A little while back our two Public Campaign interns, Faye Yuan and Sarah Pinsky, attended the annual Campus Progress conference, an event put on by the Center for American Progress that builds on the involvement of young people in the political process. Given the focus of Clean Elections on encouraging involvement among people from all walks of life in politics, we thought this would be a good event for them to attend. After the jump, their report from the conference.

Campus Progress National Conference 2008

Last Tuesday we (awesome interns Faye and Sarah) attended the Campus Progress Conference in Washington, D.C. The day began with an inspiring speech by former Presidential candidate, Senator John Edwards. Senator Edwards spoke about an issue that has always been most important to him, fighting domestic poverty. Along with the Center for American Progress, he started an organization—Half in Ten—whose aim is to cut the federal poverty rate in half within ten years. Senator Edwards told us that we should be proud to be activists, but that we must ensure that our actions live up to our lofty rhetoric.

Mid-morning we each attended a different break-out session. Sarah attended a panel on civil rights, featuring prominent speakers, such as NAACP chairman Julian Bond and gay rights activist Candace Gingrich. The panel compared and contrasted human rights activism today with the civil rights movement of the 60s. Moderated by Erica Williams, the panelists were not afraid to address controversies in both the civil rights and human rights movements.

Faye went to a panel which featured three female speakers all currently active in international human rights organizations. Faye was most impressed by Mallika Dutt, a former lawyer who founded and now is the executive director of Breakthrough, an organization that innovatively uses popular culture and the mass media to address social issues that affect global human rights. At the end of the session, Ms. Dutt handed out free copies of the online video game her company created to highlight the mistreatment of immigrants in the United States.

We heard John Podesta, Director of the Center for American Progress, speak on the burgeoning youth progressive movements around the country. He spoke urgently about the need for a concerted effort from the progressive community to combat global warming. The highlight of the afternoon came when Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison, the first Muslim ever to be elected to Congress, spoke to the conference about his recent trip to Africa. He reminded us that as a progressive community, we must fight beyond our national borders in order to make the world a better and safer place for everyone.