Today, my babies, I write to you from our nation’s capitol.
I’m here because the Center for New Liberalism flew me (and my boyfriend and Huntsville New Liberals chapter co-lead) out for the New Liberalism Action Summit - D.C. (NLAS - D.C.).
My dad asked if I’d be speaking at the conference. “No!” I told him. “I get to go for free and I don’t even have to speak.” Then a week before we left, a team-member invited me to join a panel about our nascent chapter.
Thank Goddess my panel was on day one, right after opening remarks. This left me very little time to sit there waiting nervously to do or say something stupid in front of 150 policy nerds.
Here’s my deck if you’re curious. Rob took about a million pictures, at my request.
I think I sounded okay. But I’ll tell you this for sure. I looked great.
Which was a very nice change since 99% of the time I’m wearing sagging shorts and baggy tees in the summer and sweatpants and hoodies in the winter. My hair is greasy as fuck. And I’m makeup-free except for tinted sunscreen.
After looking good for my panel I learned about a bunch of orgs I’d never heard of in the next panel, which featured Andy Flick and Kathryn Sorenson, Executive Director of the New Democrat Coalition and Political Director of the New Democrat Coalition Action Fund, respectively. We also heard from Andy LaVigne, Executive Director of the Blue Dog Coalition and Phil Gardner, Senior Advisor for U.S. Rep. Marie Guesenkamp Perez.
Next up was a conversation between Taylor Maag, PPI’s Director of Workforce Development Policy, and Rep. Val Hoyle (OR-04). I was surprised to learn that fewer than 40 districts are swing districts. Hoyle represents the part of Oregon that runs from the California border to 250 miles up the Oregon coast. Her district encompasses the University of Oregon and Oregon State, as well as miles of timberland, mill towns, and forests. It includes three super conservative and three solidly Blue counties. Like the vast majority of the US, this area has polarized. Here, the extremes are wealthy people who want to live on the gorgeous Oregon coast and people living in rural poverty. These areas used to have blue-collar jobs that would allow able-bodied men to provide their families with a solid, middle-class life.
These jobs have largely evaporated. (Which is kind of weird, now that I think about it. As far as I can tell the trees are still there. And aren’t lumber prices through the roof and a big reason housing is so expensive to build?) Either way, Hoyle’s voters are hungry for jobs, economic growth, and opportunities for a better life.
This need, plus her own struggles navigating formal education with severe dyslexia gave Hoyle a deep and abiding interest in alternative paths to job-readiness, including and especially apprenticeships. Hoyle pointed out that 50% of US jobs require more than a high school diploma but less than a college degree, while 37% of jobs really do require a college degree.
One problem is that many employers use a degree as a sorting mechanism, even for jobs that don’t strictly require one. “We need to rethink how we deliver education,” Hoyle said. We need to stop paying schools for butts in seats and start measuring outcomes such as certifications.
Her advice for the left wing is sound. “Don’t talk down to people who actually work for a living,” Hoyle said. She pointed out that college is one of the biggest polarizers between Democrats and Republicans. When we talk about the importance of a college degree, we can make people without degrees feel talked down to. Plus, if everyone actually gets a college degree, a college degree will have the same impact in the job market as a high school diploma. Credentialism and degree inflation are not what we’re going for here.
Hoyle supports ensuring more students graduate from high school with useful certifications. Personally, I’d love to see Oregon and every other US state abolish all laws that require licensure and/or certification to perform a job. However, I completely agree that it’s totally unacceptable for fully half of US jobs to require more than a high school diploma. Every single high school graduate should be either fully employable or among a select few who pursue jobs that require more training that they can’t get while working.
I also liked Hoyle’s idea for a 6-week trial apprenticeship program for college students. I’m not sure exactly how this would differ from an internship, but I’m curious to learn more. For me, internships and writing for the school paper were the most valuable parts of college in terms of being career ready at graduation.
Since many of us in the audience had plans to meet with Congresspeople and/or their staffers later that afternoon, Taylor asked Rep. Hoyle for tips.
Hoyle encouraged us to not get discouraged if we meet with the staff instead of our Reps, or spend more time with the staff. A half hour with a focused staffer is far more valuable than 12 minutes with a distracted Rep. And ask your state Rep for a tour of the Capitol.
She also encouraged us to, “Go find someone who you believe in and work on their campaign.” This could be for City Council, County Commission, or School Board. Never underestimate the profound effect you can have on your local communities. Choose people who want to do big things rather than people who want to be a big deal. And in her experience, the best legislators are the ones who fought and won tough races.
Then I put my new Coach heels back on and Rob and I headed over to Capitol Hill to meet with staffers for Representative Terri Sewell (AL-07), who also serves as Co-Chair of the Health Care Task Force for the aforementioned New Democrat Coalition. We met with her staffers, as well as a staffer for Representative Lucy McBath (GA-07). Everyone could not have been nicer.
Then dinner, drinks, and big plans to take a little nap at 8:30 and then hit the town that ended up resulting in Rob and me getting 12 hours of much-needed sleep!
Stay tuned for day two’s shenanigans tomorrow!
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