The Campus Progress National Conference is off to a rousing start this morning, and we’re live in D.C. for the excitement. Over a thousand activists, artists, journalists, and campus leaders have turned out for the 5th annual event focusing on the theme of “Delivering Change.”
The conference’s star-studded line-up of speakers and panelists includes:
Former President Bill Clinton
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives
John Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress
Van Jones, Special Advisor for green jobs at the White House
John Oliver, writer and correspondent for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”
Jimmie Briggs, journalist, Goodwill Ambassador, and Special Envoy for Children in Armed Conflict
Joel Madden, guitarist and vocalist for Good Charlotte and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
John Prendergast, activist and co-founder of Enough
The plenary session that just wrapped up featured leaders of the Campus Progress movement, including Campus Progress director David Halperin and deputy director Erica Williams, who led the call to action. From his perspective as the co-leader of President Obama’s transition team, John Podesta’s remarks about the importance of keeping up the pressure on the current leadership were compelling. The moment is ripe to implement the progressive agenda, but activists and conscientious citizens must not settle for the change that we’ve seen in the past year. Podesta asked:
Will people stay engaged and fight for change?… Will we set the bar high? The process of getting the bar high is crawling on your belly, working for those small victories… Now is the time to fight… This is the challenge of today’s generation.
For more info about the day’s events, check out Campus Progress’ special conference page. Tune in live via Twitter at #cpnc and pose questions to the panelists at #cpask.
More to come…