PennPIRG_-_Getting_on_Track[1]

Today I was able to get PennPIRG into a coalition called the Next Great City. The Next Great City in turn signed on to the transit principals. This organization took longer to persuade than the previous ones, I spoke to three different individuals who kept forwarding me to someone else. I had to give my speech on why they should sign onto the principals about four times, because I spoke to the secretary extensively without knowing she had no power what so ever. So it felt good to land them because I’ve been pursuing Next Great City for over two weeks.

            Over the weekend I really got to see which organizations are serious and which are truly run by one, or a handful of relatively inactive members. Over the last two week I have been contacting organizations via e-mail and phone calls, some I did not receive anything from not even a no from some. I persisted and found that most of these organizations do not have enough people to answer e-mails or make calls during the week and operate mostly as a weekend driven organization. That is what organizations like; It Takes A Village claimed was the case.

            So this past weekend I attempted to contact these non respondent organizations, some for the fifth or sixth time with no response. I found out that one had ended and just hasn’t pulled down the webpage, It Takes A Village goes straight to a voicemail system they never appear to check, and the other non respondents did not list anything other than an e-mail, in which case they are just choosing not to answer me.

            Oh well tomorrow is a new day, maybe I will hook another signer. I think I am going to give up on my total non respondents. I don’t want to be completely annoying.

Goodnight!

http://www.pennpirg.org/

               Today I was able to arrange a meeting with the President of PennTrans (an organization that advocates for better transportation quality and options), myself, and Catherine Ngo my director. The conference call was really good because our values obviously aligned. PennTrans signed on immediately the President said he was sure it would receive approval from the board, and was thus empowered to sign on behalf of the organization.

            Bill Millar the President speaking on behalf of the organization actually did most of the talking because he really likes the PIRG network, and actually worked for PIRG when he got out of college. He is also close with PennFuture and collaborates with them on occasion (PennFuture was my first signer). He was just a really nice and energized man who was especially excited about all of the new money Obama is releasing for transportation projects. My director and I actually did a limited amount of talking and the conversation was an extremely friendly one of two organizations, with common goals, supporting each other.

            I  have organizations on my list that will be a little more difficult to convince, but for the most part today felt like a cake walk because I didn’t have to do much convincing. Mr. Millar did however give me more names of organizations and people to talk to, which was also a great help.

 

I listed their web page below for those we are interested.

 

http://www.pentrans.org/

                 For my project I am expanding on an existing campaign that PennPIRG is doing called the 21^st Century Transportation Principals Campaign. The campaign revolves around a set of principals that emphasize more mass transit, and integrating more green energy technology. So far the people at PennPIRG have targeted legislators to support the principals (that will be presented to Mayor Nutter soon), my idea was to reach out to local organizations and have them sign on to the principals. I felt that community members are just as important if not more important than what a legislator thinks, because the community elects the legislator.

            I have complied an extensive list of organizations whose interests would coincide with the transportation principals, and today I began to reach out. I found out rather quickly that some organizations are professional and some seem to be run by one person who checks the e-mail once a month. The professional ones had secretaries and attractive web pages, and the less developed ones didn’t have anyone answering the phone and voice mail boxes that were full. The good news is I already got an organization to sign on called PennFuture. One down thirty to go!!!

           One of the groups I’ve been talking to for my project called Penn Future, did a really cool solar workshop recently. They bought airtime so the information could be widely accessible, and hopefully hit a new audience. The workshop taught homeowners and business owners about solar energy and how they can integrate it into ones home or business.

           Solar panels have historically been extremely expensive, but recent developments have been made to cut down production cost by utilizing different materials. Solar panels are now affordable, especially given the 5,000 dollar tax credit that the Obama administration is advertising for people looking to improve their homes with green energy products. It’s really exciting to have a president who supports green energy and mass transit with funding and not just in speeches.