Presenting the Winning Ideas for Change in America

posted by Josh Levy January 17th, 2009

There are four days until the Inauguration, and the country is alight with excitement, not just about the arrival of Barack Obama in the White House but also for the beginning of a new era of civic engagement.

We’ve tapped into this energy with our Ideas for Change in America, and today we held a press event at the National Press Club in Washington DC to announce the winners of the competition. The 10 winning ideas reflect the diverse interests of the millions of people calling for change across the country, and include ideas for securing universal heath care, LGBT rights, and sustainable green energy. All winning ideas can be viewed at www.change.org/ideas.

The winning ideas were accepted on behalf of the Presidential Transition Team by Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media and the person who oversees our second-favorite website, Change.gov. Macon then addressed the attendees of the event, which included nonprofit leaders and grassroots activists, and spoke about the importance the administration will place on citizen-driven efforts like Ideas for Change.

With almost 8,000 ideas, more than 600,000 votes, and more than 175,000 participants, the Ideas for Change initiative has shown the widespread interest across the country in renewed civic participation and direct engagement in policymaking. And this is just the beginning. Starting next week, each winning idea will be paired up with a sponsoring nonprofit, which will begin a national campaign to translate each into actual policy. We’ll be documenting the process here at Change.org, so look out for more from us soon.

As the nation gears up for next week’s inauguration — and a potentially record turnout to watch it unfold in Washington — our bloggers are busy assessing George Bush’s legacy, anticipating Barack Obama’s future, and reacting to the actions of a swiftly moving Congress:

Barack Obama, Feminist: This month the r-feminist magazine Ms. Magazine featured an image of Barack Obama wearing a shirt bearing the phrase “This is what a feminist looks like.” Do you agree? Women’s Rights blogger Jen Nedeau certainly does, but, as Jen describes, others aren’t so pleased.

SCHIP Getting Close: This week the House voted on the measure to reauthorize and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP. Health Care blogger Tim Foley sees SCHIP as one of the true success stories in expanding health care coverage, since it already covers nearly seven million children. We’ve now cleared the first hurdle in expanding that coverage to four million children more.

On Eating Meat: When Sustainable Food blogger Natasha Chart tells people that she’s interested in sustainable food and environmental issues, a lot of them just assume right away that it means she’s a vegetarian or vegan. As Natasha explains, that’s actually not true, and in fact eating animals is a central part of the movement.

Do Charities Help? The biggest mystery lurking in the depths of the nonprofit sector these days is the murky question of measurement: how do we know if charities have an impact? Frankly, writes Social Entrepreneurship guest blogger Jason Saul, with $1 trillion at stake in the nonprofit sector, measurement is a Loch Ness monster that must be slayed.

Bush’s Katrina Defense: In the final press conference of his presidency, George Bush defended his Administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina and claimed the reconstruction of New Orleans is moving right along. But Poverty blogger Leigh Graham offers up a laundry list of Bush’s major offenses in hampering a full and equitable recovery of the Gulf Coast, particularly for its lowest-income residents, who were hardest hit by the storm.

Where to Eat: You really can get Chinese food anywhere! Humanitarian Relief blogger Michael Kleinman rounds up the surprising culinary delights found ’round the world, including Chinese food in Kabul (where the Chinese restaurants served alcohol under the table), Indian food in Darfur, and some surprisingly good fish in Goma.

Character Education: Transforming the classroom into a sweatshop for a day in order to create an environment of “Simulated Trauma,” is something the textbooks can’t teach, and is an exercise that should be done carefully. Education blogger Clay Burrell weighs up the pro and cons of teaching controversial but important subjects.

Eating Endangered Animals: Animal Rights blogger Stephanie Ernst is not happy about lists that suggest you eat endangered animals before they die out. She especially takes issue with the argument that we need to continue eating domesticated animals because if we didn’t raise them to be eaten, their species would go extinct.

Paging Mr. Orwell: Middle East blogger Charles Lechner explains the need to stay level-headed in understanding the conflict in Gaza. An analysis of the situation should take a cue from George Orwell, and should look at the situation dispassionately rather than injecting stridency, photos of dead children, and strong partisanship into the mix. Easier said than done.

Warming to Trade: If Fair Trade is about environmental sustainability as well as human labor, asks blogger Zarah Patriana, why can’t Fair Trade be used to stop global warming, while also protecting producers in developing countries? It would be a Fair Trade twofer!

This Isn’t Genocide: In response to the use of Holocaust imagery to protest Israel’s incursion in Gaza, Genocide blogger Michelle approaches our collective obsession with definitions — and argues that, in this case, nothing points to a genocide in Gaza.

Climate Leadership Now: Thanks to the stars aligning under Barack Obama’s leadership, Global Warming blogger Emily Gertz sees 2009 as a unique opportunity to make international progress towards zero emissions in 2050, forging a consenus to tackle climate change once and for all.

Members against Trafficking: Two of anti-Human Trafficking blogger’s Amanda Kloer’s all time favorite congressional women, Barbara Boxer and Hillary Clinton, made it clear they are committed to fighting human trafficking Clinton’s confirmation hearings for Secretary of State. To put lightly, Amanda is as excited as an 11-year-old girl mixing Pop Rocks and Coke with the Jonas Brothers in a unicorn reserve!

Health And Wealth: Whilst the World Bank and IMF have promised that the economic downturn will not force aid budgets to be cut, Global Health blogger Alanna Shaikh fears that the developing world will be hit hardest as malnutrition rises and girls lose out more to boys.

Bush vs. GOP? While new numbers show that immigration prosecutions are increasing and federal agencies are locking up immigrants at historically high levels, Immigration blogger Dave Bennion is amazed that George Bush still holds others responsible for the GOP’s poor image in immigrant communities. Of course, his control over this is about to end in four days.

Homelessness & Recession: The number of homeless people on the street may have dropped in recent years, but Homelessness blogger Shannon Moriarty explains that cities are noticing increases and 1.5 million additional Americans are expected to experience homelessness this year – an alarming number.

Gay Families Suffer: Gay Rights blogger Michael Jones reports on how the passage of the Proposition 8, which denied same-sex couples to get married in California, is now hurting more than just those couples: it hurts families, too. Strike another one for family values!

Extradition And Disability: A hacker who broke into NASA and Department of Defense computers is fighting extradition from Britain. Autism blogger Kristina Chew hopes that fact that Gary McKinnon has Aspergers Syndrome will bring issues of disability and criminal justice into sharper focus.

Executing Reform: With the number of executions at an all-time low last year, Criminal Justice blogger Matt Kelley offers some hope that reform will continue this year, but with many executions planned for the start of 2009, action must be swift.

Next week we’ll be covering our hopes for the Obama Administration and entering the next stage of the Ideas for Change contest.

7 Comments

Janet says:
Why were the 10 Winning Ideas for Change not listed in the order of which ideas got the most votes? Can change.org not add? Why were the 10 Winning Ideas listed in “no particular order?” Could it possibly be because the the “idea” with the most votes BY FAR was Legalize Marijuana. It will be interesting to see how much effort change.org puts into making the #1 IDEA a reality. It seems to me the fact that Legalize Marijuana was the #1 IDEA was pretty newsworthy. change.org managed not to mention it in any of their press releases.

January 17th, 2009 at 12:08 pm PT
Lisa says:
Ok, thank you guys for presenting this idea. Now, our ideas will not be taken seriously. I have no problem with legalizing marijuana but is it really one of the most important problems in this country at the moment?? People are broke and we’re supposed to make this a top priority? I’m sorry that I ever took this seriously.

January 17th, 2009 at 12:50 pm PT
Brendan says:
Why ‘no particular order’? Is this due to embarrassment that votes for the marijuana reform proposition far outnumbered others in the top 10 – one of which was mine?

Oh, and I just read the other posted comments at this time before sending and see that both of them deal with this also – one pro, one con – but wanted to submit this anyway, for the record. This cause isn’t merely some smokescreen to legalize hedonism, but it it relevant medically AND economically: even aside from the numerous chemical usages of marijuana, hemp as a plant is far more useful and sustainable and uses less resources to grow to maturity than almost any other biomass known to man.

January 17th, 2009 at 1:24 pm PT
adam syed says:
Lisa,

The criminalization of cannabis strikes at the very heart of what’s wrong with America. If you think that we’re just a bunch of whiners who are bitter about the fact that we can’t get some legal bud at the 7-eleven, you’re mistaken. It’s about much more than that. The war on drugs in general, and cannabis in particular, is a direct war against the American People and our supposed civil liberties. You mention the fact that many people are broke. Well, the law enforcement and especially the prisons-for-profit industries aren’t broke. In 2008, there were over 800,000 arrests for simple cannabis possession. (In perspective, that’s more people than who died in the Civil War.) Think about all the citizens who would NOT be broke if we legalized cannabis and created a billion dollar industry here in the US and created millions of jobs.

January 17th, 2009 at 1:46 pm PT
anna van z says:
Thanks, Adam – well said!
I have a widget on my website from change.org that shows almost 10,000 votes for holding Bush and Cheney accountable for their criminal actions, and restoring accountability to government.
Yet there is nothing about that listed in either the top 10 or the following 25!
Why is that? Is it because the Obama administration has already decided that there will be no investigations and charges? If so, I find this outrageous. It makes a mockery of our so-called justice system and the American people (like Madoff being “held” in his luxury apartment), and ignores the million + people dead due to these criminal actions.
So much for change!

January 18th, 2009 at 8:42 am PT
Daisy says:
Hey, Change.org! Since I’m new here, I thought I’d take a quick minute to introduce myself. I’m a Prius driving, farmers’ market and Whole Foods shopping, Environmental Studies student from Colorado. I am wholly committed to giving back to the Earth because she has given so much to us, and I want to see resources protected and left for future generations.

I am also an avid music fan, so when I found out that one of my favorite artists submitted her New Energy Tour idea to win money for a tour to raise awareness for renewable energy, I got really excited! Her idea is to use alternative music to promote sustainable living and alternative energy. She plans to partner with non-profits who have an environmentally focused message along with for-profit brands who promote a sustainable brand identity as sponsors to help pay for the tour. The concerts would all be FREE!! I think this idea is a wonderful way to spread the word about what individuals can do to make our world a better place. Since she’s focusing on college campuses, I really hope she wins this contest so that she’ll play at my school! Please take a moment to learn more and vote for her idea http://www.ideablob.com/ideas/4760-ARDEN-KAYWIN-New-Energy-Tour.

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