Our Time (nonprofit)

Last updated
Our Time
FormationMarch 2011 [1]
PurposeA nationwide non-profit organization that empowers and speaks for the interests of young Americans
Headquarters Washington, D.C.
Membership
more than 1,000,000
Co-Founder and President
 Matthew Segal
Co-Founder and Head of Business Development
Jarrett Moreno

Our Time (corporately styled OurTime.org) is an American organization founded by Matthew Segal and Jarrett Moreno, focused on organizing campaigns that register and educate voters, advocating for economic opportunity, and covering political news aimed at young Americans.

Contents

The organization absorbed Declare Yourself and the Student Association for Voter Empowerment, and began operations as a 501(c)(3) in March 2011. The organization says that its positions are based upon its assessment of majority views of the millennial generation.

History

Declare Yourself began during the 2004 presidential elections to encourage young people to register to vote. It began as the "Declaration of Independence Road Trip", a 50-city cross-country tour of a rare Dunlap broadside of the Declaration of Independence lasting three-and-a-half years.

Up to its merger with the Student Association for Voter Empowerment, Declare Yourself registered almost 4 million young people to vote using online tools, on-location efforts, and an Ultimate College Bowl contests. [2]

Founded in 2006, the Student Association for Voter Empowerment was an association of students that worked to bring young Americans into the political process by breaking down barriers to electoral participation and encouraging youth-led policy solutions. The organization's initiatives included attempted Congressional passage of the Student Voter Act [3] and 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs - a coalition of youth groups to address unemployment issues for young people during the Great Recession. [4]

Former campaigns

In April 2011, Our Time released a petition identifying underrepresentation of 18- to 34-year-olds in national opinion polls. The campaign began in response to CNN poll results on social issues that cited the favor/oppose percentages of this age group as "N/A". [5] "N/A is Not OK" generated a response from CNN who mentioned, "The data for the 18-to-34 age group is listed as 'N/A' in the breakdown of age groups because the sample size was too small for statistically valid analysis." [6] Our Time responded by recommending that the polling industry innovate and adopt new technologies to reach younger Americans.

To address the high youth unemployment rate, Our Time called on the media to focus more attention on the issue, pointing out that the economic issues surrounding the 2011 riots in the Middle East were not dissimilar from the problems facing American youth. [7]

Buy Young offered exclusive deals from companies founded by Americans under 35. The campaign encouraged Americans to purchase products from young companies and support youth job creation. [8] OUR TIME used profits from its Buy Young campaign to fund non-partisan voter registration and consumer education activities. [9]

On July 13, 2011, Our Time convened more than 125 young CEOs and executives in Washington, D.C., at the White House, the Chamber of Commerce and Capitol Hill to launch the campaign and push for greater job creation and economic opportunities for young Americans. [10] [11]

News About You provided, five days a week, headlines about the economy, education, politics, employment, as well as a lifestyles and comedy section.

Current campaigns

Our Time's biggest ongoing campaigns include voter registration, voting reform, and getting money out of politics. Using social media and their online voter registration tool, the organization hopes to engage and register record numbers of young voters for the 2014 election.

Our Time has testified to Congress [12] on the importance of voting reforms. They also released a report in November of 2013 with the Advancement Project on the obstacles faced by millennials and young voters of color at the polls. [13] They use social media such as shareable petitions and videos to raise awareness about this issue among young voters.

Our Time frequently reaches out to millennials on social media on the issue of money in politics as well, using petitions, memes, and news summaries. They were one of the many groups that signed the amicus brief in support of the appellee in the McCutcheon et al. v. FEC Supreme Court case. [14]

Sirius XM Radio show

On April 22, 2014, Sirius XM announced the launch of OurTime with Matthew Segal, a six-week series produced by and for Millennial listeners on P.O.T.U.S., the Sirius channel dedicated to the Politics of the United States. [15] [16]

Related Research Articles

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Declare Yourself was an American campaign that aimed to encourage young people to register to vote. The campaign was founded by philanthropist, Norman Lear in 2004 and was led by former American presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. The 2004 campaign consisted of a road trip to towns across the country to educate people about the United States Declaration of Independence and voting rights. The 2006 campaign involved public service announcements that compared not voting to people silencing themselves and not standing up for their beliefs. The 2008 campaign consisted of videos posted on YouTube and MySpace to promote voting and the 2011 campaign featured a bondage-themed photo series comparing not voting to restricting yourself. In 2011, Declare Yourself merged with another campaign to form the nonprofit, Our Time.

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References

  1. ↑ Stone, Andrea (March 25, 2011). "'AARP For Under 30 Set' Aims to Get Fair Share For Millennial Generation". The Huffington Post. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  2. ↑ "UCSB Leads in Nationwide Voter Registration Contest". Santa Barbara Independent. 12 October 2008. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Testimony of Matthew Segal, Executive Director of SAVE, before the House Judiciary Committee" (PDF). Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Testimony of Matthew Segal, Executive Director of SAVE, before the House Education and Labor Committee" (PDF). Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Group pushes for polls to include Millennials". Chicago Tribune RedEye. Retrieved April 25, 2011.
  6. ↑ Segal, Matthew. "CNN: N/A is Still Not OK". The Huffington Post. Retrieved April 22, 2011.
  7. ↑ "New Nonprofit Lets Youth Fight Back Against AARP". The Baltimore Sun. 24 April 2011. Retrieved April 24, 2011.
  8. ↑ Gray, Noah (July 18, 2011). "'Buy Young' wants you to vote with your wallet". CNN. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  9. ↑ "Why Buy Young?" . Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  10. ↑ Ribitzky, Romy (July 13, 2011). "It's Our Time to Buy Young". Portfolio. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  11. ↑ Tozzi, John (July 12, 2011). "Buy Young' Movement Supports Gen Y Entrepreneurs". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  12. ↑ "Voting Reform Testimony" (PDF). Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Time Tax Report" . Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  14. ↑ "McCutcheon Amicus Brief" (PDF). Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  15. ↑ Sirius XM Press Release SiriusXM Launches "OurTime with Matthew Segal" on SiriusXM P.O.T.U.S. Retrieved April 24, 2014
  16. ↑ Rojas, Warren (April 23, 2014). "Millennial Activist Aims to Decode Congress Speak". Roll Call. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
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