Heartland Democracy Center

Listen to what one representative student had to say about our Empowering U program:

"I loved that class. It was deep and broad and outside the box. It did change me."

See the YouTube video of Tom Vellenga, our staff president, giving a TEDx talk on Empowering U at a conference sponsored by the Blandin Foundation in September 2011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4BHoGcwfN4 (or go to YouTube and search for "Completing We" or go to our website or Facebook page and click on the video link; we've been unable to upload this link here on GiveMN.org).

We started with this question, which has a sudden timeliness to it now: "What else can be done to persuade Midwesterners to embrace progressive goals?"

Psychologists have confirmed these facts: people's emotions and feelings drive their opinions about public issues to a much greater extent than facts and analyses. Heartland Democracy is finding and using new approaches to make the case for a progressive approach to governance. In other words, we are approaching the heart and the "gut" in order to activate Midwesterners previously uninvolved in community, politics, and government and to change minds.

Youth are our first audience. The uninvolved are our second group, and folks somewhere in the middle are our third. Operating as a non-partisan educational group, Heartland Democracy is winning over Midwesterners to the joys of progressive, active, and informed citizenship.

We use group discussions and other empowerment strategies. We provide a coherent description of progressive values and goals, meet with heartlanders wherever two or more may gather for a discussion, operate regionally, and coordinate our work with progressive allies. We work with the full range of host organizations, from houses of worship to schools, from clubs to associations to community forums. We have tested these strategies in an urban high school, where participating student taught themselves how to become thoughtful, active citizens -- a curriculum we will share and reproduce wherever we can.

In late 2011, Heartland Democracy is raising funds to coordinate the roll-out of the Framework for Governing -- which matches progressive values to a framework for governing Minnesota. Collaborating groups shared their initiatves and values: Envision Minnesota, Growth & Justice, Ready 4 K, Minnesota Environmental Partnership, TakeAction Minnesota, and the final report of the Legislative Commission to End Poverty.

In 2012 Heartland Democracy will be "scaling up" its civic empowerment program, Empowering U , in partnership with the F.R. Bigelow Foundation, Twin Cities Rise!, 180 Degrees, and Unity Leadership. We are raising donor funds to complement the new grant provided by the Bigelow Foundation, reach more participants, build our curricula, train more trainers, and work with additional partner groups. Empowering U provides participants with lifelong lessons, tools, and the motivation to get involved in community, politics, and government -- and to stay involved throughout their lives.

Thanks for visiting: Please be generous today not only to Heartland Democracy but to all of our allies who are helping to create systemic change today and every day!