This has been a big week for "youth" organizing - a terrible term that applies to any sort of organizing specifically aimed at or run by people under 30.  As you know from Woodhouse's postings, the Young Democrats of America have been having their own conference and doing some soul-searching out in the Bay area.  Some members are looking to shift the direction of YDA from minor-league resume building towards boots-on-the-ground, direct action - an important step toward reforming the many problems of YDA.  I wish them well in their task - and I'll probably put considerable thought and effort into changing YDA myself over the next few years (I've already put in my .02 about it here on MyDD, and let me also advise everyone to check out my buddy Alex Urevick's postings about YDA over at Young Philly Politics).    

But YDA wasn't the only big gathering of politically active, progressive-liberals under 30, and if you want to talk about direct, local action among the under 30 crowd, San Francisco was the wrong city to be in this week.  Another group out there is poised to get the job of local organizing done in the next few years: The League of Independent Voters.  Over the past 4 days, the city of Pittsburgh was host to Smackdown!, the League's annual planning conference.  I attended on behalf of Music for America, and I was incredibly impressed with both the sophistication of the trainings they offered, the strategy they outlined, and (just as importantly) how much damn fun the whole thing was.  Here's a rundown on what impressed me so much at the conference, what the League is poised to do, and how it contrasts to YDA.

From the diaries--Chris

Leighton Woodhouse of Driving Votes recently noted in a diary on MyDD that the Young Democrats of America are in need of some serious reforming.   I couldn't agree more, and I've got a few thoughts on what needs to be done - from a vision and from a strategic standpoint - to accomplish this.  With the YDA conference about to go down in San Francisco next week, now is the perfect time to give this topic a full airing.

To let you all know where I'm coming from, my real name is Michael Connery and I'm a founder of Music for America - one of the groups Leighton mentioned in his post.   The essay is loosely divided into two parts.  The first focuses on why we need to focus more on  young voters and where our  "Youth Outreach" typically goes wrong.  The second part examines some models of what I see as the way forward for young democ-ratic/progressive organizations.