Making the Case: The Cutting-Edge Work of Winograd & Hais & the Emergence of a New Millennial Era

Publish Date: 
Wednesday, May 13, 2009

In a recent e-mail, I asked you to consider supporting NDN again this year. I promised that, over these spring and summer months, we would make the case for why we need your support, and what we can do if we have it once again. This letter is that next step -- reviewing some of our recent accomplishments and laying out our vision for where we want to take NDN in the exciting new age of Obama.

Right-click here to download pictures. To help protect your privacy, Outlook prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet. AmazonMillennialIn recent years, some of NDN's most significant work has been in making the case that a new politics is emerging in America, a politics driven by the new challenges we face, the new media and technology we use and the very different type of people we have become.

Perhaps no other area of this new politics has generated more attention and interest than NDN's groundbreaking work on the young Millennial Generation, an enormously powerful new force in American politics. NDN began this work more than three years ago, and was among the very first in center left politics to put this generation not at the proverbial kids' table, but at the adults' table, where it belongs. 

Our Millennial work began in 2006 with a compelling paper, "Politics of the Millennial Generation," by NDN Fellows Morley Winograd and Mike Hais, who then spent the next year researching and writing their critically acclaimed 2008 best-seller, Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube & the Future of American Politics. The book details the progressive attitudes and beliefs of the Millennial Generation, the largest and most progressive generation in American history. 

Today, I am proud to say that Morley and Mike have clearly emerged as leading interpreters of the new American political landscape. Their book has been critically acclaimed; their essays are appearing in the nation's leading op-ed pages; and they are now regularly quoted by the nation's top journalists. It has been exciting to see our vision confirmed by events and increasingly recognized by the public. Some specific highlights:

Morley and Mike have published powerful op-eds on the progressive politics of the Millennial Generation in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Politico, Huffington Post and other major outlets.

Calling Millennial Makeover "highly prescient," New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic Michiko Kakutani chose the book as one of her Top 10 favorities in 2008.

Millennial Makeover
and Morley and Mike have garnered tremedous media coverage, including major articles in National Journal, USA TODAY, Frank Rich's New York Times column, Newsweek and much more. Yesterday, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a front page story which quoted them extensively about how the GOP stands to become irrelevant if it fails to connect with young voters.

Additionally, Morley and Mike are leading voices on national service and volunteerism. The issue is a major priority for both "civic" generation Millennials, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.

It has been an impressive ride so far, and our contribution to the national debate consequential. But there is much more we can, and want, to do. 

So, this is the investment opportunity: by supporting NDN this year, you can help us continue this work. If we raise enough money, we plan on establishing a modest "Center for the Millennial Era," a hub that will further our research into this generation, conduct regular surveys, and in a deeply strategic way, continue to help those in center left politics understand and adapt their own politics to the emerging politics of the Millennials.

While you have many choices on where to invest this year, I hope you will once again support NDN and help us stay ahead of the curve. Your support will help build this exciting new project, the "Center for the Millennial Era" as well as fund our other critical work.

To support NDN today, you can just go to www.ndn.org or click here. To support our 501 c3, The New Policy Institute, you can just go to www.newpolicyinstitute.org or click here. Or, give me a call at 202-842-7217. Look for more from us in the weeks ahead that will make our case - a compelling case I believe. I am very proud of what we have done, what we are doing today, and what we have planned for the future.

Thank you for your support of NDN in the past, and I look forward to your continued membership in this wonderful network of thinkers, leaders and advocates at this important time for our nation.

Best,

S