Community Building in the Washington, DC area!!

SFP Editor: What inspired you to start Network for Progress? Jim McBride: During the Virginia Primary, I hosted some of the first volunteer events in the state and the nation. The idealistic energy and diverse people involved had so much to offer but I felt that after the primary the same community and culture from the traditional campaign efforts wasn't there. So I want to take what we learned and use it to build an organization that promotes it. There isn't another organization that advocates for the grassroots as its main mission in the comprehensive way we want to. After every election there is always an enthusiastic group of volunteers with very few incentives to stay involved. So we lose them to other activities. But I want Network For Progress to use reunions, happy hours, forums, rallies, trainings, speakers and other tools to keep people involved in any fashion possible so they're more likely to come back the next time we need them.

SFP Editor: Who can join the Network for Progress cause?
Jim McBride: Anyone interested in President Obama's vision that he articulated through the "Yes We Can" Movement of the 2008 campaign. We focus mostly on under-served constituencies like young people though as this audience has a lot of under-utilized skills to offer us. The revolutions in the Middle East are being fueled by young people's enthusiasm and expertise with social media technologies etc. I feel they can be the backbone of our Movement here at home. Chris Hughes co-founded Facebook and then helped build the campaign's revolutionary new media program. We want to make sure we get that demographic involved. Plus they also have the most years of voting ahead of them so they provide the most potential for long-term participation.

SFP Editor: What type of alliances are you forming to put the group's mission forward?
Jim McBride: We're working with Obama, Democratic and Progressive groups but also are looking to work more with nonprofit and nonpartisan organizations as we want to influence civic participation in general because that is another big opportunity to bring change to our communities. I believe building a Movement is critical to creating lasting change because if people are not connected, they will lose focus and motivation to work for progress. My first priority is building a strong and creative community that inspires people to be involved. If you can spread relationships and buzz about your cause, then you have a foundation for a Movement that will grow and succeed.

SFP Editor: Does the Network for Progress community focus on particular issues?
Jim McBride: We mostly focus on the "big picture" agenda of President Obama and the DNC, but we're very interested in issues that aren't getting as much attention, for example youth employment and educational opportunities that we hope to lobby for independently as needed. We want to fill a void that exists right now to serve as a permanent community network for Obama supporters, from Progressive to Independent and even Republican backgrounds. We want to connect and work together to bring the change that people were inspired to believe in that helped develop the "Yes We Can" Movement of 2007-2008. This is a very grassroots outreach-focused vision more than the permanent field campaign approach.

SFP Editor: How do you envision Network for Cause impacting the political landscape?
Jim McBride: We would like to use our DC chapter as a model to encourage other activists to use a similar structure in other cities to begin with but in theory our Movement-building organizing philosophy can be and should be done everywhere. I moved here to find a more livable and laid back environment than New York City which is near where I grew up. But I soon went from focusing on doing public relations for high-tech companies to spending more and more time on politics. So something that I thought might be a minor perk of living in this town became a more active part of my life....especially due to to huge traumatic events in recent years like 9/11 and the Iraq War that influenced people like me more than ever.

SFP Editor: What ways can one get involved in Network for Progress?
Jim McBride: They can join our Google Groups google group at or find us on Facebook facebook and twitter to hear about what we're doing and sharing but we of course want people to engage with us online and offline as a general supporter or hopefully as a leader that can help organize various initiatives.