Overview
Roosevelt Institute Campus Network is the largest nonprofit student policy organization.
Through communication and collaboration with political actors and community members, students identify pressing issues facing their towns, counties and states. By utilizing resources on campus as well as Roosevelt Institute Campus Network, students engage in policy research and write sound, progressive proposals to policymakers and advocacy groups.
Headquartered in New York, Roosevelt Institute Campus Network currently has 8,500 active members and over 100 established chapters both in the United States and Canada.
[edit] Purpose Idea Incubator
"The three pillars of politics are money, bodies, and ideas." - Quinn Wilhelmi, Co-Founder
When asked for money, young citizens gave what little they could; and when asked for bodies they joined protests, voter-registration drives and neighborhood canvasses to get out the vote. But no one ever asked them for ideas. The purpose of Roosevelt Institute Campus Network is to establish the public policy think tank with the input from young people. By bridging the idea gap in communities and the nation, a new generation of progressive leadership could thrive and burst forth on the nation’s political stage.
[edit] Distinct Differences From Other Offerings [edit] The Roosevelt Legacy As part of the Roosevelt Institute, Roosevelt Institute Campus Network holds the strong objective of promoting and carrying forward the legacy and values of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Campus Network has a strong connection with the other two members of the Roosevelt Institute family: Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, and the Four Freedoms Center. With the influence of the Roosevelt legacy, the Institute has established a solid system of resources for policy making. It also brings to policy debate a variety of people, from students to influential thinkers and analysts such as Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, and Rober Johnson, former chief economist to the Senate Banking Committee.
[edit] The Student Focus Campus Network is the first student-run, bottom-up policy organization. Throughout 9 years of development, students have published thousands of ideas and held hundreds of events and conferences. While the same vision is shared across chapters, campaigns are designed and conducted with maximized freedom at each chapter. Students hold full responsibility for creating change.
[edit] Local Engagement Sometimes a policy change does not have to happen on Capitol Hill. A small change in a city or a community is enough to improve many lives. Campus Network has a special focus on addressing the long-term need of a community by creating sustainable and reproducible solutions,such as starting a mentorship program for juvenile offenders, updating the school bus route system in a community or advocating for minorities. A focus on local policy work enables Campus Network to test students’ ideas and radiate the best practices nationwide.
[edit] Impact Achieved For Students and Campus [edit] Publications From Young Think Tanks As one of the most important channels of idea dissemination, a variety of publications have played a key role in promoting policy changes. A few examples are the “10 ideas Series”, “Rooselvet|Thinks” and “Blueprint for Millennial America.” A student can submit publications as an individual or the chapter he/she belongs to.
[edit] Pipeline Fellows Program Roosevelt's Pipeline Fellow Program provides Millennials a unique way to promote their ideas for change in a community or a city. The Pipeline network unites an entire city of progressives together to work on local issues, with funding and supplies from the national headquarters in New York. Pipeline offers a great opportunity for people who already graduated from college to stay active with progressive movements while still maintaining a career.
[edit] Activities at Individual Chapters Many chapters have their own journals and projects, in which many are aimed at local issues. Students obtain firsthand experience of policy making by providing ideas for those issues.
[edit] Steps Required To Bring Resource to Campus There are three ways to join the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network:
Start a chapter at your university -- get active. Publish your ideas. Apply to the summer program and other internships in New York. [edit] Contact Information Taylor Jo Esenberg National Director Roosevelt Institute 570 Lexington Ave., 5th Floor New York, NY 10022 Phone: (212) 444 - 9130 tisenberg@rooseveltinstitute.org