CivicActions

Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of Massachusetts, Inc. (VLA) is a non-profit organization established to meet the legal needs of the state's artistic community. The current VLA was incorporated in September 1989 through the joint efforts of the Boston Bar Association, the Artists Foundation and the City of Boston's Office of Cultural Affairs. VLA is the only organization in Massachusetts designed specifically to address the legal concerns of the arts community. VLA provides a Legal Referral Program, seminars and workshops to artists and arts organizations from all creative disciplines including, among others, visual arts, music, literary arts, performing arts, and film and video.

Oregon Democrats are dedicated to the common good - not just wealthy special interests - and seek to restore the middle class economically.

Too often the debate over creative control tends to the extremes. At one pole is a vision of total control — a world in which every last use of a work is regulated and in which "all rights reserved" (and then some) is the norm. At the other end is a vision of anarchy — a world in which creators enjoy a wide range of freedom but are left vulnerable to exploitation. Balance, compromise, and moderation — once the driving forces of a copyright system that valued innovation and protection equally — have become endangered species.

Creative Commons is working to revive them. They use private rights to create public goods: creative works set free for certain uses. Like the free software and open-source movements, the ends are cooperative and community-minded, but the means are voluntary and libertarian. Creative Commons works to offer creators a best-of-both-worlds way to protect their works while encouraging certain uses of them — to declare "some rights reserved."

Thus, a single goal unites Creative Commons' current and future projects: to build a layer of reasonable, flexible copyright in the face of increasingly restrictive default rules.

MEDIACOW is a network-generating system that makes it easy for social content creators to program and share their own customized, branded video-sharing websites. Activists and progressive video content creators can use the site to create a network profile and logo, program a content lineup from the video archive, generate customized email campaigns and email lists, upgrade existing websites with an embeddable video player, and program in-player "calls to action" to start turning page views into actions.

Jerry Brown, former governor of California, presidential hopeful and current mayor of Oakland is running for California Attorney General. CivicActions' team, lead by project manager Aaron Pava, is building the Internet infrastructure for the campaign, including the campaign website, integrated emailing infrastructure and interactive incentive program for campaign volunteers. See the full project description.

Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights for all.

Amnesty has more than 2.2 million members and subscribers in more than 150 countries and regions and coordinates this support to act for justice on a wide range of issues. Their mission is to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated.

Amnesty members and supporters exert influence on governments, political bodies, companies and intergovernmental groups. Activists take up human rights issues by mobilizing public pressure through mass demonstrations, vigils and direct lobbying as well as online and offline campaigning.

The Quixote Center is a faith-based social justice center based in Washington, D.C. that works as an advocate for those with few resources to advance their struggles. The organization’s many programs (including Books to Prisoners and Equal Justice USA) work against racism and injustice in the criminal justice system. The Quixote Center has more than 70,000 members, friends and donors. In addition to their active programs, they serve as a fiscal sponsor for a wide range of social justice projects.

Tagging of Pacific Predators is a project of Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Institute, which works closely with the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California. TOPP was launched as part of the Census of Marine Life, a multi-species tagging project based in the North Pacific, and consisting of a partnership among many organizations and research facilities.

TOPP's work enables scientists and website visitors to learn about the mysterious depths of the world's largest ocean through the eyes of the creatures who live primarily in the zones offshore. Data transmitted through the tags is transmitted to a live-access server, which is displayed in a collection of detailed maps.

To date, TOPP researchers have tagged more than 2000 animals from 23 species, including leatherback turtles, giant tuna, squid, and albatross.

CivicActions work with TOPP includes development of the Great Turtle Race site, as well as a temporary jump page from the race, and coming soon, a newly designed and interactive website.

The Archimedes Movement was founded by former Governor, Oregon State Senate President and doctor of emergency medicine John Kitzhaber, who is well known in Oregon and beyond as an outspoken advocate for health care reform.

The mission of the Archimedes Movement is to create a new space for civic engagement outside of traditional legislative and governance structures to advance solutions to the common problems we face – starting with the crisis in the U.S. health care system. The organization is tackling this issue by providing tools and support for stakeholders organized in local groups and chapters who want to get involved in this issue to do so effectively. The Archimedes staff provides information and support to the grass roots activists who are so vital a part of the fight for just health care.

CivicActions was proud to partner with Steve Westly on his 2006 bid for Governor of California. Westly understood that quality public education was the state government’s top priority. He was also committed to protecting the environment by fighting global warming as the leader of one of the largest economies in the World. At 23, Westly became the youngest party official in the California Democratic Party and he served as eBay’s Treasurer, one of most successful technology companies in recent years. CivicActions honors his support of stem-cell research, public education and technological innovation.

Before he lost in the California primary, CivicActions worked with Westly’s campaign to build a Free and open-source software web site called RallyCA.com with integrated blogs, private and public forums, volunteer management, and a "points" system to incentive users to take specific actions on behalf on the campaign. We wish Westly the best in his new endeavors.

The Women's Funding Network is 128 organizations that fund women's solutions across the globe. We give women the money and tools to transform their ideas into lasting change — in every critical area from combating poverty to achieving advances in healthcare, education and human rights.

Evolve Strategies serves nonprofit and political clients, as well as those involved in issue advocacy. They provide strategic services as well as the implementation of online campaigns, advertising, and traditional media. They specialize in using new media to expand their clients’ constituencies, and bring the full dynamic power of the web to their causes.

The Free Software Foundation (FSF), established in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' rights to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free software, particularly the GNU operating system, used widely in its GNU/Linux variant. "Free software" is a matter of liberty, not price. This freedom is a core value of CivicActions. We are honored to work with the FSF to help them fulfill their mission of protecting computer users' rights to study and modify source code as well as protect the privacy of computer users everywhere by fighting the spread of Digital Rights Management.

Jim Hightower's organization, Public Intelligence, came to us to redesign Hightower's websites and collaborate on developing a new activist site focused on corporate social responsibility. The alignment between Hightowers' organization and CivicActions could not have been closer. Jim Hightower, a populist commentator, syndicated columnist and pamphleteer is the embodiment of many of our core values. See the full project description.

Front Row Music is a fair-trade online music TV station and e-commerce company delivering the best in live contemporary and historic blues, jazz, bluegrass, roots and acoustic music. They record and publicize music and music videos from a variety of live venues including BBs Jazz, Blues and Soups in St. Louis. Front Row Music also partners with organizations including the Blue Shoe Project to bring more music to the world.

LINC is a ten-year national initiative to improve conditions for artists in all disciplines, so that artists can more readily do their creative work and contribute to community life. While LINC does not serve artists directly, they support organizations all over the nation who provide support, information and resources to the arts community. Through their support, LINC aims to create a national network for artists that is eventually maintained and expanded by the arts community.

At CivicActions we believe that knowledge truly is power, especially when it is in the hands of voters. That is why we enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to work with the New York League of Conservation Voters. NYLCV has been gathering and disseminating information about the voting records of politicians in New York for more than a decade. The League holds politicians accountable by publishing these voting records, and, during elections, interviewing and endorsing candidates who have voted for pro-environmental legislation. This information helps empower voters to cast their votes based on values of conservation. Our work with the NYLCV is completely in line with our commitment to environmental sustainability, civic engagement and participation and openness an transparency.

Science First is a New York-based communications firm that works to benefit the public interest by serving clients working on climate change, public education and water issues.

WITNESS uses video and online technologies to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations. They empower people to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools for justice, promoting public engagement and policy change.

WITNESS and CivicActions are partnering on an exciting project called the WITNESS Video Hub. The hub will be a participatory website where anyone, anywhere can upload human rights related media that can be used to create change.

The ACLU has played a major role in nearly every critical civil liberties battle of the last century. Their mission to defend the rights of all citizens as enshrined in the Bill of Rights aligns with the primary core values of CivicActions. In recent years, as the current administration has been relentless on their assault of privacy rights though the "Patriot Act" and President's illegal NSA spying, the work of the ACLU has become paramount.

CivicActions has partnered with ACLU, Evolve Strategies, and Active Voice on the launch of ACLU.TV, a revolutionary, 10-part series that tells the stories of real people in America whose civil liberties have been threatened, and how they fought back.

The Institute of Noetic Sciences is a nonprofit membership organization located in Northern California that conducts and sponsors leading-edge research into the potentials and powers of consciousness — including perceptions, beliefs, attention, intention, and intuition. The institute explores phenomena that do not necessarily fit conventional scientific models, while maintaining a commitment to scientific rigor.

The institute is not a spiritual association, political-action group, or a single-cause institute. Rather, IONS honors open-minded approaches and multiple ways of knowing, bring discernment to their work, and support diversity of perspectives on social and scientific matters. See the full project description.

Storefront Political Media is a Democratic consulting firm providing quality media, communications and general consulting services to campaigns and candidates throughout the country.

The firm is one of the few in the nation that brings together all aspects of political media and management to help create clear, concise and coordinated campaigns.

The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) is the leading organization promoting walkable, neighborhood-based development as an alternative to sprawl. Whether it's bringing restorative plans to hurricane-battered communities in the Gulf Coast, turning dying malls into vibrant mixed-use neighborhoods, or reconnecting isolated public housing projects to the surrounding fabric, new urbanists are providing leadership in community building.

When CNU came to us looking to develop a second website for their 15th Congress we were excited by the opportunity to work with a visionary organization working towards a more sustainable and friendly built environment.

In July of 2004, the New York State Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC) contacted us about providing Voter Contact Management Solutions for multiple campaigns around the state.

The DSCC was mounting a major offensive against Republican incumbents in New York City, Long Island, Westchester and Upstate. Led by Sen. David A Paterson and Sen. Liz Kruger, the DSCC is committed to taking control of the New York State Senate and pushing a progressive legislative agenda.

The Committee is responsible for raising money and providing technical assistance to Democratic candidates for Senate.

Montana Conservation Voters, like the New York League of Conservation Voters, is a member of the Federation Of State Conservation Voter Leagues. MCV and their Education Fund track the work of the Montana Landboard and the Montana State Legislature and provide information about the workings of these bodies to Montana Voters interested in preserving the natural beauty of Big Sky Country. As a non partisan group, MCV evaluates the records of politicians and surveys candidates so Montanans can make informed decisions come election time. On the heals of our work with NYLCV, we were excited to take on MCV and the MCV Education Fund as clients, as their mission is completely in line with our commitment to environmental sustainability, civic engagement and participation and openness an transparency.