Please join us on facebook to hear about upcoming events: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=37283915196
Email citizenhopesf@gmail.com to join the listserve!
What is Citizen Hope?
Citizen Hope seeks to empower people to bring about change through community action and social networking. 2008 was the beginning of an unprecedented movement toward greater social and political engagement among our generation. Here in the Bay Area, we’ve created a new vibrant and diverse political community capable of influencing the direction of our country. We feel it is our responsibility to continue to build upon these gains in efforts to impact our collective future.
We will begin by holding regular events around the San Francisco Bay Area, with each event highlighting a specific issue, cause or special guest. Many of our events will involve fundraising and/or an associated “action” that we will ask attendees to take part in—-from volunteering at a local shelter or youth program to finding targeted avenues to further the values of inclusion, opportunity, and diversity. By uniting attendees through awareness and service, we will build our political and social community and push forward our shared values and goals.
So what is Citizen Hope actually going to do?
Citizen Hope is fundamentally a social network, political salon and direct service group. We are going to hold 1-2 social events and 1-2 direct action events per month. These events will be spearheaded by Citizen Hope founding members themselves and coordinated by the steering committee. As noted, some events will highlight a specific cause or issue, while others might be more of a forum type format. Most of our social events will be small dollar fundraisers on weekday evenings. It does not cost money to be a part of Citizen Hope, but some of our events may raise money for other groups or to cover operational costs. We will also sponsor direct community service activities. All will be enjoyable social experiences as well where people who are interested in creating change in their communities can come together and create dialogue. We want to make sure that all of our events are fun and exciting, as well as meaningful.
What are the values and principles that unite those who participate in Citizen Hope?
We want to see a more inclusive and tolerant America, where our politics are not constantly pulled apart by race, religion, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation. We seek transparency and honesty from our political and community leaders. We want policies that expand opportunity, reduce social and economic inequality, and encourage community service and political involvement. We want leaders who seek dialogue, cooperation and pragmatic solutions to societal problems. We will have a special emphasis on policies that open up doors for the next generation. These are the values and ideals that will tie together members of Citizen Hope and that we will seek to put into practice at the local, state and national level.
Will there be a particular emphasis to the events or service activities?
Yes. All events and activities will be geared towards furthering the above stated values or helping illuminate how we can help bring about positive change on these issues ourselves. Even more, we will be especially interested in candidates, causes, and organizations that are being led by or relate in some direct way to people in our generation. We will also focus more on issues that our members and attendees could potentially impact (As such we are likely to spend more time on local issues). The diversity of our events and the issues we address will also be our strength. We will purposely seek out new opportunities and new issues. This will allow us to constantly reach different groups of people and expand our impact. We will also seek out innovative opportunities for service and involvement that draw on the strength of our members.
How are you going to decide what events to put on?
Founding members have committed to spearhead or be closely involved with 1-2 events per year. Therefore most of the ideas for our events will come from the founding members. Founding members will propose the events/actions to the steering committee and the steering committee will help coordinate the events. The steering committee will make the final decisions on the events and actions.
With service activities, will our involvement just be a one-time thing?
We may partner with some organizations on more than one occasion. But in all cases, we will make efforts to provide information to help encourage our members to establish more long-term relationships with our partner organizations on an individual basis.
Do you have to be in your 20’s to be involved? Is this just a San Francisco thing?
Citizen Hope is for the young and the young at heart. Though our activities and events will be primarily aimed at the younger generation (18-40), all are welcome! Many of our events will be 21+ but we will seek out opportunities that are available to people of all ages as well. It’s Bay Area-wide! If you live in the East Bay, South Bay, or North Bay, or wherever, we’d love to have you involved! We have Founding Members all over the Bay Area who can help spearhead events in their respective regions.
Will Citizen Hope endorse local, state or federal candidates and measures?
For now, we are not going to officially endorse candidates or propositions. With that said, we will be highlighting particular causes, issues, or special guests that reflect our values of opportunity, diversity, and service. We also hope that people who are running for office or supporting candidates for office would use our events as opportunities to connect with others who might help be interested. What Citizen Hope can do is bring people together, the possibilities and opportunities that might come out of that organically are endless – and derive mainly from the members themselves.
Can we host or market any event via Citizen Hope?
Though we appreciate all the good work that people are doing around the Bay Area, we are not going to serve as a listserve or clearinghouse for the activities and events of other organizations. In addition, it would be very rare for us to sponsor an event or activity that is already being put on by another organization that we are not directly involved with (Though we will partner with other organizations for Citizen Hope events). We will communicate with our listserve only to promote our events and activities. With that said, again, our events will be great opportunities to connect with others who might want to be a part of other things that you are involved with. Ideally, Citizen Hope can be a resource, for founding members and members, to each individual to find out about other opportunities to stay involved. Even more, our Facebook page will be open for people to post events that they are involved with.
Is Citizen Hope intended to be a continuation of the Obama campaign?
No. Citizen Hope will not be a continuation of the Obama campaign per se. There will be very little direct political field work involved with Citizen Hope. Citizen Hope is intended to be more of a platform to keep people connected, keep them informed, and keep them involved. We hope that people can connect through Citizen Hope and become involved in those more direct political field activities. This does not foreclose the possibility of members participating in field activities that may help with campaigns for causes or candidates in the future. In the long-run, it is possible that we will endorses causes or even candidates and may ask members to participate in field activities or fundraising efforts related to them.
I’m not a founding member or on the steering committee. How can I help?
Firstly, we hope that you will come to our events and participate in our activities. We will be in touch. Beyond that, if you have ideas for events, organizations or activities that Citizen Hope should be involved with, please share them with the steering committee (citizenhopesf@gmail.com). Non-founding members can also take the lead on events or activities in coordination with the steering committee.
