Finding and Promoting Young Liberal Talent

We've talked about The Reconstruction Papers, one project we will pursue if we reach our goal. Today I wanted to talk a little about something we are already doing, and have sought to do from the very beginning.

In February of 2017, a month before our launch, I began an email outreach campaign. I gathered the contact info for every local ACLU affiliate I could find on Google, and wrote them some version of the following:

I'm currently involved in launching an online outlet for talented, young, and liberal voices. I was hoping to get connected with any of the staff at your office that might be interested in that. We're especially interested in people who can speak knowledgeably about restraining executive power and criminal justice reform.

Please let your young employees know that they can feel free to contact me on this matter. In addition, if you or they know of any young liberals outside of the ACLU who ought to have a bigger voice, please let me know! I want to help as many people who share our values to get their start as I can.

This effort did not really bear fruit. Those chapters that replied were polite but mostly a bit confused by the request. Several made an honest effort to see if there was some way to turn this into something, but ultimately it did not go anywhere.

In the wake of Trump's first election I was feeling motivated, but had not yet found an approach. But our goal of becoming a vehicle for young, unheard liberals to find their voice never changed.

This isn't just something we're going to do if we meet our goal. This is something we are doing, today, and have been for years. We have published over 230 writers, many of them young. For many of those young writers, we are either the first or one of the first places they have been published. It is always exciting when I see writers who got their start with us go on to publications like the Guardian or The New Republic or other larger, more established places.

I'll never forget publishing Bianca Gonzalez in particular for the first time, doing so two or three more times, and then getting effectively outbid on her by better funded organizations. Frankly, it was wonderful! We were sorry to lose her and we've increased our fee substantially since that time, so that we can afford more writers like her for longer. But helping people like Bianca succeed is the whole point!

Because the mission is to spread the influence of liberals who really believe in their principles. Becoming a springboard for liberals like that, who may not have found their way or may have had it delayed by years, is nothing but an honor for us.

What we will do if we meet our funding goal is get even better at this. We will invest more effort in finding those liberal voices, in more effectively making them heard. We will turn Liberal Currents into a publication where fresh ideas and new liberal talent appear first, a publication that larger media organizations have to watch closely if they don't want to be late on either.

This is already happening. Our testimonials and other endorsements prove that writers, editors, and anchors from a wide cross-section of big media institutions are paying attention. One thing we will always make sure of is that our young, up and coming talent get the benefit of that attention.

If you want to support that effort, please make a donation and help us meet our goal. If we do, we will certainly launch new and important projects like The Reconstruction Papers. But we will also build on the good foundation we have already laid over the course of close to nine years.