Cal Lobby Day
On the morning of March 11, 2002, Dave and a group of students from the Berkeley student government held the first “Cal Lobby Day” – a gathering of 110 students at the Capitol in Sacramento. The students arrived at the Capitol steps, prepared to meet with elected officials about the importance of their education and to share with them the mounting financial burdens they were facing.
On that day, students from all over California met with their state officials and their staff, and while each meeting contributed to the success of Cal Lobby Day, one in particular led to the founding of Mobilizing America’s Youth – now known as Mobilize.org:
Sitting across a large oak table from his elected official, Dave spoke with his Senator from the Central Coast of California. “Senator,” Dave began, “I’d love to hear about Berkeley when you were a student.” The Senator’s eyes lit up as he recounted the days of Frisbee on Sproul Plaza, football games and slices of Blondie’s Pizza. “I had a great room with large windows and my roommate, Johnny, had one as well. And we had this room, in the middle, where we used to entertain guests.” The Senator turned to Dave and asked fondly, “How is it now?”
Dave began, “It’s almost exactly the same, I love Blondie’s Pizza and we still play Frisbee and I wouldn’t miss a football game. There’s only one small difference; in that room in which you lived, they have two students living in that room and in that room where Johnny lived, they have two students living in there too. And in that lounge, in the middle, where you would entertain guests,” Dave paused,” they now have four students living in there. So everything is exactly the same, except where there were two students, there are now eight.”
The Senator was quiet for a long time before looking up at Dave angrily and saying “that room was too small for our things, we need to do something about that.”
That meeting, coupled with the other 109 meetings students had with elected officials that day, resulted in a moratorium on student tuition increases (which remained in place until 2008) saving the students approximately $90 million. It also led to the passage of a $30 million housing bond to build additional student housing closer to campus.
And with the courage of one Millennial mobilizing himself and his peers to identify problems facing the entire student body, and by choosing to work collaboratively with their civic leaders on sustainable solutions, the Mobilize.org story began. Today, Mobilize.org reaches thousands of Millennials across the country, empowering them to work with each other and with members of their communities on sustainable solutions to the problems facing our generation.
Comments are closed.