Daily Resource Highlight - 06/13/2022
Posted by on June 13, 2022 at 10:59 AM
Below are the highlights and featured resources of this past week’s Daily* Resource.
June 7, 2022 - Let’s Be Honest With Ourselves About Spending
Accounting is complicated. I briefly took Accounting for Lawyers in law school, and I switched to a different class within the week. It feels like it should be as simple as income vs. expenses, but it’s very much not. And it can get vastly more complicated in a hurry.
That’s why I am very appreciative of the work of the Bridge Alliance’s newest member, Truth in Accounting (TIA). TIA’s mission is very simple – they want to simplify government budget reporting so that Americans know how much their governments (including at the city level!) are spending vs. receiving. Are they saying that our government should spend less? No. They simply want Americans to be informed so they can make their own decisions.
That said, there are good reasons to be concerned about government spending. According to Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) (which does advocate for responsible spending), both the Social Security and Medicare programs are rapidly running out of money. Additionally, our debt spending is on track to reach unprecedented levels based on optimistic projections.
So what should we do with this information, if anything? Organizations like CRFB and It’s Up To Us have ideas and possibly solutions. And maybe you’re the right person to get the conversation started. If you think you are, consider applying for Living Room Conversation’s Host Certification Program. LRC is committed to helping Americans through difficult conversations, which is a necessary first step toward finding solutions. Applications are due tomorrow, so sign up today!
June 9, 2022 - The Civvys Are THIS Sunday! Be Inspired by the Live Stream!
Back in April, we asked you for nominations for the 5th American Civic Collaboration Awards (a.k.a. The Civvys), and you came through in a BIG way. The winners of the Civvys will be announced on June 12th at 5:30 PM ET at the Civic Season in Atlanta. You can catch the livestream here.
We received a record number of nominations, with countless stories of people working to collaborate across divides at the national, local, and youth levels. From there, the Bridge Alliance team chose 16 finalists (including Bridge Alliance members American Democracy Project, Urban Rural Action, American Public Square, and strategic partner Vote by Design). The finalists were then sent to our teams of judges, who had the unenviable task of choosing three winners. Meet our esteemed judges:
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National Category
- David L. Nevins (The Fulcrum)
- Neal Simon (Unite America)
- Liz Joyner (Village Square)
- Rochelle Colburn (Millennial Action Project)
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Local Category
- Annafi Wahed (The FlipSide)
- Ross Irwin (BridgeUSA)
- Maria Yuan (IssueVoter)
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Youth Category
- Amy Farrell (GenerationNation - 2019 Winner)
- Lida Azim (America Indivisible)
- Alzeta Wilson (Junior State of America)
- Jerren Chang (GenUnity)
See the winners announced live during the Civvys award ceremony on Sunday at 5:30 PM ET. And stick around for a tribute to the late Rob Stein – whose contributions to the movement will be recognized with the first ever Lifetime Achievement Award.
Featured
- AllSides (blog) May 29th: NRA Convention Highlights Partisan Divide on Gun Control Laws
- AllSides (blog) June 2nd: What Are "Assault Rifles" and "Assault Weapons"?
- AllSides (blog) June 6th: How College Students Can Help Save Local News
- American Values Coalition (blog) May 26th: 2000 Mules: Big if true, but why does it cost $29.99?
- American Values Coalition (blog) June 2nd: Another Civil War?
- Ballotpedia (blog) May 31st: How COVID, race, and gender affected the April 5 school board races in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin
- BillTrack50 (blog) June 3rd: Concealed Carry Law Updates Across the States -- Guest Post by Jordan McDowell
- BridgeUSA (blog) May 30th: Memorial Day: Answering Our Call to Civic Duty
- Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (blog) May 31st: Debt Could Reach 125% of GDP With Irresponsible Actions
- Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (analysis) June 2nd: Analysis of the 2022 Social Security Trustees' Report
- Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (analysis) June 2nd: Analysis of the 2022 Medicare Trustees' Report
- Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (blog) June 8th: Event Recap: What's New in the 2022 Social Security and Medicare Trustees Reports?
- Common Ground Committee (video) June 7th: Finding Common Ground on Election Reform - Full Event
- Common Ground Committee, 92NY (form) due June 15th: Sign Up for the Unify Challenge
- Congressional Management Foundation (blog) May 31st: Congress: Change Your Office Phone Answering Policies AGAIN
- Congressional Management Foundation (blog) May 27th: Principle 10: Input from the public should be integrated with other sources of information for Congress to make good public policy decisions.
- Divided We Fall (blog) June 1st: Does America Need a Third Party?
- Election Reformers Network (resolution) May 27th: Election Reform 2022: Challenges and Opportunities at Home and Nationally
- Essential Partners (report) June 1st: Case Study: Theological Horizons at the University of Virginia
- Essential Partners (blog) June 7th: White Ally Dialogue Script
- FairVote (graphic) June 1st: Monopoly Politics
- FairVote (blog) June 1st: Monopoly Politics: A Call for the Fair Representation Act
- iCivics (blog) June 1st: Encourage Your Students to Apply to Join the 2022–23 Equity in Civics Youth Fellowship Cohort!
- Interactivity Foundation (blog) June 2nd: Freedom From Want: a Community Conversation about Four Freedoms (Part 3 of 4)
- Independent Voter News, Divided We Fall (blog) June 3rd: Do We Really Need A Third Party?
- Issue One (article) June 8th: Issue One and Protect Democracy Host National Security Press Briefing Ahead of Jan. 6 Hearings
- Listen First Project, Network for Responsible Public Policy (video) June 2nd: #ListenFirst Friday The Network for Responsible Public Policy
- Living Room Conversations (form) due June 8th: Host Certification Online Course
- Mobile Voting Project (blog) May 26th: Bradley Tusk: The Only Way
- National Vote at Home Institute (blog) June 2nd: Power of mailed-out ballots clear in May primaries
- R Street Institute (report) June 1st: America’s Primary Elections Are Ripe for Reform
- Sphere Education Initiative (form) due July 1st: Sphere Summit: Teaching Civic Culture Together 2022
- The Factual (blog) May 24th: The Top 10 Fact-Checking Sites
- The Flip Side (newsletter) Jun 6th: Chesa Boudin
- The Flip Side (newsletter) May 31st: Uvalde Police
- Voice of the People (survey) June 8th: Large Majorities of Republicans and Democrats Agree on Steps to Drastically Reduce Social Security Shortfall