Roosevelt Institute Progress Report

Thanksgiving 2010

Please read closely and answer the questions found on page 4.

Current Status of Hendrix’s Roosevelt Chapter

The first semester was slower than what we could have done but there were a few accomplishments.
• Roosevelt had three different events this semester where we discussed The United States’ policy with
Iran and Afghanistan. These events were not highly attended. They were fairly well advertised but
people just did not turn out. Hopefully Roosevelt can host more events like those. The more events
Roosevelt has, the more people will begin to come out.
• Nick Bemberg, Alex Schroller, David Hagan, and Jacob Porter attended Roosevelt Institute’s Fall
Conference in Little Rock. At the conference, we discussed some of the overarching goals and
initiatives of Roosevelt. We also did some workshopping to hear people’s opinions on issues. Lastly,
we met Roosevelt members from around the South. There are a lot of active Roo’ers out there!
• We have submitted the necessary paperwork to student activities in order to be recognized as an official
club at Hendrix. We are now waiting on them to have a meeting and approve us.
• The following positions are required by the Constitution. If you would like to fill an empty spot, let
someone know. We have more than three people who are interested in Roosevelt activities. They just
have not filed for officership yet.

Chair Jacob Porter

Chair Nick Bemberg
Event Coordinator
Treasurer David Hagan
Secretary

1
 Future
There are a few issues at hand that we need to take care of to have a successful second semester. Either by
email or in-person, please give Nick Bemberg or Jacob Porter feedback on the following items:

• Roosevelt Institute Campus Network’s national opportunities

o Ten Ideas Series (Deadline February 25, 2011)
February 25, 2011 is the submission deadline for 2011’s ‘Ten Idea Series.’ Either individually or
in a group, student can submit a short (approximately 700 words) proposal for a policy they
would like to see implemented. This can be on a local, state, or national level. See later pages
for details.

o Solving Petroleum Impacts Legislatively (SPIL) (Deadline March 15, 2010)

The University of Georgia will be hosting a conference in April for students to present thoughts
regarding the government’s response to the Deepwater Horizon Spill. Students will present
improvements they think the government should have made. See later pages for details.

o Roosevelt Summer Academy (Deadline January 15, 2011)

The Roosevelt Summer Academy is a two month long program in Chicago or Washington DC
where you work at a full-time internship and also participate in a training curriculum and weekly
networking events as part of an integrated program of leadership development. See later pages for
details.

• Hendrix’s Chapter of Roosevelt’s Activities for the semester

o Ten Ideas Series Meetings

From the time school starts after winter break to the submission deadline for Ten Ideas, it would
be very beneficial if members of Hendrix’s Roosevelt chapter met to critique each other’s ideas.
As seen in the calendar, the meetings are tentatively planned for Thursdays.

o Weekly Events
I think having some kind of regular meeting regarding politics would be a good thing for
Roosevelt at Hendrix to start. One possible weekly event is watching Sunday morning talk
shows every week. We would not actually have to meet on Sunday mornings. We could stream
the shows off the web on Sunday nights so that people will not skip the shows for sleep.

o Special Events
During spring semester I would like to see our chapter host some special events. These could be
events with Harding or the University of Arkansas Fayetteville (they both have active Roosevelt
chapters), a trip to the Arkansas State Capitol or Clinton Library, and a lot of other stuff

o KHDX Show
Roosevelt could host a political radio show on KHDX. No telling how many listeners there
would be but if kept low-pressure and fun a Radio Show would be awesome. It could be
broadcast once a week. There are a lot of options for the way we would format it.

o Volunteer Work
Whether we team up with VAC, Habitat for Humanity, Hendrix-Menifee tutoring, or work by
ourselves, it may be a good idea for us to do some volunteer work. We could try to incorporate a
2
 political agenda (that we all agree on) into our volunteer work.

o Odyssey Projects (February 1 – Summer Deadline, April 1 – Fall/Winter Deadline)

As a group of people, Roosevelt has greater options for Odyssey project than an individual
because we have more manpower. The Summer Academy or Policy Writing could probably be
approved for Odyssey credit, but we could also come up with our own (e.g., a trip somewhere).

o Project Pericles - Debating For Democracy 2011 Legislative Hearing (D4D) (Deadline
February 2, 2011)
Our sponsor, Jay Barth, gave me some information about this project by Project Pericles.
Students will work in groups and write a letter to an elected official regarding policy analysis and
creation. From the 28 participating colleges and universities, the best five letters will be chosen
and two students who wrote those letters will go to New York City to “discuss their policy ideas
with a panel of current and former elected officials and other public policy experts.”

3
 Your Homework

• Read over the national opportunities and the Hendrix campus opportunities and figure out your interest
in them.
o Are you interested in writing for the ‘Ten Ideas’ Series?
o Are you interested in writing for SPIL?
o Are you interested in applying for Roosevelt’s Summer Academy?
o Do you have ideas for weekly events our chapter could host?
o Do you have ideas for special events our chapter could host?
o Are you interested in being part of Roosevelt’s Radio show?
o Do you have ideas for volunteer work that Roosevelt could do?
o Do you have an Odyssey project you would like to do with Roosevelt?
o Are you interested in writing a letter for Project Pericles?

• Once you have figured out your answers to the above questions, come to the meeting on December 2
and let everyone else know. At the meeting, we will talk about what we all should do over the break so
that we can start second semester off strong! If you cannot make it to the meeting but are truly
interested, let me know you answers to the above questions before December 2.

• After we have a meeting to discuss our intentions for second semester and winter break, the next
homework assignment will be for everyone to execute our plans. If done well, the results will be
awesome!

• Register to be part of Roosevelt’s website at http://www.rooseveltcampusnetwork.org/user/register.

Once you register, you can join Hendrix’s chapter. As a member of the website you can blog and talk to
Roosevelt members throughout the country.

4
 Information on the Ten Ideas Series:
DEADLINE: FEB. 25

Six Policy Centers you can submit your work to:

Health Care – Economic Development – Energy & Environment – Defense and Diplomacy – Equal Justice –
Energy and Environment
Author Guidelines
o Proposals should be concise and well-written, and total approximately 700 words (excluding citations).
Charts and graphs should be kept to a minimum; instead, summarize data in the text of the policy. Sources
(endnotes) must be included with submissions.

A Roosevelt 10 Ideas piece should include the following sections:

o Your Idea: One sentence thesis statement, what's your goal?
o Legislative History: Has this ever been tried before? Who is already on board? Where does it currently stand?
Demonstrate that this is clearly achievable from a political perspective.
o Key Stats: These are statistics that create a picture and succinctly explain how your policy can make a
difference. What is the context or environment that your proposed policy will contribute to?
o Talking Points: How would you argue on behalf of your piece in thirty seconds or less? Write it down.
o Analysis: Describe potential outcomes, and numbers wherever possible: budget projections, and/or a cost-
benefit analysis that demonstrates why your suggestion is viable from an economic perspective.
o Audience/Stakeholders: Identify who would be impacted and how you'd engage them through this suggested
change. Legislation generally identifies stakeholders by clearly outlining who would be a potential recipient of
funds and benefits, and where decisions & funds would flow through.
o Next Steps: Identify where this should go, and how you think it should proceed. If you can lay out a reasonable
timeline, do so -for example, if it's critical that we do this before the next election cycle, or if there's some other
deadline that's important.
o Endnotes: Chicago Style, please include & format all information including date accessed for webpages

To Submit Your Proposal:

1. Please go to http://rooseveltcampusnetwork.org/ojs
2. Click on register under the journal that you wish to submit to, "2011 10ideas for..." - Make sure it says 2011.
3. Enter a minimum, the required information, be sure to ask for a confirmation email to be sent to you and make sure the
AUTHOR box is checked before you register!
4. Once you submit, you will be on the "USER HOME" for that journal. and you'll see "AUTHOR" under the journal title. Click
on it.
5. Go to "CLICK HERE" under Start a new journal submission
6. Select "articles" for section type and make sure all the boxes are checked off and complete under the checklist. Take time to
read "Author guidelines" and make sure you've covered everything. Incomplete submissions may not be considered for
publication.
7. For "step 4" please upload any charts, graphs, or high image resolutions for your piece separately
8. Finish and submit! Thank you!

A few examples of ‘Ideas’ are attached, but you can find all six policy journals (60 ideas total) at
http://www.rooseveltcampusnetwork.org/blog/10-ideas-series-released

Getting published in Ten Ideas would be a really great résumé booster! Who is interested in it? If you are
interested, you will need to do research and writing over the break. Once we get back, we can meet once a
week to critique each other’s writing (see calendar).

5
 Information on ‘Solving Petroleum Impacts Legislatively’ (SPIL):

Objective and Timeline:

The Roosevelt Institute seeks to investigate the environmental, social, and economic effects of the
Deepwater Horizon Gulf Oil Spill on the states most heavily impacted by it.
Because of the magnitude of the undertaking, the group should select a topic salient to the spill, but specific
enough to compose a comprehensive policy analysis.
Such topics may include, but are not limited to, offshore drilling regulation, use of escrow funds, and federal
unemployment assistance to individuals whose livelihoods were impacted.
The specific topics will be decided by the group. Upon completion of the report, the group will publish
its findings with the intention of distributing them to stakeholders and interested policymakers. Additionally,
the group will present its findings at a conference hosted by UGA.

The research component will include students compiling a state-by-state analysis of the spill’s
repercussions, making use of quantitative measures of the economic and environmental outcomes, to facilitate
cross-state comparison.
The next step will be for the group will evaluate the effectiveness of each state’s and the federal
government’s efforts to mitigate the environmental and economic damage.
Finally, the group will propose improvements to existing policies and the creation of new policies to
improve the efficiency of governmental response. The group will present its findings at a conference hosted by
the University of Georgia.

Impact
As part of the investigation, the group may decide to visit one or more of the states salient to the
research project. The group may conduct interviews and observe the work local and state policy-makers are
doing on the ground to better understand the response to the spill and the federal government’s role in
combating the disaster. The trip would most likely take place over Winter Break 2010 or Spring Break 2010.
Roosevelt can help to finance the trip

Possible ideas for topics to resarch:

-Combating behavioral health implications such as -Offshore drilling regulation
depression and substance abuse -Offshore drilling oversight by the Department of
-Combating medical consequences such as the Interior
respiratory, neurobehavioral, carcinogenic, and -Restoring damage to wetlands
immunological conditions -Improving disaster response
-Combating the effects on the nation's seafood -Instituting an Office of Information to the nation
supply -Governmental volunteer coordination of spill
-Fighting unemployment in the Gulf region cleanup
-Restarting the tourism economy

The writing you do for this will be a policy brief formatted the same as a Ten Ideas policy brief (see
attached for example). Based on who is interested in writing a SPIL paper, we can decide if we would like to
go on a trip to a Gulf State and when we would like to go. Roosevelt (and maybe Hendrix) could help pay for
it. Winter Break is an option if we work quickly and Spring Break is also possible. The UGA chapter will be
traveling to Dauphin Island, AL during winter break to interview local stakeholders, union members, and
government workers. If you submit writing by the deadline, March 15, you are essentially guaranteed a spot at
the conference to present your work. The conference is on April 9 in Athens, Georgia. Transportation there
would be paid for by Roosevelt.

6
 Information on Roosevelt Summer Academy:

From http://www.rooseveltcampusnetwork.org/projects-programs/summer-academy:

“The Roosevelt Summer Academy combines a full-time internship with a training curriculum and
weekly networking events as part of an integrated program of leadership development. Our objective is to bring
new, diverse, and progressive voices into the political process. The program runs for nine weeks, from June 9th
to August 12th, 2011

During the summer of 2010, Roosevelt ran two concurrent programs: The Washington Academy and
The Chicago Academy. Placements included: Center for Community Change, Economic Policy Institute, The
National Security Network, New Democratic Network (NDN), ChoiceUSA, America's Union Movement (AFL-
CIO) and many others. The Chicago Academy will place ten students with different Chicago City Agencies to
work on energy and environmental policy in an urban setting. Last year's placements included: Chicago
Department of Health, Chicago Department of Zoning and Land Use Planning, Chicago Department of
Environment, Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.

Each fellowship comes with a minimum $1500 stipend. Applicants with financial need may qualify for
additional funding. We are deeply committed to assembling a diverse group of Academy Fellows and will work
with each person accordingly.
Trainings are an important part of our summer program, examples of some include: policy 101,
communications, online organizing and social media, field organizing, lobbying and fundraising, and coalition
building. Guest speakers comprise another component of our program. Past speakers include: Greg Ehrendreich
from Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, Adele Simmons from Chicago Climate Action Plan, and Paige
Finnegan from LEED Council.”

This summer program would be a great résumé booster, would earn you some money, would establish
you with Roosevelt members on other campuses, and be a productive way to spend the summer. I am not sure
how Hendrix members stand as far as chance of being accepted because we have not had a particularly active
chapter. But if this sounds interesting, apply this year. You might get accepted but even if you do not, you will
have a better chance of getting accepted next year.

7
 November 2010

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Begin accepting 1 2 3 4 5 6
application for
Roosevelt Summer
Academy

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

8
14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 Thanksgiving24 Thanksgiving25 Thanksgiving26 Thanksgiving27

Thanksgiving28 29 30
 December 2010

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 -Meeting to 2 3 4
Discuss winter
break and second
semester – 2:30
p.m.

5 6 7 Finals8 Finals9 Finals10 11

9
12 Finals13 Finals14 -Finals15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31
 January 2011

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 Stop accepting 15
application for
Roosevelt Summer

10
Academy

Dorms Open16 Meet to discuss 17 Schedule 18 Classes Start19 Meet to discuss20 21 22

progress made over Change Day our ‘Ten Ideas’
winter break writing

Watch/Discuss a 23 24 25 26 Meet to discuss27 28 29

Sunday Morning our ‘Ten Ideas’
Talk Show writing

Watch/Discuss a 30 31
Sunday Morning
Talk Show
 February 2011

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Summer 2011 1 -D4D Letters due2 Meet to discuss3 4 5

Odyssey Project our ‘Ten Ideas’
Funding Deadline writing

Watch/Discuss a 6 7 8 9 Meet to discuss10 11 12

Sunday Morning our ‘Ten Ideas’
Talk Show writing

11
Watch/Discuss a 13 14 15 16 Meet to discuss17 18 19
Sunday Morning our ‘Ten Ideas’
Talk Show writing

Meet to discuss20 21 22 23 Meet to discuss24 ‘Ten Ideas’25 26

our ‘Ten Ideas’ our ‘Ten Ideas’ Deadline
writing writing

Watch/Discuss a 27 28
Sunday Morning
Talk Show
 March 2011

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 11 12

12
14 Deadline for SPIL15 16 17 18 Spring Break19
work to be
submitted

Spring Break21 Spring Break22 Spring

-D4DBreak
Nat’l
23 Conference-Spring
-D4DBreak
Nat’l
24 Conference-Spring Break25 Spring Break26

28 29 30 31
 Sunday

6 Watch/Discuss a
Sunday Morning
Talk Show

13
13 Convene to
Discuss Plans for
rest of the
semester

Spring Break20

Spring Break27
 April 2011

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Fall/Winter 2011 1 2
Odyssey Project
Funding Deadline

3 4 5 6 7 8 SPIL Conference9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

14
17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30
 May 2011

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 Last Day of2 Reading Day3 Finals4 Finals5 Finals6 7

Classes

8 Finals9 Finals10 Finals11 12 Baccalaureate13 Commencement14

15
15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31