do you have to share?

11:19 AM: Timothy Foley: Lots of organizations were critical for our success. You have to build community support and coalitions with other organizations. It must be broad based, organizing on a core set of principles. You can't get caught on long conversations about complex issues. We all believed there would be a set of criteria we could all agree that a reform must have. Also, we learned that grassroots can hold politicians feet to the fire to ensure action is taken. Also, having an organized grassroots message and strength gives everyone a seat at the table. Decision makers know that voters will be evaluating the bill. So you may not be physically in the room, but you are being thought of when decisions are being made. It's not just what the message is but who delivers the message. It looks like people are taking a good start here. We need to be organized and focused and center around the principles that we all share.

11:24 AM: Question: Najma, can you tell us about strategies for winning a campaign for the Boston Youth Organizing Project (BYOP)?

11:26 AM: Najma Nazy'at: Remember the mindset of our young people -- licenses, graduation, etc. Imagine you are trying to get home, but it's past 6 o'clock so your student pass doesn't work anymore. You have no money, how do you get home? Young people complain about what's happening to them. They complained about this problem of not being able to get home. Organizers came to school and had pizza -- young people responded. Young people come up with solutions. We taught young people to frame an issue. They are surprised at how much they learn. Because it's organizing, you not only learn, you get to do something. There are too many young people affected by issues that can be fixed administratively. For example, young people should be able to talk to their guidance counselor during their senior year. Young people need extra-curricular activities. We try to attract people every single year. We identify issues and then go after the target. A lot of times, the targets are the school bureaucracy.

11:32 AM: Question to Colin Moore: How has winning your base been critical to winning your Planned Parenthood campaign?

11:33 AM: Colin Moore: When it comes to the role of grassroots movement in MA, we fight complacency. We in MA have not been very progressive about issues of sexual health -- we rank from 20th - 30th in the country. Things could be much better. The legislature may think they don't need to take action. We're always looking for ways to get the message across. We've sent 3000 emails to fight abstinence-only education. Grassroots organizing is the base of our approach to fighting complacency.

11:36 AM: Question: What should people expect for the difference between the electoral campaign and issue campaigns?

11:37 AM: Colin: You need much more patience.
11:37 AM: Tim: Don't focus solely on your base.

11:38 AM: Question: What are tips for lobbying legislatures?
11:38 AM: Tim: Tell your personal story -- then you are the expert.
11:38 AM: Najma: use the media -- politicians love the media.

11:40 AM: Lizzi Weyant describes break out session logistics.

11:50 AM: Joined a Cambridge-Somerville break out session. Introductions.

11:54 AM: Objectives: Intro to OFA. Bring people together regionally. Gather information about HOW YOU want to operate. Use the information to create a plan.

11:56 AM: Question: What should OFA look like at the end of 2009? Nationally, state wide, locally?

11:57 AM: We want something that is inclusive. That people want to join. Are we structured around tasks (service, health care, energy)? Do you divide up local groups into sub-groups? How do you make decisions? There are lots of issues and we can't work on all of them. How do we communicate with other groups? Having organized leadership is very important. Similar to a local ward, you can have a board, chair, vice president, etc. Make sure members of OFA are staying involved in local meetings. Important not to go separate ways. Things can fall apart, when a small group of very dedicated people get burned out. How do you make it work so that a small group doesn't have to do all the work -- share the load? Also, we should maintain a strong national focus. In MA, it is hard to find organizations willing to work on national stuff. We need that, not exclusively, but it's important. We need to ensure we're not duplicating efforts. Service projects are exciting. It is a realistic direction. National, local, these work together. OFA can be a bridge. Question: when not in a campaign, can you use the same tactics? People are not as receptive to politics when not in a campaign. Timing is important. Health care -- do we need to make calls now? To make people aware of a specific issue at a specific time, the White House has a calendar of issues. At the grassroots, we have lattitude in tactics, but the national office will coordinate the schedule. A lot of tactics from a campaign have analogs in issue advocacy. If you have ideas, get them out there. With an electoral campaign, it all comes down to a single day. With issues, there are multiple issues, House votes, Senate votes, etc. It's more complicated. How do you organize people around that complexity? One concrete idea is to turn contacting your representative into a yes/no analog to the vote of an electoral campaign. Another idea is to pull in long-established groups that are already advocating on an issue. Also, we need to empower people while also keeping people within the structure of policy that the President has laid out. For example, we have a service project to retrofit houses, which can tie into energy policy -- it gets people involved and gets them to know the organization. We need to be light on the ground -- we should be reaching out and building partnerships rather than building massive infrastructure. Technology also helps with organizing.

12:12 PM: Question: How can connect national priorities with local issues? How do get people's stories out and connected to national policies?

12:13 PM: Compare differences between what is working in one locality that could work in another locality. You could have a panel to educate people and motivate them -- tell them how the issues are connected. You could have a showcase. We do a lot of great things in MA. We need to get out the word. We can be an example. There may be people who tune out national politics. One thing that Barack did well during the campaign was to be specific about people's problems. By having meetings, you can actually listen to people's problems and form a deeper connection. Connecting electronic medical records policy to a story about not having records transferred can help get people engaged. With issue campaigns there is time for more dialog and education.

12:19 PM: Question: What resources do we already have in our communities to assist our goals as OFA volunteers?

12:20 PM: In Cambridge-Somerville, we have local wards, student groups, activist groups. There are neighborhood groups. A lot of people are plugged in, it's a relatively affluent area. That means we can get a lot of mileage using the technological multiplier. We need some sort of leadership in place to motivate people. We need specific action items that we as individuals can do so that we stay engaged and don't just show up to brainstorming meetings. We need a timeline of when things are happening at a national level. Cambridge and Somerville have a civic culture and the Obama campaign was successful at getting people who were not really part of that culture involved. OFA can provide training to reach out to people. There are a lot of opportunities to increase our diversity even more. Also, universities can provide structural resources, but they have been around so long, they tend to move slowly.

12:30 PM: Question: What resources can OFA provide to help accomplish the mission?

12:31 PM: Service projects are a powerful tool to get people involved. For example, volunteering could let people know that hospitals are understaffed. You don't have to have a specific service project where everyone works at the same time. People can work with existing organizations and help them out at any time. There is a heat project to air seal a house to lower energy costs. This can cause people to come together and build strong relationships. Then it's easier to do issue advocacy. OFA could act as an umbrella, partnering with existing organizations. There are legal issues surrounding advocacy partnerships, but there shouldn't be a problem when working on service projects. OFA needs a national website, and a new set of tools for issue advocacy. A local OFA site may be able to serve as a conduit to publishize projects. During the campaign, people grew more committed over time -- we need to rebuild that, and service projects could be a good mechanism. An example of a better tool: revamping MyBO to better work with other organizations. Also, include training material, talking points, letters to the editor, etc. Cambridge-Somerville for Change is organizing another meeting on June 17. There will be more opportunities for action discussed then. We need to ensure people stay engaged. Also, there is a need for money. The New England Steering Committee has a function to continue raising money.

12:50 PM: Lunch break. Groups have broken out by issue -- Energy, Healthcare, Education. I'm eating lunch with the energy group.

1:33 PM: Great conversations during lunch. Back to the presentations.

1:38 PM: Introduction of Seth Kaplan, Vice President for Climate Advocacy, Conservation Law Foundation.

1:39 PM: Seth: Plug for Conversation Law Foundation. Donate online, send pictures of living green -- there could be prizes.

1:41 PM: Seth: Climate change starts with science. The scary part is that the best case scenarios are worrisome. Over the long term, we need to virtually eliminate CO2 output into the environment. That means no gasoline cars, no coal power plants, etc. This would be a fundamental transformation. Talk about change! We've actually made that level of change in the last 100 years -- from whale oil and wood to our current energy usage. So yes we can! We have already passed the point of no return in terms of causing harm. Now we need to minimize the harm. CO2 stays in the atmosphere for a very long term. 40% of the CO2 from your car will still be in the atmosphere in 100 years from now.

1:46 PM: Seth: We don't pay enough attention to the transportation sector. I'll continue that today and not talk much about transportation. We currently have RGGI for electricity generation. It starts too high and doesn't reduce fast enough. It starts with 5% reductions every 5 years. In 2030, we will then have to have 25% reductions every 5 years. That is what we are asking the next generation to do.

1:50 PM: Seth: In Congress, there is a bill, but how will it turn out? Performance standards for new plants? Offsets - sub-prime mortgages of the carbon market? Transportation - bill doesn't really address it all? The bill DOES take away the authority of the EPA to regulate green-house gases. Is this bill worth it? Does the bill take on too much, or too little? We need to get this right. Failure to get it right is not an option. "The planet you save may be your own."

1:58 PM: Question: How does the administration frame the Markey-Waxman bill in terms of security?

1:59 PM: Seth: The Defense Department is very concerned about where we get our energy from. Also, the sea-level rising question is somewhat abstract around here. If you think about countries where people live less than 1m above sea-level, what happens when you start to get several 100 millions of people displaced. There's also, of course, concern about domestic energy independence.

2:00 PM: Question: Who are key players in getting the bill passed? What do we need to do to help get it passed.

2:01 PM: Seth: It's a complicated bill -- 900 pages. It will get voted out of committee. It should pass the House with high likelihood. The Senate will be tough. We must support our representatives, and ensure our representatives stand strong on this issue. It will also come down to the swings -- we must help out there, but we MUST bolster our champions here. Also, it won't necessarily break down by party lines. A Democratic from Virginia advocated for coal plants. Republicans in Maine have been supporters of the bill.

2:03 PM: Question: How do we in MA influence Senators in other states to support the bill?

2:04 PM: Seth: There are windmills in Illinois. You have to understand what motivates people. For example, a group wanted to build a mall in Weymouth. The town council wanted the tax revenue for schools, fire fighters, etc. We have to show them that we can get the revenue without the mall. Don't be dismissive about what drives people. Show them an affirmative path forward.

2:07 PM: Introduction of David Cutler, Senior Health Care Adviser, Obama Campaign, and Professor of Applied Economics, Harvard University.

2:09 PM: David Cutler: Health care reform is going to be a huge battle. Let's start with successes. We elected Obama and now we are covering millions more children with health insurance. The Obama administration laid out principles to Congress -- we should save money, we should cover all Americans, the quality of healthcare has to go from haphazard to universally excellent. The Senate finance and health committees are each working on part of the bill and they will merge them together for a vote this summer, into the fall. The House has a couple of committees but are producing one bill -- likely more liberal than the Senate bill. If a healthcare bill is not passed by October 15, then the bill will be a reconciliation bill that can't be fillabustered. So things are going ALMOST perfectly. Nonetheless, I think the odds of success are 50/50. There are two vital issues. 1) Money -- it's expensive to cover people. Obama already started covering more people, but it's expensive. Finding the money to pay for it is challenging. Various Congressional committees are trying to determine how to find the money. Hopefully they will reach agreement and we'll be able to do it. 2) Partisan divide about the role of government. It's the general principle underlying the debate, that comes up in all the details. There isn't going to be a government-run health system. There isn't going to be an unregulated system. Finding the middle ground is important. The President is getting the interest groups together to find that middle ground. It's going to depend on how the issue is framed. The opposition knows that you cannot oppose healthcare. To defeat it, you have to talk about government bureaucracy. We need the people around the country to be making the case to their representatives. Every group has to unite to push this ethical, economically, religiously, etc. That will make it happen or not happen.

2:22 PM: Question: Why not single-payer?

2:25 PM: David: It is so important that people like you get involved. If it will happen, it will be because of people like you. Now, why not single-payer? President Obama said early in the campaign that if we were starting over, of course we would do single-payer. It is tough to convince people to accept radical change. So Obama is giving them a choice. People will have a public option. It is unlikely that a single-payer bill would get passed. So let's set it up now so that we can get there. Note that it goes back to the role of government. Many ranking Republicans decided they wanted to participate.

2:29 PM: Question: The insurance companies say they will cut costs. How do we know they are are not gaming the system?

2:30 PM: David: Many companies came together and said they believe they could save the money. The President asked them to come back with a plan, which they will in a couple of weeks. It will require some tough things to happen. Everyone will have to give up something. But the President wants to save money to cover more people which keeps the money in the system. Lastly, the President is bringing them together and is working with them.

2:32 PM: Question: What can we do to ensure that the public option is included in the final bill?

2:33 PM: David: It comes down to rhetoric. When it's framed as a government takeover, it's popularity drops. Every time you see that, write a response. When it's framed as a choice, every one thinks it's a good idea. We have to make it clear that people can't buy the rhetoric.

2:35 PM: Question: In MA, we have the universal mandate. We've seen a lack of insurance options and access to specialists. Is there anything in the bill that addresses these problems?

2:36 PM: David: Yes, the bill allows nurses to do things that they may be better at and free up doctors to spend more time on things they need to do. Also, doctors spend a lot of time on useless paperwork. Eliminate that and you have more doctor time.

2:39 PM: Introduction of Michele Norman, Director of Strategic Planning, Executive Office of Education, Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

2:40 PM: Michele Norman: Everything you hear today from me comes from someone other than me -- the Governor, Secretary of Education, etc. Also, I'm much more comfortable talking to parents around the playground than I am presenting here. But it's great to be able to talk to you about how to become more engaged. Here are some things we've done in MA for education. The Governor eliminated the silos between early education, middle school education, and high school education. This helps students move through the system more smoothly. Governor Patrick has appointed a strong set of leaders in every department. Budgets are tight right now. This is truly an unprecedented time. It means a lot of hard decisions. Still, the Governor has prioritized education spending. We passed a higher education bond bill. Education experts weighed in on what we need to do now and 10 years down the road. We've established the state's first child development cabinet -- streamlines funding, ensures policies in one area don't undue policies in other areas. There is more data collection, which is important for children who move around in the school system. There is a cluster of clear indicators of the chances that a student will graduate high school. The earlier we can connect with kids on a path to dropping out, the better we can help them. Things people can do right now: talk to your superintendents and school administrations. We can also work on regionalization -- eliminate the balkanization, combine resources. There's a higher education relief bill in the pipeline for students with special needs, low income students, etc. It will make it easier to transfer credits to public universities. Lots of kids who have dropped out have already passed the MCAS -- so it's not the test that is causing drop outs. We have to give kids an early start -- that's an Obama priority and one of our priorities. We have to ensure kids aren't coming from homes with domestic violence. We have to keep working on this.

2:55 PM: Question: One of the national priorities is to reduce the drop-out rate. What can we do to connect the national to the local level?

2:56 PM: Michele: We need to push at all levels. All communities are affected.

2:58 PM: Question: How can public school teachers teach real civics -- organizing, etc.

2:59 PM: Michele: There are a lot of things that used to happen in school that don't anymore. There aren't enough hours in the day to teach all the things we need to teach. Early education will help. Expanded time for learning -- after school learning, etc. -- is required. Civic education, hands-on training is important for all kids.

3:00 PM: Question: What can we do message-wise to change the perception of teachers and what they do?

3:01 PM: Michele: We are good at showing support for our child's teacher and teachers in our school, but we are not good at recognizing the value of teaching as a profession. You could start a teacher of the year award.

3:02 PM: Question: What can we do to make higher education more affordable?

3:02 PM: Michele: There is annually millions of federal dollars left on the table. We need to ensure that students are filling out the forms to get federal aid. We have to advocate for a balance of tuition and fees so that costs don't get dumped on particular students.

3:04 PM: Tony Mack: Closing remarks. It's been inspiring to see this crowd of people and to see the process that got us here. During the campaign we made an incredible impact in NH and across the country. Thousands of people traveled to NH. That is a straight line to where we are today. People stayed involved and organized this event. I'm inspired by that and I hope you are too. Next steps. Everything we heard today is on our website (www.massforchange.com). It's been live blogged (Applause -- go me!). Please hand in your volunteer sign-up forms. The other really important house-keeping piece. This event was funded by individual small donations. To continue doing these events, we need to continue receiving donations. What's next? You've about what's next from each of the three issues. The break out sessions were amazing. That conversation cannot end. We're going to go back into our neighborhoods and start organizing locally. Get people together -- people who might care about these issues. The action steps are to have regional meetings and then have break outs for the issues. Start building campaigns around these issues. Bring more people into the process. There are petitions in the hand-out packets. Use these samples or customize them. We're going to keep organizing. We're going to have training on June 14 on how to organize around the health care issue. Our email address is ofama2009@gmail.com. We'll be sending you information. We also have issue specific email addresses: OFAMAhealthcare@gmail.com, OFAMAenergy@gmail.com, OFAMAeducation@gmail.com. Thanks to everyone. To quote Barack Obama: "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."