Campaigns for Sensible Defense Priorities

May 21, 2009, 3:00pm – 5:00pm

About This Event

President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have proposed a Defense Department budget that begins reprioritizing how we spend our defense dollars. So we have assembled a panel of online organizers who are working on this issue for the next Internet Advocacy Roundtable. This will be a good opportunity to learn about what they are doing and help brainstorm on what more can be done.

Click here to RSVP for this event

To stream this event live, click here. We will take questions online via Twitter. Append your question with the “#iar” hashtag to ensure we see it.

Speakers:

Matt Holland, Director, TrueMajority.org
Jo Comerford, Executive Director, National Priorities Project
Lauren Coletta, Director of International Programs, Common Cause
Matt Duss, National Security Researcher/Blogger, Center for American Progress
Jim Cason, Director of Campaigns and Advancement, Friends Committee on National Legislation

Moderator:

Alan Rosenblatt, Associate Director of Online Advocacy, Center for American Progress Action Fund

Location

Center for American Progress
1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Biographies

Matt Holland

Jo Comerford is the executive director of the National Priorities Project and joined the staff in July 2008. She brings nearly two decades of experience in community organizing, strategic program planning, organizational development, and fundraising. Most recently, Jo directed the programs of The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and worked to meet the complex and immediate demands of hunger in the region as well as for systemic community food security. Prior to The Food Bank, Jo directed the American Friends Service Committee's justice and peace-related community organizing efforts in western Massachusetts. She holds an MSW in community organizing from Hunter College School of Social Work and is an adjunct faculty member of the Smith College School of Social Work.

Lauren Coletta is director of international programs at Common Cause. She previously served as director of the media reform program, where she helped launch the national Media and Democracy Coalition. Prior to joining Common Cause in 2001, Lauren served as executive director of the Citizens Information Service of Illinois, a Chicago-based nonprofit organization dedicated to informed citizen participation. She has worked as a consultant on numerous domestic and international advocacy projects, including election monitoring efforts, organizing training, and program design and implementation. Lauren received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and master’s degree in urban planning and public policy from the University of Illinois.

Matthew Duss is National Security Researcher/Blogger for the Wonk Room at the Center for American Progress. Matthew holds a master’s degree in Middle East Studies from the University of Washington. Prior to joining the Center, he was a research intern for the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a blogger for The American Prospect. Matthew grew up in Nyack, New York.

Jim Cason is responsible for directing and overseeing the full range of the Friends Committee on National Legislation’s campaigns, communications, and community building work. Jim comes to FCNL after more than 30 years working for social change as a journalist, nonprofit leader, and lobbyist. For eight years, Jim was the U.S. correspondent in Washington, D.C. for La Jornada, Mexico’s second-largest daily circulation newspaper. In that role, Jim developed an understanding of how Washington works and interest group politics. Also, from 2002 to the end of 2004, Jim was a senior editor for AllAfrica.com, the largest distributor of news and information about Africa in the world and a leader in providing web-based international news. From 1993-1995, Jim was a research and writing fellow for the MacArthur Foundation, examining the role of U.S. development assistance in southern Africa. Before that, he served five years as associate director of the Africa Fund, developing anti-apartheid campaign materials, communications strategies, and framing issues for the organization. Among other tasks, Jim ran projects such as Sun City and Filmmakers Against Apartheid, was the Africa Fund staff responsible for supervision of a weekly television program broadcast on more than 60 PBS stations, and directed the development and implementation of communications strategies behind campaigns such as Unlock Apartheid’s Jails and the One Person, One Vote Campaign. He has served on the board of several national Africa organizations and worked as an advisor to a number of specific campaigns. He is a graduate of Earlham College.

Alan Rosenblatt is the Associate Director for Online Advocacy at CAP Action. He is a frequent speaker and author on digital media, advocacy, and politics, including social networking, blogging, grassroots, and mobile advocacy strategies. He is the founder of the Internet Advocacy Center and the Internet Advocacy Roundtable; an adjunct professor at Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, and American Universities, where he teaches media and politics in the Digital Age, Internet politics, digital political strategies, and Internet advocacy communications; a blogger at the Huffington Post, TechPresident.com, and DrDigiPol.com; and a former fellow at George Washington University's Institute for Politics, Democracy, and the Internet. Alan is also a founding team member of Media Bureau Networks, a pioneer in streaming media services; a contributing editor to PoliticsOnline.com; on the editorial boards of several scholarly journals dedicated to the study of the Internet, politics, and government; and is a member of the board of directors for E-Democracy.org. He taught political science at George Mason University for nine years, where, in 1995, he launched the first-ever Internet politics course. With Media Bureau Networks, he webcasted live coverage of the 2000 presidential conventions. In 2001, he served as vice president for the Online Advocacy Services division at Stateside Associates. From 2003 to 2005 he served as director of training programs at e-advocates. Alan has a Ph.D. in political science from American University, an M.A. in political science from Boston College, and a B.A. in political science and philosophy from Tufts University. He lives in Arlington, Virginia.