Heather Schmidt admits to being discouraged after Senator John Kerry’s unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2004.
“When I became involved in politics in 2004, I was one of the only ‘young’ people left after the Kerry-Edwards campaign and felt completely isolated, almost to the point of quitting! It is not isolating to be the only ‘young person,’ rather it is isolating to feel like the issues and the things that are important to you are not important to others, so then what is the point?”
But unlike many people in her situation, Schmidt did not quit. Instead, she and Refugio Mata organized a new group that would be responsive to and represent the political opinions of people like her: the Young Progressive Democrats of Ventura County.
And the ball keeps rolling.
Today, the Young Progressive Democrats’ membership list is composed of more than 800 people of diverse backgrounds, occupations, and ages.
The organization’s first meeting drew 13 people. Meetings today can draw more than 100 people.
There are several organizations for Democrats in Ventura County, but Schmidt and Mata had compelling reasons for starting their own.
“Primarily we felt that the Democratic clubs in the county were not geared towards addressing the needs and the interests of young people such as a youth-oriented club would,” said Schmidt.
“Also, we felt that we needed to have a forum that was more open and progressive, especially as it pertains to discussing issues and giving people a place for their voices to be heard.”
Mata, the organization’s community outreach and communications chair, added that the Young Progressive Democrats were “formed as a reaction to the latest dangers and harmful impacts of neo-conservatism at large on the local and national arenas.”
“We wanted to do our part to start working on reversing the overall authoritarian conservative tilt that our country and our communities were sliding into,” he said.
“We also wanted to inject new life and energy into the Democratic Party by asserting our progressive values. By the same token, we wanted to serve as the conduit through which new progressive leadership could be fostered.”
Fostering leadership skills in their members is a primary goal of the Young Progressive Democrats. The group holds special events, connects its members with training, provides networking opportunities, and helps them get involved with other progressive organizations and causes.
They plan to soon conduct their own leadership training events.
Another focus for the group is getting its members politically involved and providing political education.
“Young people have an entire set of issues, or rather very similar issues that are framed in a different way, and they need to understand that their vote is important for that reason,” said Schmidt.
The organization tries to cater its activities to the desires and interests of its members.
“Rather than focusing on what we think is important or what we think is interesting, we have taken the approach of focusing on the individual and the self-interest of young people in an effort to get them politically involved and to the polls,” said Schmidt.
But the Young Progressive Democrats’ vision goes beyond that.
“We are definitely espousing a new school of thought that is trying to build a pan-progressive infrastructure–in the past, organizations have leaned heavily on a single-issue focus–with new types of goals and in the way that we advocate for people to do politics,” said Mata.
“Doing” politics is a key activity of the group’s members. Many volunteered for Ferial Masry’s 2006 bid for the California State Assembly. Others are involved in get-out-the-vote activities and voter registration, which Schmidt said will be a vital ingredient in expanding the influence of Democrats and winning elections in the 24th congressional district.
The Young Progressive Democrats are plainly serious about energizing their members and fomenting social change.
“This is not the typical club where people just meet to socialize and drink tea,” said Schmidt.
“While we have many social events to get people involved and keep them having fun, we are doing more things that make this more like a business. We have an annual report, we do strategic fundraising, budgeting and yearly planning, we set goals and stick to them…we don’t just have a monthly meeting and do a special event once in a while–we plan to make significant changes in the community and we strategize to do it.”
Schmidt identified a number of key issues important to Young Progressive Democrats.
Education is a big concern, with access to loans, grants, and scholarships being foremost, as well as educational quality.
Access to health care and its high costs also motivate the group’s members.
“Over 60% of students graduate from college with a bachelor’s and expect to get a job with health insurance and do not find one,” said Schmidt.
“A woman’s right to chose regarding anything that they do with their body,” including the issues of sex education, birth control, and abortion are also important to members, said Schmidt.
And Young Progressive Democrats are concerned about equal rights, said Schmidt, and particularly issues of race, religion, and sexuality.
The group was initially cautious about endorsing particular candidates for public office, instead concentrating on building the organization, but in August the Young Progressive Democrats established a procedure for selecting candidates as the organization’s choice.
“We have put together a policy that includes each candidate needing to answer a questionnaire and speak openly to our membership about what youth issues are important to them, how they will address those in office, and why young people should vote for them,” said Schmidt.
Mata commented on what kind of candidate the organization might be looking for: “We are definitely different from most Democratic Clubs in that we support progressive Democrats and progressive policies, not just any kind of Democrat.”
Despite this preference, the group maintains an open-door policy toward candidates.
“We wanted to make sure that every candidate was welcome to come to our club and speak openly about their candidacy and that all people felt welcome, because we are most definitely the most welcoming Democratic organization in Ventura County,” said Schmidt.
“We even encouraged, and continue to encourage, people of other political party to come and speak to and with us as a group.”
If it was unusual that Schmidt and Mata would take political participation to new heights by forming an organization that would motivate hundreds of people across Ventura County, it was even more unusual for Schmidt to step down as president only a year after the Young Progressive Democrats’ inception.
“In 2007 I did not want to run for president again simply because I thought someone else should have the chance at having a hand in building this amazing organization as it is today,” said Schmidt.
“I like to get things started, get people motivated and then help them find and hold positions of leadership that will help build their characters, careers, etc.”
“I think one of the major problems in the Democratic Party and in other local political organizations is old leadership. Someone gets into ‘power’ and has a firm, tight grip on it for years and years and years. I don’t like that. It discourages people from being involved and intimidates people from speaking up. I want everyone that wants to run for a position of leadership in our organization to run and have the experience that I have had. I want very much for our organization to stick to its membership-driven mission and see constant change-over, constant internal movement, constant mobilization of members.”
Schmidt said that Mata and Simi Valley blogger Brian Mack are two candidates for the organization’s presidency.
When the group’s new president takes office, Schmidt will move into the position of executive director of the administrative staff.
Going forward, Schmidt identified the organization’s goals: “To get more young people involved, to continue to work to find out what will get them in and keep them in, to provide opportunities to young people at schools in Ventura County and to create a more permanent progressive infrastructure into the community of Ventura County, to continue to work on changing the dynamics of the district and not to stop and get comfortable once they do change, to try and make Ventura County a more youth-friendly community, including job training, job placement, education access, etc. And, to continue to focus our activities on what our members are seeking rather than what we or other ‘party line followers’ are asking for.”
For more information about the Young Progressive Democrats of Ventura County, visit the organization’s website at ypdofvc.org or the group’s MySpace page at www.myspace.com/vcyoungprogressives.
