Andrea Batista Schlesinger

Thank you

This week, Arianna Huffington, Harry Belafonte, Bruce Raynor, and Eric Schneiderman went on the record in support of the work of the Drum Major Institute.

These four inspiring Americans -- all fighting the good fight from their various perches on the Internet, the union hall, the state house, and public life -- participated in DMI's first-ever winter fundraising campaign.

You can read their notes by clicking on their names above. But I wanted to thank them here for endorsing us and lending us their names. These are all folks pulled in many directions, and who have their own endeavors for which to raise funds.

This December is four years since I began here at the Drum Major Institute. Our charge was to breathe life into an institute that played an important role in the civil rights movement by refocusing its energy into winning the battle of ideas.

We went from a tiny shop of 3 in 2002 to a staff of 5, Fellows all over the city, a Board of directors of almost 20, and interns and collaborators and consultants and supporters far and wide. We have attracted some of the most compelling people in American politics and policy, from the Clintons to John Edwards to Eliot Spitzer to Hilda Solis to Arianna Huffington to Harry Belafonte to Jerry Nadler and on and on. Thousands of people have attended our events and look at our web site each day. Our work has been covered far and wide by the press, but more importantly, it has really been used by forces on the ground. We are a work in progress, for sure. But our progress is a sign that the progressive movement is hungry for new ideas and fresh thinking

So I wanted to use this post to say thank you -- to the participants in this week's email campaign, but also to everyone who has helped DMI enter 2006 ready to fuel the engines of change.

Andrea Batista Schlesinger: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 5:50 PM, Dec 08, 2005 in Progressive Agenda
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