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Thank you for helping us win!
This week, Wellstone Action was honored by the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and MAP for Nonprofits with a Dot.Org Award, given to seven nonprofits for excellent use of technology. Wellstone Action...
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Keeping your promises and standing for something is good politics.
The renewed optimism is palpable this week, after historic health care legislation was signed into law by President Obama. While by far not everything progressives wanted to see is in the reform, it...
View ArticleGreat news for college access!
We here at Campus Camp Wellstone are so excited about a piece of legislation that passed along with Health Care Reform, and we had to make sure you knew what was in the Student Aid and Fiscal...
View ArticlePower Builders: Youth and the Climate Change Movement
You may have noticed a steady drumbeat on this blog recently, talking about the need for progressive organizations, coalitions, and campaigns to take a long view to build the kind of power that lasts...
View ArticleNew Poll on Distrust of Government Another Reason We Need Our Own Candidates
A new Pew Research poll reports the depressing yet unsurprising news that faith in government at an all-time low. While public skepticism of leaders is part of our culture, the fact that a vast...
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Two Wellstone Action Alum Head to Tasmanian Parliament
Election night March 20 was a tough night for the Tasmanian Labor Party. Eleven years in power and a cascade of missteps brought a 13% swing against the Party and the loss of four seats and their...
View ArticleReaching the Hard-to-Count: The Census and the Undocumented
If you're like most residents of this country, you live somewhere that's still reeling from the recession. The unemployment rate remains high; fear, anxiety, and uncertainty are palpable. This sense of...
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Wellstone Action Winners Down Under
In case you missed it, Wellstone Action had some exciting news from down under. After a series of trainings in Australia last September as part of a 3-year long partnership with progressive...
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Sometimes Polite Doesn't Work.
In case you missed the final bow for PBS' Bill Moyers' Journal, Moyers covered examples of populism and populist movements that are mobilizing tens of thousands of individuals in opposition to powerful...
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Moving the Pieces Around the Board
In case you missed it, Politico posted this must-read look at the financing and infrastructure of the conservative movement. The bottom line: Top conservative leaders like Karl Rove, former GOP...
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Stories from the Field
We are fortunate to work with amazing individuals and organizations each year, providing training and capacity building for progressive campaigns and movements. We wanted to share with you two...
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How a Bill Becomes a Law - 21st Century Version
We know and love the School House Rock version, but thanks to Sunlight Foundation's Design for America contest, we now have an updated (and much more highly detailed) resource for telling the uniquely...
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Why we go to Idaho
Last month we held our third Camp Wellstone in the state of Idaho, a reliably red state since its statehood. During our organizational strategic planning last summer, the mission "to boldly go where...
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Think Three Years.
With an unfinished agenda and tough midterm elections ahead, this is a good time to remind ourselves that politics is about what we do. Bringing change to Washington and around the country is not...
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Can Recycling Save the Progressive Movement?
As progressives, we love to recycle. But when it comes to creating change, the dominant wisdom used to be downright wasteful. In the past, year after year, election cycle after election cycle and...
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Expanding the vote
SAN BERNARDINO - Call 13,000 people, and you'll talk to about 3,900. Of those, about 2,300 will like what you have to say. And of those, about 1,380 will show up to vote in November. That's a math...
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Cheyenne River Youth Project hosts Wellstone Action training, local teens...
EAGLE BUTTE, SD (August 15, 2010) — In late July, the Cheyenne River Youth Project® in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, hosted a special “Native Youth Organizing Training” conference, part of Wellstone...
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Energy Action Coalition: Getting out OUR vote in 2010!
It has been a non-stop summer of training here at Wellstone Action, especially for our staff and trainers of the Movement Building Project. Last month, we were in Chicago, training over 100 students...
View ArticlePeace Talks
Jeff Blodgett ’83 is executive director of Wellstone Action, an organization created to carry on the legacy of the late Senator Paul Wellstone and his wife, Sheila Wellstone, by igniting the...
View ArticlePower in Coalition
Wellstone Action is all about building power, and the organizations we partner with are equally hungry to build power together. One critical way is by building effective coalitions. Wellstone...
View ArticleHow do we deal with billionaire right-wing funders? Match them!
How do we deal with billionaire right-wing funders and a surging Tea Party? Match them! Recent media stories abound on the conservative advocacy and training group FreedomWorks--promoted by Glenn...
View ArticleFirst-ever "camp" is just for guys-the good and bad
There's an intriguing camp starting at noon today in St. Paul. No tents or campsite deposits are needed. Though it runs for two days, there's really no overnight, so you don't need to pack a...
View ArticleCamp Sheila Wellstone for Men
This past month, our Sheila Wellstone Institute, in partnership with United Way Greater Twin Cities, presented a historic, first-ever Camp Sheila Wellstone just for men. The training was targeted to...
View ArticleHigh-kick that closet door wide open!
Today is National Coming Out Day, and I want to make it clear to the world, beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am a lesbian and there are others like me who live in this world. I have always thought...
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Latina Leadership Academy
Wellstone Action recently partnered with the Institute of Community and Civic Engagement at DeAnza College to train 20 DeAnza College staff members, students and community members in Santa Clara...
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Proving the pundits wrong, mobilizing the immigrant vote
If you're paying attention to the 2010 elections, you probably heard about the Pew Hispanic Center's recent survey that indicated voter enthusiasm among Hispanic voters was way down from historic...
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Wellstone Action goes down under
Here at Wellstone Action's headquarters, we're finally accepting that winter is sticking around. On the other side of the world, summer is heating up in Australia, where the training organization...
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Governing as a pro-labor progressive
Local and state elected officials from across the country gathered at SEIU International in Washington, DC, for the first-ever Governing as a Pro-Labor Progressive Workshop. Wellstone Action...
View ArticleNew Year, new leadership at Wellstone Action
Each New Year brings the chance for renewal, opportunity, and positive change. It is in this spirit I am sharing exciting news for Wellstone Action and myself. Starting this month, my role at...
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Readying the movement for 2012
Since the move this month to a new "Founding Director" position at Wellstone Action with Ben Goldfarb now our Executive Director, I've had more time to read and reflect. I've been looking closer at...
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2010 year in review
A look back at our training numbers from 2010. We're gearing up for an even busier year in 2011!
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Egypt's social media revolution
We all have seen the impact of social media, but have we ever seen it done in the likes of Egypt's revolution? The brave women and men on the ground reported back to the rest of the waiting world...
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Take action: Support state workers in Wisconsin
This past Friday in Wisconsin, Governor Walker made good on his promise to try to strip away worker's rights in the state. He has turned Wisconsin, known as the birthplace of public sector union...
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Attention Scott Walker and John Kasich: We all do better when we all do better
The rallying cry of the labor movement is "an injury to one is an injury to all." The bible teaches us that "I am my brother's keeper." Benjamin Franklin implored his wavering fellow delegates to...
View ArticleOpportunity knocks as the conservatives start to overreach
Earlier this month, I wrote about the 2010 legislative and governor takeovers in many states by very conservative forces. They've wasted no time pushing their ideologically extreme agenda. In...
View ArticleCarleton alum channels Wellstone, inspires students
Jeff Blodgett, the founding director of Wellstone Action, a national center for training and leadership development, opened his convocation speech last Friday by recalling his own experience of...
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Corporate reforms will not create excellent schools
Increase competitiveness. Focus on maximizing short-term output over long-term investment. Layoff workers. Squeeze more productivity from the remaining beleaguered workforce. Demonize unions that...
View ArticleRepresentative Keith Ellison testifies against hateful bigotry
This blog is cross-posted from Sojourners. In addition to serving as Director of Wellstone Action's Native American Leadership Program, Peggy Flanagan also serves on the board of directors for...
View ArticleTraining draws activists from around state
(ATLANTA, GA.) -- Last weekend, nearly 90 campaign activists from across the state gathered at Georgia State University for a nationally-recognized political training workshop. The Red Clay Democrats...
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High praise for the Alberta Party
Jeff Blodgett knows a thing or two about grassroots community and political organizing. He helped organize American farmers during that country's farming crisis in the 1980s, worked as a senior aide...
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Washington educators start recruiting school board candidates
Wanted: school board members who understand what it means to work in a school, or who will at least listen to those who do. With that ideal candidate in mind, educators and union leaders in Washington...
View ArticleGovernor Scott Walker--A shining example of how NOT to lead
The assault on working people by the Wisconsin Governor and his allies reminds us that our movement must stand for the development of leaders who have both the right values and the skills to lead--to...
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Budgets are moral documents-progressives must frame the moral choices
We hear the same story repeated across the country. The mythic couple sitting around their kitchen table - not able to pay their bills - making the tough choices about what to cut. ‘Government needs to...
View ArticleHow Minnesotans Can Get Government Working Again
July 2011. The state is in shutdown mode. Some people miss meals, some people miss camping, some people miss getting their first Minnesota driver's license. No one is better off, though some of us are...
View ArticleImmigrant community gets 'ready to lead'
Thirty-five Latino, Polish, Arab, African and Asian immigrants and children of immigrants were selected to participate in a statewide non-partisan immigrant candidate training program Saturday, July...
View ArticleWe Stand with Wisconsin!
We'll be watching this fight along with all of you. Friend us on facebook and follow us on twitter for the latest on the progressive movement (in Wisconsin and elsewhere!).
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How Good Storytelling Can Save the Left
This is cross-posted from Dissent Magazine's Symposium: Organizing and Therapeutic Politics ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We have asked a...
View ArticleTuesday's Triumphs and a Halloween Tale
A week or so ago – Halloween weekend, actually – The New York Times stepped up its holiday spirit with a very scary story. The kind you tell while aiming a flashlight at your face. It gave...
View ArticleHopeful candidates run for office in honor of Senator Paul Wellstone
(WDAY TV) -- People interested in politics are learning how to run for office, in honor of Senator Paul Wellstone who died in a plane crash in 2002. Josh Boschee is planning to run for the North...
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