Skyline Public Works

This is one of the "big" announcements I was talking about. I'm going to sit on the other announcement for a while.

For those who don't know, Skyline Public Works is one of the biggest givers to progressive youth organizing. They've funded numerous projects and have a reputation for trying outside the box strategies in both how they fund and the projects in which they invest. Lately, they've been particularly known for their GO Grants program. (full disclosure - they bankrolled Music for America, my first project, and basically gave me my start in youth politics.)

There was a bit of a shake-up at Skyline this week. The incubator laid-off some of their staff, and they are starting to reevaluate their system of grantmaking - basically what types of projects they want to invest in and how best to make those investments. Until they work that out, the organization will not entertain any new GO Grants. They will, however, continue to fulfill their current commitments to organizations. Once Skyline establishes their new way forward, they expect to continue giving at the same or a higher rate than they have thus far.

To be clear: No one is losing any money they have already been promised.

It's a shame that there will be a lull in youth funding so close to the election, but Skyline has a track record for pushing the envelope, and I'll be eager to see what they come up with and how it differs from their recent and past strategies.

Here's the official statement from Skyline:

Skyline Public Works is making some changes in how we do things, but we remain as committed as ever, especially to youth programs. We are in the midst of a strategic review about what kinds of new commitments we want to make given the current state of things in the progressive movement, and these will likely be different than some of the things we have done in the past. As a result, we no longer have need for the part of our staff that has provided technical assistance to some of our grantees. These were tough decisions because the staff is extremely talented and they have exceeded our expectations of them. We remain as committed as ever to the progressive movement and look forward to this new chapter in our activism.

For the next few days I'll be in Chicago attending the Second Annual Yearly Kos Convention. Last year I had a great time at the convention, but I didn't really get to sit in on many panels or blog much, as I was there on behalf of the Iraq War documentary The War Tapes. This year I'm working for myself, and so while I be spending some time networking to try and sell my "wares" (web/Drupal development and tech/outreach consulting), but mostly I'll be trying to sit in on as many panels as I can and blog about the convention here and on Young Philly Politics.

Currently, I'm sitting in on the "Connecting Major Donors the the Netroots", featuring Rob Stein, Chris Bowers, Lisa Seitz Gruwell, Mike Lux, and Dave Johnson (pictured). Rob Stein is giving his famous presentation on Right Wing infrastructure, to which he recently added a piece on the growth of right-wing internet assets. The presentation definitely lived up to the hype, and it really is incredible how many resources right-wing activists and movement players have at their disposal.

Anyway, I have to get back to enjoying the conference. I'll put updates below the fold as the day goes on.