A month ago, we put out a call to up-and-coming, progressive organizers, offering them a chance to attend Netroots Nation in Detroit. With several amazing submissions, we frankly couldn’t choose just one. So this weekend, we’re sending three Netroots Scholars to the conference, where they’ll blog, tweet, and represent their organizations and causes. In the meantime, we’d like to introduce you.
Renee Bracey Sherman
Renee is an activist in the reproductive justice community, but got her start supporting LGBT teens as they told their stories without fear. Her strategy of story-sharing was successful, but something was missing. “I realized as I was telling young people to be proud of who they are, and I wasn’t doing it myself,” she said.
The crux of her story? An unintended pregnancy and abortion which went largely unacknowledged, even in what Renee calls a progressive, intersectional family. So she set about destigmatizing abortion, particularly working to empower women of color to tell their stories. Today, Renee writes, speaks, and organizes on behalf of reproductive justice, with the goal of making sure all people have access to safe, legal abortions, as well as family-planning resources like prenatal care and adoption.
In addition to being a full-time graduate student in Cornell University’s Masters in Public Affairs program, she joins the board at NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation this fall. As for her interest in Netroots? “It gives you an opportunity to see the big picture and how movements can plug in,” she said. “The people we support and work for, they’re living multi-issue lives: they’re dealing with oppression at work and at home, they’re dealing with policies around immigration. When you go to a conference and see all these issues at once, you start to understand what we can all do together.”
Follow Renee on Twitter and check out her writing with Echoing Ida.
Misha Cornelius
Since 2010, Misha has worked with the Black Organizing Project, a member-owned community organization with the goal of providing real infrastructure around black-led movements. Initially, she volunteered to document the evolution of the project and its campaign focused on finding alternatives to policing in schools. But that role has since grown, and in a very big way: today, Misha is a full-time online organizer and manages the organization’s entire communications strategy.
“We’re just starting to learn how to engage people online and fundraise,” she said. “Our goal is to have the online organizing mirror the on-the-ground impact we have. A lot of our relationships are built there, but over time, I’ve seen how important it is to engage people online, too.”
As a graduate of the NOI New Media Bootcamp, she heard lots of stories and recommendations around Netroots. When she saw an opportunity to participate, she seized it.
“I’m interested in a lot of sessions around building the ladder of engagement,” she said. “I’m not sure what to expect, but I do think it will be an awesome opportunity to meet a lot of very cool people doing similar work—and even amplifying my own.”
Follow Misha on Twitter.
Markus Batchelor
Markus is a rising senior at The George Washington University and was born and raised in the nation’s capital. He grew up and still lives in DC’s 8th Ward—the poorest and most underserved section of the city, where unemployment tops 20 percent and where public schools perform in the low teens for both math and reading.
Stats like this inspired him to pursue public service and voter engagement. Today, he chairs the Ward 8 youth committee, is a candidate for its Advisory Neighborhood Commission, and formerly served as President of the Ward 8 Democrats.
On and off campus, Markus is interested in grassroots, face-to-face community mobilization. Most recently, he’s become involved in the DC Statehood Movement, working to empower communities of color within the District.
“I think I’m most interested in finding out how we can better promote progressive candidates and causes,” he said. “In DC especially, we need to learn how to mobilize and excite people around candidates.”
Follow Markus on Twitter and visit his recently launched site, Gutsy.