Accomplishments
Here are a few of our accomplishments from this last year.
New Voters Project: In the fall, we worked to increase youth voter turnout so that politicians pay more attention to young people. Here at BCC we helped over 400 students register and made over 1300 reminders to students during the days leading up to Election Day through emails, calls, canvassing, tabling, and text messages. On Election Day, there were 3.4 million more young voters in 2008 compared to 2004.
Global Warming Solutions: In January we helped make sure that the economic stimulus package included $16 billion for public transit to cut our global warming emissions and create jobs. We've also been working to urge our local Congressmen to be champtions in the national debate on global warming.
This spring at BCC we organized events that generated 340 grassroots actions asking Rep. Barney Frank to be a global warming champion, and we generated five media hits in local newspapers, including the Herald and the Standard-Times. As a result of our work, Rep. Frank came to our panel discussion on global warming at UMASS-Dartmouth.
Zero Waste: This year, the Massachusetts DEP is creating a plan for what to do with our state's waste for the next 10 years. We're organizing to convince the DEP to reduce the amount of trash we burn and bury. Here at BCC, we held two events to educate students on waste and gathered 300 petition signatures to the DEP in Boston.
Hunger and Homelessness: Even though our country is one of the wealthiest in the world, 12.5% of Americans live in poverty, and that number is increasing with the recession. Here at BCC we brought Emily Cohen from One Family to speak in the fall. In the spring we put on the Hunger Cleanup and raised over $200 for anti-poverty charities including the Greater Fall River Food Pantry. Nine students also went door-to-door as a part of the Cleanup and collected over 30 bags of food for the Pantry.
Making Higher Education Affordable: We're working to help students deal with the rising cost of higher education and leave college with less debt. In January, we helped convince Congress to include several key measures in the economic stimulus package, including a $17 billion increase in Pell grant funding, more work-study aid, and bigger tax credits for low-income students and their families. On campus we educated professors about open textbooks that cut costs for students.