Civic Committee
The Civic Committee strives to provide opportunities for YPC members to get educated about and involved in various, business, community and governmental activities. It is our goal to make sure members have the tools and resources they need to be active members of the Greater Des Moines area, as well as the State of Iowa. The committee works closely with the Charitable and Social Committees of YPC as partners on many activities.
Some of the events that we have done or are planning each include:
- Lunch & Learn Events with Local Leaders
- Candidate Coversations - A Chance to Meet Candidates for Public Office
- Issue Education Events
YPC and the Civic Committee works to provide our members with a variety of opportunities to interact with political candidates and officers from all political parties. It is the intent of YPC to provide a non-partisan view of political candidates and issues. Our goal is to make opportunities and resources available to help members make informed political decisions and actively participate in their communities.
For more information or to volunteer, contact Chris Knauf the Civic VP.
For news about YPC Civic, visit the YPC Civic Blog
What to make your voice heard but don't know how to contact your legislator? Click here to get contact information for your legislator. All you need is your home zip code or mailing address:
http://www.legis.state.ia.us/FindLeg/
Recent Events
On March 11 YP Iowa held YP Day at the Capitol 2008. The event included an address by Iowa Governor Chet Culver and a presentation by the Generation Iowa Commission.
2008 Civic Committee Goals:
1) Increase focus on measuring attendance/satisfaction of events.
- Surveys will be distributed at each event. Survey questions will focus on the end goal for the event. (i.e. Are you more informed on this issue as a result of your attendance? Are you more likely to vote?)
- Survey information will be aggregated by Civic committee members and shared with stakeholders including event planners/participants, DM Partnership staff, YPC leadership.
Outcome: We possess compelling statistical information for use by YPC.
2) We’d like to hold a new series of civic events that focus on connecting YP’s to community leaders (city council, economic development groups, etc). The goal would be to find opportunities for YP’s to serve on boards, committees, etc.
- Phase 1 (first 4 months) – Develop relationships with area organizations interested in working with young professionals. Also during the initial phase the civic committee will work with the professional development committee to ensure we’re able to maximize our collaborative potential in this area.
- Phase 2 (second 8 months) – Use events (i.e. lunch and learns, etc) to connect YP’s to area organizations.
Outcome: 20% of interested YPC members find an organizational match.
3) We’d like to add a feature to the website that lists opportunities discussed in #2. I’m still unsure of how we can make this a sustainable feature. The idea would be modeled on Volunteer Match’s website.
- Phase 1 (first 4 months) – Work with the DM Partnership to include this feature on the YPC website. If that’s not possible, perhaps we can work with the United Way to get these opportunities listed on their system.
- Phase 2 (second 8 months) – Advertise availability of this online resource to YP’s.
Outcome: Website features opportunities for civic involvement.
4) We’d like to see an effort to get YP’s involved on issues important in the general election in 2008. These would be similar to the Caucus & Coronas events we featured last summer but would focus on issues important in race farther down the ballot.
- Phase 1 (first 4 months) – Reach out to campaigns in all local/statewide/national elections to do events.
- Phase 2 (May – November) – Conduct informational events similar to Caucus and Coronas events.
Outcome: YPC hosts at least 4 such events during this election cycle.
5) We’d like to hold a series of candidate forums called Candidate Conversations. We’ll hold the events as elections heat up. Invitations will go out to each candidate via the appropriate party HQ. The structure/responsibilities for these events will remain the same as the Candidate Conversations held prior to the Iowa Caucuses.
- Phase 1 – Reach out to Political parties to invite their candidates to meet with us
- Phase 2 – Schedule events
Outcome: YPC hosts events during election cycle.