This past Thursday (8/6/2020), students from around Santa Clara County joined together in a Youth Takeover of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party Central Committee (SCCDCC). These students, led by the Santa Clara County High School Democrats of America, worked heavily for the past month in writing three resolutions pertinent to the youth in our county. The first group worked on a Resolution Calling for the Preservation of Access to Student Mental Health Services, aimed at providing more mental health resources to students. The next wrote a Resolution Calling for an Increase of Public Transportation in Santa Clara County, urging the county to push for more public transport to help reduce climate change and help low-income communities. The last group worked on a Resolution Calling for Implementation of Ethnic Studies Curriculum, aimed at representing more BIPOC authors and communities in schools. The Youth Takeover was led and organized by SCCDCC Youth Representative Zoe Parkhomovsky, who was Chair of the Youth Takeover, and students acted as Youth Delegates. Each group presented and voiced their opinions on their resolution and showed the Committee the power of their generation. At the end of the Youth Takeover, the Committee affirmed the Youth Delegates’ adoption of these resolutions making them county policy for the party.

As we have in challenging times past, our Santa Clara County Democratic Party will convene a Call to Action, on Saturday, August 15, 2020, 10am-12noon, to learn from each other and organize ourselves to make progressive change through electoral politics. We’ll hear from Representative Ro Khanna and San Jose City Councilmember Magdalena Carrasco and learn ways to get engaged in this critical election.

To register and receive your personalized link to participate: https://bit.ly/2020calltoaction

On Saturday, June 13, 2020 the SCCDP hosted a virtual training event attended by more than 100 candidates, campaign leaders, and youth. The keynote speakers were Board of Equalization Member, the Honorable Malia Cohen, and Close the Gap founder Mary Hughes. Ms. Cohen shared her compelling personal story of engagement in public life and encouraged attendees to embrace the “over achiever” spirit that may have piqued their interest in electoral politics. Mary Hughes described how she came to found Close the Gap and noted the progress the group and others have made in increasing the representation of women in the California legislature from 21% to 32% – solid progress but still a long way to go! The group of more than 100 participants split into separate panels for candidates, campaign leaders, and youth, each of which reported hosting an active discussion with an engaged group of attendees. The SCCDP plans to host similar events in the coming months, perhaps to specifically help candidates and their supporters navigate the landscape we’re all likely to face this election cycle due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Santa Clara County Democratic Party joins those who are mourning the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tony McDade. We share in the anger and frustration that is propelling so many people into the streets to demonstrate and demand justice for Black lives being taken by those who are supposed to protect and serve. These injustices cannot continue…

To see the full statement, follow THIS LINK.

For a printable copy, follow THIS LINK.

To see the accompanying resolution, follow THIS LINK.

The Santa Clara County Democratic Party is hosting a 2020 Campaign Training on Saturday, June 13 from 10am-12pm. This free online event is for prospective and declared candidates, campaign staff, youth in politics, and folks who want to learn from the best.

The program will offer topics and tools to support progressive Democrats interested in public office, political campaigns, and leadership positions. Email rsvp@sccdp.org for Zoom registration information.

Partial list of speakers and presenters:

To download a flyer to share with your contacts, follow THIS LINK.

Thanks to all of you who joined us for the Soul Saturday event. Whether or not you were able to participate, there are actions you can take as we mobilize for the Presidential Election.

On Saturday, 4/25/2020, thousands of people across the country held meetings like ours! We are all reaching out to neighbors and community heroes to show support and thank the people that are getting us through this crisis. As promised, here are all of the links we talked about from the Biden campaign:

1. Soul Saturday Resource Kit (instructions for selfie videos, printable signs and coloring pages): https://go.joebiden.com/page/content/soul-of-the-nation-saturday-tool-kit/
2. Report back on your neighbor-to-neighbor calls here: https://go.joebiden.com/page/s/report-out
3. Stay in touch about future campaign events here: https://www.mobilize.us/joebiden/
4. Here is the form to contact today’s Biden Campaign Field Organizer, Cari Berlin, directly: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf-A0X_aGH00OyPzXz0Mswpz9qtDtuD1pkMyNc8XNhIZQj6XQ/viewform

In addition, below are opportunities to get involved with the Santa Clara County Democratic Party:

1. Send us your selfie videos and we’ll create a montage out of it for the Biden campaign! Please email your videos to videos@sccdp.org
2. Sign up for updates from the Santa Clara County Democratic Party at https://bit.ly/sccdp_volunteer – we’ll be making community calls to the county party lists!
3. Find out more information about our internship program here: https://sccdp.org/index.php/get-involved/intern-with-us/
4. Volunteer with the Democratic Volunteer Center to make calls, write postcards, and text for critical upcoming Senate, House, and State Races: https://demvolctr.org/

Titus Lin
Director of Campaign Services
Santa Clara County Democratic Party
campaign@sccdp.org