Would you like to become a more effective activist? Are you considering running for office? Or helping run a campaign? Or just being a super volunteer?

If you want to know more about how to be a more effective political advocate, Sonoma County DFA wants to help. We are offering scholarships to up to five people who want to attend DFA Training Academy when it comes to the Berkeley Campus on March 1st and 2nd.

A Rare Opportunity

Since its founding in 2004, the DFA Training Academy's mission has been to focus, network, and train grassroots activists in the skills and strategies to take back our country. Democracy for America's unofficial motto has always been "You have the power." The DFA Training Academy empowers ordinary Americans to manage successful campaigns and run for office themselves. Every weekend in cities across America, the DFA Training Academy is building a grassroots infrastructure of skilled progressive activists in all 50 states.

At the DFA Training Academy, top campaign consultants with decades of experience give you the skills to run a winning campaign. Topics include: field planning, voter contact, fundraising, communications, volunteer recruitment and more.

Attendees will also get to hear directly from some of the most exciting 2008 candidates in their area and get a copy of the DFA Training Manual packed with over 180 pages of campaign info.

Refreshments will be provided throughout the day and a social event will be organized Saturday evening so you can mingle and network with other activists in your area.

This is a comprehensive and intensive training, running from 9am to 6pm on both Saturday and Sunday.

The workshops cover:

• Field Plans: Vote Goals, Targeting and Strategy
• Building an Activist Base
• Developing a Message
• Fundraising
• Voter Contact
• Get Out the Vote
• Working the Media
• Networking
• Precinct Organizing
• Mobilizing Young Voters
  
• Online Fundraising

Tuition to DFA Training Academy is extremely reasonable: $60 to attend both days worth of sessions... but Sonoma County DFA is prepared to cover tuition costs for up to five local volunteers.*

If you're interested in a sponsorship, contact Kathleen Shaffer at: dfasonoma@gmail.com

For more information, check out: http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=26527

* Travel expense and lodging not included

TBRC is hosting what looks to be a memorable event: a chance to sample the food and wine of rural Northern and Central California. Hosted by Josh Korbluth and featuring Lt. Col. Charlie Brown and Dr. Bill Durston, running for congress in CA-04 and CA-03, respectively.

"Take Back Red California" is working to elect more democratic candidates in the rural areas of California and is fully supported by Sonoma County DFA in this effort.

Check it out!

Sunday October 21, 2007
2:00pm - 5:00pm
Marinwood Community Center
775 Miller Creek Road, San Rafael

adult $50.08 / student $25.08
checks payable to TBRC (address below), or
http://www.actblue.com/page/tbrc, or
checks at the door

415-457-3914 / 916-743-2782
21 Convent Court
San Rafael, CA 94901
info@TakeBackRedCalifornia.org

Click here for a PDF file of the flyer

Hear Howard's speech from the Yearly Kos

If you need encouragement and inspiration in light of the recent setbacks in Congress, come and listen to his speech. We are talking to our original DFA members and asking all to come back, listen to Howard and get motivated for another presidential election year.

We'll also be talking about efforts to push back against cynical Republican efforts to steal the 2008 election... by rigging the electoral votes here in California!

We'll have pizza and beer and much to talk about.

Many of our members have been active in campaigns and legislative action, so come back and tell us what you've been doing.

Wednesday, September 5, 7:00pm,
111 Sebastopol Road, Democratic Party Office.
Call 696-0664 for questions.

Democracy for America, evolving from the internet grass roots organizing success of Howard Dean in 2004, is now thinking local and environmental. A good decision, and welcome to the many county groups who recognize that all politics are local. Sonoma County Conservation Action has acted locally for sixteen years with a year round canvass to educate voters about issues and progressive candidates. We would like to think that the voter turnout in 2006, which marked Sonoma County next to Alpine County as having the highest voter turn out in the whole state, was partially the result of our canvassers talking issues to over 70,000 households each year.

Democracy requires civic participation beyond just going to the polls. Call our office at 571.8868 and learn about our Know our Neighbor (KYN) project to bring neighborhoods together and to lay groundwork for civic involvement at election time.

SCCA has educated voters on urban growth boundaries, water issues, wastewater reuse, forest practices, general plans, SMART rail, housing issues, greenhouse gas, GMO, heritage lands, renewal of the Open Space District, and dozens of other environmental issues. When you have an environmental, progressive council and Board of Supervisors, good decisions are made and there is less reason to organize into advocacy groups. Paul Hawken quotes an NGO chairman in Seattle who is so impressed with the initiatives being undertaken by Mayor Greg Nichols that they are questioning their need to exist. Let us all concentrate year round on finding and electing progressive candidates for public office.

Bill Kortum, President
Sonoma County Conservation Action

Live Earth Parties
6:00 PM

Potluck Party for the Planet: Protect Our Climate
Redwood Credit Union
3033 Cleveland Avenue, Santa Rosa CA (Map)

Please bring food or beverage to share, your own plate/utensils.
Many local groups will be bringing information to read or distribute. Get plugged in for effective and fun community building!

Carpooling Coordinators: Click on the link if you can give (or need) a ride from:

South of Santa Rosa
East of Santa Rosa
West of Santa Rosa
Anywhere else in the area . . .

7:00 PM

Guerneville: Party for the Planet
Formerly "Bucks" Restaurant, 4th & Mills Street, Guerneville CA
Come on out to the old "Bucks" restaurant (aka Wild Jane's restaurant until 2006), upstairs, and let's celebrate.
50" Hi Def Plasma flat screen to watch the event from!

Sonoma: Party for the Planet
Arnold Drive & Robin Avenue, Sonoma
Party for the Planet: Climate Crisis
Let's gather together to tune into Al Gore's Live Earth concerts and share ideas about how to turn the climate crisis around. We'll get to hear from each of the Democratic presidential candidates about their plan for fixing it!

AB 1294 — Mullin and Leno — Local Option for Ranked Voting

Please contact members of the California Senate Elections Committee to urge support for AB 1294

Your help is needed now to move key electoral reform legislation in the California Senate. In June, the California Assembly passed AB 1294, legislation by Assembly Members Mullin and Leno to give local governments (i.e. cities and counties) the option to use Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) and Choice Voting to elect their representatives. Choice Voting is a similar ranked system as Instant Runoff Voting, only designed to work when electing multiple winners, such as for a city council. Charter jurisdictions already have the opportunity to use these improved electoral systems, but three-fourths of all California cities and counties are "general law" jurisdictions and are not able to use these systems. AB 1294 would level the playing field and give all cities and counties this option.

Please contact members of the California Senate Elections Committee to urge support for AB 1294

We need your help to move this legislation in the Senate. We need you to contact the members of the Senate Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments committee, and urge their support for AB 1294 when the bill is heard in committee on July 10th. You can call, fax, or email the senators below. Faxes are preferred over calls or emails, but do whatever works for you.  But do it soon, as the hearing is on July 10th. For more information, see Background or Talking Points or Supporters below. A sample letter appears below.

I'm passing along this call to action from Jim Araby, organizer for Sonoma Healthcare Justice:

Health care and the state of our health care delivery system in Sonoma County has been front page news since the announcement of Sutter and St. Joseph Health Systems (Santa Rosa Memorial, Petaluma Valley Hospital) intention of closing Sutter Santa Rosa hospital.

But because of widespread community outcry, Sutter CEO Mike Cohill announced in early May that Sutter will no longer be closing at the end of the year. We in Sonoma County have a unique opportunity to create a new health care delivery system in the county that will benefit patients, health care workers and district hospitals that can be the shining example for all other counties in California to follow. Please visit:

Sonoma Healthcare Justice

and sign on to our Platform, that calls on the Board of Supervisors to do the right thing and hold these two multi-million dollar corporations accountable to their communities they serve.

If you would like to get more involved please call, Jim Araby (707)480-6067 or email jaraby@seiu-uhw.org for more information.