Good Morning Young Dems!

We hope you all had a nice weekend and got some rest because we need your energy as we push forward on the road to Democratic victory.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, June 13, we will be having our June meeting at The Candy Rush (733 Franklin Avenue) at 7:30pm. As you can guess from the name of the venue, we will be making sure the Brooklyn Young Democrats lives up to its youth. Of course, we do have work to do. Namely, we will vote on the new maps for our various regions per changes in assembly district lines due to redistricting. If you wish to review the new lines, please visit http://bit.ly/LP20SS. Of course, we have plenty more planned. We may have some surprise guests for you. Who knows what to expect? This is Brooklyn after all! For more information and updates, please visit https://www.facebook.com/events/156198594512580/.

Not to be outdone, friend of the Brooklyn Young Democrats, John Mancuso, will be having a fundraiser for his Assembly race right in our backyard (also known as Bay Ridge) on Thursday, June 14 at 7pm at J.T.’s Restaurant (9703 3rd Avenue). Though John may be from Staten Island, we shouldn’t hold that against him because his district includes part of Brooklyn (a district that unfortunately went Republican two years ago). Tickets start at $45 for Young Democrats. For more information, check out https://www.facebook.com/events/189184374541084/.

On Saturday June 16 at 11am, Assemblyman Bill Colton, State Senate candidate Andrew Gounardes, and TWU Local 100 will be hosting the Rally to Demand Restoration of the B64 Bus Line at the Ulmer Park Bus Depot (25^th Avenue & Harway Avenue). Please join local elected officials, community leaders, & neighborhood organizations to pressure the MTA to restore the B64 bus line. The B64 once provided a vital means of transportation for many people in our community, including the elderly and the disabled. Restoring service to the B64 is just one step toward ensuring that our city’s infrastructure stays intact.

And, as you all know, we are now one week into petitioning season. Following Saturday’s rally, there will be petitioning drives for Assemblyman Bill Colton, Andrew Gounardes, and District Leader Kevin Peter Carroll. If you have a few free hours to help get some more Democrats elected, please come out and help collect some signatures. For more details, please visit https://www.facebook.com/events/116082465199603/ or contact Seamus Campbell at seamus.o.campbell@gmail.com, Priscilla Consolo at priscillaconsolo@gmail.com, and/or Andrew Gounardes for State Senate at volunteer@andrewgounardes.com.

As many of you know, we are in the process of trying to start creating issue-based committees in order to expand our influence on the topics that matter most to each of us. If any of you are interested in starting an issue-based committee, please contact Executive Vice President Jugba Santi at jugba@brooklynyds.com.

Finally, the Young Democrats of America will be having its 2012 Summer Conference in Philadelphia, PA from Friday, June 29 to Sunday, July 1. The conference will include a new member training, number of caucus sessions and issue training’s, YDA committee meetings, as well as election for YDA’s National Committee Man and National Committee Women, two seats that represent Young Democrats nationwide on the Democratic National Convention. If you need more information or want to signup to attend, please visit http://www.yda.org/philadelphia. Things are looking bright for the Brooklyn Young Democrats.

Now, if only we could have a few straight days of sun, we would be set.

Andrew Gounardes, B64, Bay Ridge, J.T.'s Restaurant, John Mancuso, Jugba Santi, Kevin Peter Carroll, MTA, Petitioning, Philadelphia, Priscilla Consolo, Seamus Campbell, Staten Island, The Candy Rush, William Colton, YDA, Young Democrats of America

The Young Democrats of America Northeast Regional Convention will be held on April 2-3, 2011 in Pearl River, Rockland County, NY. Registration is now open and is only $30. Young Democrats can register online via ActBlue at https://secure.actblue.com/page/ydaneregionconvention.

The convention will be held at the:

Pearl River Hilton
500 Veterans Memorial Drive
Pearl River, NY

If you are interested in reserving a hotel room, please call (845) 735-9000, by March 16th. The group name is “Young Democrats of America.”

ActBlue, Mara Blumenthal, Northeast Region, Pearl River, Rockland County, Young Democrats of America

Thanks to everyone who braved the elements last night and made it to our January meeting. This blog post is meant as a follow-up about what we discussed and what we plan to do moving forward.

Recently, the New York State Young Democrats (the parent organization of the Brooklyn Young Democrats) launched a podcast. The first episode features NYSYD President Kevin Lawrie interviewing New York Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs about various things ranging from an average day in the life of a party chairman to the interaction between the national, state, and county Democratic committees to the recent tragedy in Tuscon (you can download the first episode at http://www.nysyd.org/podcast/Podcast-01-20-11-edited.mp3). You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nysyd-podcast/id415978706 or at http://www.nysyd.org/podcast/nysyd-podcast.xml.

Also, NYSYD recently created a RSS feed of its blog, to which you can subscribe at http://www.nysyd.org/rss/rss.php.

If you wish to start receiving emails from NYSYD. You can do so by going to http://www.brooklynyds.com/join-us/join-nysyd-mailing-list/.

The Young Democrats of America will be having their 2011 Winter Meeting will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada from February 25 – 27, 2011. Regular registration will then open and remain open until February 11, 2011 and can be done online at https://yda.wiredforchange.com/o/720/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=13240. At that time pre-registration will close.  After February 11, 2011, you may only register on-site for a fee of $75.00.

Furthermore, the YDA 2011 National Convention will be held July 27 – 30, 2011 in Louisville, Kentucky. For all of the latest updates, please go to http://www.yda2011.org/.

As we go into our first full year as an officially chartered young democrats chapter, we need to start focusing on what type of chapter we will be: what we will do, advocate, teach, etc. However, we cannot start to build that framework without your input. That is why we ask that you go to http://www.brooklynyds.com/events/were-open-for-new-ideas/ and submit your ideas in the comment box at the bottom of the page. If you wish to get notifications about further responses and/or you want to start a dialogue with other people that also submit ideas, please check the box where it says “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail.”

We will be having our elections on February 23, 2011. The positions that you can run for are President, Executive Vice President, Northern Brooklyn Regional Vice President, Central Brooklyn Regional Vice President, Southern Brooklyn Regional Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The requirements to be eligible to run and/or vote in our elections is that you must have paid your dues and have been to one previous meeting in the past year. Our dues are $5/year/member, however, an extra $5 donation is suggested (bringing the dues up to a whopping $10). Please pay your dues at our next meeting.

Once the details regarding our elections are finalized, the details will be emailed to all of you and posted on our website.

Enjoy the snow!
Brooklyn Young Democrats

Elections, iTunes, Jay Jacobs, Kentucky, Kevin Lawrie, Las Vegas, Louisville, Nevada, New York State Young Democrats, NYS Democratic Party, NYSYD, Podcast, RSS Feed, YDA, Young Democrats of America

The YDA 2011 National Convention will be held July 27 – 30, 2011 in Louisville, Kentucky. For all of the latest updates, please go to http://www.yda2011.org/.

Convention, Kentucky, Louisville, YDA, Young Democrats of America

The Young Democrats of America’s Winter Meeting will be in Las Vegas, Nevada from February 25 – 27, 2011.

Regular registration will then open and remain open until February 11, 2011 and can be done online at https://yda.wiredforchange.com/o/720/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=13240.  At that time pre-registration will close.  After February 11, 2011, you may only register on-site for a fee of $75.00.

Las Vegas, Nevada, YDA, Young Democrats of America