Accomplishments:
Past accomplishments:
Arizona Student Vote Coalition: Here in Arizona and nationwide,
we helped register and turn out young voters for the 2008 National
Election. At ASU-Tempe we helped nearly 2,000 students register and made
over 5,000 reminders to students during the days leading up to Election
Day through emails, calls, canvassing, tabling, and text messages.
There were 3.4 million more young voters in 2008 compared to 2004. The
youth share of the electorate also surpassed that of people over 65 - an
impressive feat.
Hunger and Homelessness: We are facing one of the worst economic
crises since the Great Depression. Unemployment rates keep going higher
and more people are forced into poverty every day.
W joined the national Hunger Cleanup, a day of service and fundraising,
to serve our local community and raise money for local, national, and
international agencies addressing poverty. Here at ASU's Tempe campus,
volunteers raised over $500 dollars to fund Lodestar Day Resource
Center, a local organization that provides wrap-around services for
homeless adults in downtown Phoenix.
Making Higher Education Affordable: We helped convince Congress
to include several key measures in the economic stimulus - a $17 billion
increase in Pell grant funding, more work-study aid, and bigger tax
credits for low-income students and their families.
Also, President Obama proposed a budget for 2010-2011 which
significantly reinvests in the Pell grant and makes sure it increases
each year according to inflation. The proposal pays for itself by
cutting excessive subsidies to bank and lenders in the student loan
program.
Here at school, we collected petitions, made phone calls, and meet one
on one with Congressman Harry Mitchell to make sure he stands up for
students, not banks, by encouraging his fellow congressmen to keep these
provisions in the budget.
Global Warming: We worked to make sure that the economic stimulus
package included critical funding for programs that will create jobs
and protect the environment, including $16 billion for public transit
and $78 billion for clean energy and green infrastructure.
We collected nearly 1,000 signatures of support and public comments on
campus to make sure Congressman Mitchell fights for legislation to put
us on a path to solve global warming by increasing clean energy,
reducing emissions, and creating new jobs.
Protecting Students from Bad Credit Card Practices: Our report,
"The Campus Credit Card Trap," received national attention for exposing
the bad practices of credit card companies on campus and has been quoted
in newspapers across the country, including the New York Times. We used
this attention to educate our elected leaders and help pass the
national Credit Card Holder Bill of Rights to stop some of the worst
credit terms and conditions that can plunge students - and all consumers
- into debt.
On campus, we collected signatures of support, as well as working
closely with student government leaders to protect ASU students from
predatory credit card marketing tactics.