Did you know that the Harvard Center for Public Leadership’s annual survey on public trust regularly finds the military to be, by far, the most trusted sector in the country, well ahead of teachers, doctors and non-profits? Our young troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are far more progressive than those from the Vietnam era, and we have a major opportunity to engage them and expand our big tent even further. But do you know the difference between an officer, an NCO and enlisted? Do you know why you shouldn’t call a Marine a soldier? We’ll fill you in on how the military works, how you can connect with veterans and military families based on shared values, pitfalls to avoid and how progressives can reclaim patriotism.

Marriage equality took a hit in 2009 with defeats in Maine, New York State and New Jersey. However, popular consensus has been that the shining light of the Maine campaign was its online team, which included a coalition of bloggers across both the LGBT and non-LGBT blogosphere. Conversely, the lack of online to offline integration in New York and New Jersey created a significant "rootsgap" that contributed to each measure's failure. The panelists will talk about successes and failures in online organizing for marriage equality, best practices and how to build stronger ties between traditional LGBT organizations and online activists.

Communities of color have proven to be an effective force in mobilizing against the right-wing’s race baiting. This session will examine why and how organized communities of color—particularly blacks and Latinos—are a key part (yet still underrepresented in the overall progressive landscape) of ultimately undermining the right-wing’s extremist views.

These days, if you’re not online you’re not just out of luck—you’re also without access to education, jobs, much-needed tasks like online banking and the means for civic participation. The Internet Innovation Alliance points out that “the current net neutrality war that has erupted in Washington, DC has very little to do with the interests of … members of rural, low-income, urban, tribal, minority, non-English speaking, unserved and underserved populations.” In this session, we will examine case studies where activists are working on internet and technology access for communities marginalized by the digital divide. Representatives from projects like UrbanText and VozMob will present their innovations and how they fit within the larger need for a national broadband plan.

The greatest environmental disaster in the history of the US continues to unfold in the Gulf of Mexico and it is shifting the way the public thinks about the energy they use. Or is it? We'll discuss how the BP oil disaster is effecting public thinking, how the netroots is responding and what we can all do to move the conversation from worry and anger to hope of a clean energy future.

According to historic trends, the party in the White House loses five governors in the first midterm election. Pundits are already predicting low turnouts by Democrats, and many people don't realize the lasting ramifications of this election: Four out of five Americans will elect a governor in November, with 37 races on the ballot. Most of the governors elected this year will oversee the redistricting process that will shape the political landscape for a generation to come.

In just five years, Darfur—site of a genocide that has left hundreds of thousands dead—has been transformed from an obscure corner of Africa to the focus of an international spotlight of attention. The movement to end atrocities there, sparked in 2005 by a handful of college students, has since grown to a worldwide coalition of hundreds of organizations and millions of individuals. Using a combination of new media, social technology and old-fashioned grassroots organizing, Darfur activists were able to persuade world leaders to authorize the world’s largest UN peacekeeping force, pass state and federal legislation and channel millions of dollars in aid to the region. Along the way, they laid the groundwork for a larger movement to prevent future genocide and mass atrocities and made genocide prevention a policy priority for the incoming US administration. Hear from movement experts the story of how ordinary people and organizations used today’s tools to bring a “boutique issue” into political relevance for the first time.

This panel will show how randomized controlled experiments have been used to determine what works and what does not in voter contact. MoveOn, the AFL-CIO, the Analyst Institute and State Voices will share some of what they have learned using this scientific method so you can increase your fundraising and turnout, persuade voters and promote ballot initiatives.

A year and a half after his inauguration, Obama has failed to deliver on a key counterterrorism goal: to close Guantanamo Bay. Indeed, with new revelations about a secret prison in Bagram, proposals to legalize indefinite detention, and the festering debates about where to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, questions about how and where we should hold detainees remain contentious. This panel will revisit these questions and discuss ways to close Gitmo and return to the rule of law in our detainee treatment.

Youth not attending college are about half as likely to vote as young people with any college experience. That used to mean that this group was completely ignored. No longer—the stakes are too high. Panelists and participants will present and discuss ideas for what nonprofits, campaigns and states are doing to successfully engage this underrepresented group. We'll present an overview of how, when and what engagement looks like for this missing demographic and how systematic changes to the political system can affect participation.