News Release — SIT Graduate Institute
June 26, 2017

Vermont graduate course to focus on Bernie Sanders and the political revolution

Excerpt:

BRATTLEBORO, Vermont – A policy advocacy course at SIT Graduate Institute in Vermont will have an added focus this fall: the “political revolution” ignited by the presidential primary campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and the massive grassroots organizing that has erupted following the election of Donald Trump.

“Many consider these developments to be the largest political mobilization in U.S. history since the anti-Vietnam war movement,” said SIT Sustainable Development Professor Emeritus Jeff Unsicker, who will teach the course.

SIT already has one of the most comprehensive policy advocacy curricula of any graduate school in the United States. Unsicker led the curriculum development and his teaching, consulting, and activism were the basis for his book, Confronting Power: The Practice of Policy Advocacy, which is considered one of the primary resources in the field.
“Today, most social justice-oriented organizations – including NGOs, unions, professional associations, community-based organizations and policy think tanks – need highly competent staff who can lead efforts to influence the policies of governments and corporations,” Unsicker noted.

Through coursework, professional practicums in the field, and capstone papers, students in Vermont and SIT’s Washington, D.C. Center become uniquely qualified for those types of jobs. “The added course focus will give students the option of honing their policy advocacy competencies for key roles in people-centered political campaigns and organizations that support new social movements,” said Unsicker.

https://vtdigger.org/2017/06/27/graduate-course-study-sanders-political-revolution/

Republican senators have unveiled their new Trumpcare plan—and it will take a wrecking ball to health care in this country.

Join Senator Bernie Sanders, One PA, Keystone Progress, Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates, and MoveOn.org in Pittsburgh to stop the Republican effort to repeal our health care. Demand that Senator Pat Toomey vote “NO” on the latest Trumpcare bill in the U.S. Senate.

The latest Trumpcare bill was just released on Thursday. It would leave millions without care, eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, and give massive tax cuts to the wealthy. This Senate bill makes even bigger cuts to Medicaid than the bill passed by the House.

Republicans want to vote next week. But if just three Republicans reject Trumpcare, it can't pass.

Join us on June 24 at 7:00 p.m. at the Pittsburgh Convention Center. Demand that Senator Toomey oppose this vicious attack on our health care. Let’s send a loud message to Senator Toomey that we want him to stand with us and vote AGAINST the Republican repeal of our health care.

June 22, 2017

Excerpt:

Washington (CNN)Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders will headline MoveOn.org's "Don't Take Our Health Care" bus tour this weekend, making stops in various East Coast states to challenge the newly released Senate health care bill.

With planned stops in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Columbus, Ohio and Charleston, West Virginia, Sanders and leaders at MoveOn -- a progressive public policy advocacy group -- will speak at rallies urging GOP senators to save the Affordable Care Act and challenging Republican talking points that the alternative to Obamacare is a better option for Americans, according to Brian Stewart, director of media relations at MoveOn.

The tour is additionally designed to put pressure on the Republican senators in those states -- specifically, Sens. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Rob Portman of Ohio and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia -- to vote against the Senate bill when it comes to the floor next week.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/22/politics/bernie-sanders-moveon-health-care-tour/

June 22

Hey, isn’t that … a power-dining table at the Palm on Wednesday night that included Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), author Kitty Kelly, Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.) and husband Stanley Greenberg, and radio host Bill Press?

The VIPs have something in common other than progressive politics — they’re all writers with books either on the shelves or in the works, and the confab was hosted by St. Martin’s Press publisher Thomas Dunne and editor Stephen Power. Along with wine and steaks, there was plenty of literary chatter, we’re told — along with chewing over the Georgia special election.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2017/06/22/bernie-sanders-and-friends-have-a-literary-dinner-at-the-palm

Following a week-long tour of Europe, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will discuss the rise of authoritarianism and emerging threats to democracy in the United States and around the world, and the implications for U.S. domestic and foreign policy. Carnegie’s Sarah Chayes will moderate.

Published on Jun 19, 2017
Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren discuss the secret health care bill Republicans are creating behind closed doors.

Published on Jun 20, 2017
Sen. Bernie Sanders delivers a speech on the Senate floor regarding Republicans' health care plan.

Published on Jun 19, 2017
'I will do everything humanly and legally possible to make sure this horrendous piece of legislation…never sees the light of day.'

June 19, 201

Excerpts:

"The key to everything goes back to Bernie's message," said Josh Miller-Lewis, who serves as the deputy communications director in Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' Senate office. "What we try to do is explore ways to replicate his voice to as many people as possible, and do it in new and engaging ways."

Aviram, who joined Sanders' Senate team after working as a video journalist at NowThis, summed up Sanders' strategy like this: "We're trying to be more like a media company,” he said. “We don't think about what other members of Congress are doing. We take inspiration from outlets like Mic, NowThis and AJ+."

According to Aviram, Sanders himself is very involved in daily content decisions and regularly comments on what he likes or dislikes before Facebook posts go up. "Bernie talks about social media more than anything," Aviram said.

Another lesser-known ingredient to the team's success is a distributed network of pro-Sanders Facebook pages that got built during the election. The pages, which include "The People for Bernie Sanders" and "Our Revolution," regularly cross-post videos from Sanders' Facebook page to help them go viral.


https://mic.com/articles/180315/bernie-sanders-is-quietly-building-one-of-the-most-powerful-progressive-media-outfits-in-america#.l31pgRL6i

Published on Jun 18, 2017
"Let's disagree openly and honestly," Vermont senator says, "but violence is not acceptable."