Welcome to the Courage Campaign!
The Courage Campaign is an online organizing network that empowers more than 700,000 grassroots and netroots activists to push for progressive change and equality in California. As a leading multi-issue advocacy organization in the progressive movement, the Courage Campaign's work is made possible by thousands of small-dollar donations from community members across California and the country.
Whether it's helping kill the GOP's electoral college initiative "dirty trick," count the infamous "double bubble" votes in Los Angeles after Super Tuesday, or push for the ultimate closure of the "yacht tax loophole," the Courage Campaign has waged many successful campaigns.
Our partners include MoveOn.org, CREDO Mobile, Democracy for America, PowerPAC.org, California Nurses Association, National Union of Healthcare Workers and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles.
The Courage Campaign is also an affiliate member of the Progress Now national network of statewide advocacy organizations. Our online organizing tools are powered by Blue State Digital, a leader in online fundraising, social networking, and constituency development programs for clients including Obama for America, the Democratic National Committee, and the Alliance for Climate Protection.
COURAGE CAMPAIGN GENERAL STAFF
Rick Jacobs, Founder and Chair: Rick chaired Howard Dean's presidential campaign in California and served as Senior Advisor to Democracy for America. He also co-founded Brave New Films and served two terms as a director of the Liberty Hill Foundation. Rick is also a featured contributor to HuffingtonPost.com. Rick has a long background as an investor and senior executive.
Sarah Callahan, Chief Operating Officer: Sarah has worked on elections at the local, state and national level for more than 20 years. For the past six years, Sarah has worked in the California labor movement to achieve quality patient care and improved standards for 150,000 healthcare workers as Political Director for United Healthcare Workers West and with the National Union of Healthcare Workers. Prior to working in California politics, Sarah organized in Florida during the 2000 general election and served as the Caucus Campaign Director for the Connecticut Senate Democrats in 1996, helping restore the Democrats to the majority in the State Senate. Sarah has a masters degree in government administration from the University of Pennsylvania.
Eden James, Managing Director: Before joining the Courage Campaign in 2007 to direct online organizing, fundraising and staff, Eden was instrumental in Jerry McNerney's people-powered congressional campaign upset victory over Rep. Richard Pombo (CA-11), first as the Field Director in the primary election and then as Online Communications Director in the 2006 general election, spearheading the campaign's netroots outreach and helping McNerney raise more than $1 million online. Inspired by the empowerment politics of Howard Dean's presidential campaign, Eden left UC Berkeley in 2004 to defeat President Bush and subsequently organized online and offline for Working Assets (now CREDO Mobile) and the Alliance for a Better California.
Julia Rosen, Online Political Director: Julia got her start in politics working for Common Cause. She moved out to California to work for the Alliance for a Better California, where she wrote over 2,000 posts on why Arnold Schwarzenegger is not a Democrat. Julia continued her work within the labor movement serving as the Online Communications Director for Working Californians. Her background is in connecting the netroots and the labor movement to bring about progressive change. She is currently an editor at Calitics and a regular contributor to Crooks and Liars, when she isn't blogging at her personal site Ruck Pad. Julia currently serves as a trainer for the New Organizing Institute.
Robert Cruickshank, Public Policy Director: Robert joined the Courage Campaign in 2007 after five years as a leading progressive netroots activist. Robert is a historian trained in the study of California politics and has taught at the University of Washington and several colleges on the Central Coast. A native Californian, he was raised in Orange County and educated at UC Berkeley. Robert is also a contributing editor at Calitics.
Billy Pollina, Advertising/Media Director: Billy has been at the forefront of groundbreaking marketing campaigns in the entertainment industry from the launch of the DVD format to the premiere of the FOX Sports Network. He continues to produce television and film and consult on a wide variety of marketing projects. Billy also sits on the board of White Knot For Equality and is one of the founding members of the LGBTQI rights grassroots coalition, Out West.
Cleve Jones, Senior Advisor: Cleve is a pioneering equal rights activist featured in the film “MILK" and creator of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Cleve works with UNITE HERE, the international union representing hotel, restaurant, and garment workers, helping to strengthen the growing coalition between the labor movement and the LGBT community. His campaign "Sleep With The Right People," encourages LGBT travelers and event planners to use only hotels that respect the rights of their workers.
Nii-Quartelai Quartey, Community Engagement Advisor: Nii-Quartelai's community activism began at the age of 13 as a student organizer for Oprah Winfrey's Angel Network. Before joining Courage, his client work for Consensus Planning Group included the California High-Speed Rail Authority, California Prison Receivership, and the Yes on Prop 11 campaign. Early in his career, he served as a Field Deputy to LAUSD School Board Member David Tokofsky before working as an Associate Producer on an ACLU-commissioned documentary series. Nii-Quartelai is a graduate of the University of Southern California with a B.A. in Political Science.
Miles Kurland, Web Developer and Graphic Designer: Miles didn't invent the Internet, but he was there in the early days as the first programmer to work on the software that became AOL. He developed pioneering new media tools like Lumena (the first professional PC-based paint system) and was a senior architect for Macromedia Director. An early netroots activist (Daily Kos UID 95) he's designed online tools and/or graphics for MoveOn.org, the CDP, John Edwards, John Kerry, Chris Dodd, DFA, Kos Media, MyDD, Jerry McNerney, Lt. Col. Charlie Brown and, of course, the Courage Campaign.
Aidan Crawford, Administrative Manager: Prior to joining Courage, Aidan worked as an HIV/AIDS educator, as well as a filmmaker and editor for a number of years. His short documentary "Just a Boy" has screened in film festivals and classrooms around the world.
Andy Kelley, Member Relations Intern: Andy has worked on a variety of legislative races and initiative campaigns including Tuition Relief Now, Hancock for State Senate, and Buchanan For Assembly. A community organizer and grassroots activist, Andy first started organizing as a student at UC Berkeley serving on the Board of Directors for the University of California Students Association. Andy is a California native, born and raised in Arroyo Grande, and recently completed his senior year at UC Berkeley. Additionally, Andy serves as the Communications Director of the California Young Democrats LGBT Caucus.
EQUALITY PROGRAM STAFF
Mobilized by Courage Campaign Equality Program staff and organized by volunteers county-by-county, Courage Campaign Equality Teams across California are creating progressive infrastructure to enable communities to engage in important long-term work -- recruiting an army of marriage equality activists, identifying undecided voters, and participating in coordinated statewide events. For more information, check out our Equality Teams home page.
Caitlin Maloney, Equality Hub Manager: As Courage’s resident data geek, Caitlin oversees the Equality Program’s suite of online tools, including the Voter Activation Network’s (VAN) volunteer and voter files. Before working as a Campus Campaign Manager for No on Prop 8, she was a Program Manager for Libraries for the Future, a national non-profit supporting innovation and investment in America's public libraries. There, she ran online and offline trainings, while overseeing website and database development.
Arisha Hatch, Southern California Field Manager: Arisha, a recent law school graduate, got her start in politics as a Regional Field Organizer for the Barack Obama Campaign at the Northern California Headquarters. As a Regional Field Organizer, Arisha oversaw volunteer recruitment and managed numerous phone banks during the general election. She also volunteered as a Field Organizer for the Jim Martin Senate Run-off in Georgia. She was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Santa Clara University’s Intellectual Property Law Review, previously served as the Managing Editor of “The Stanford Daily” and became the first woman at Stanford to cover a major men’s sports beat as a sophomore.
Hope Wood, Northern California Field Manager: Hope has devoted the last 12 years of her life to community organizing, most recently as the California Battleground States Coordinator for the Obama campaign during the general election and as the Obama Team Coordinator for Congressional District 33 during the primary. Previously, Hope was an elementary school teacher and dance arts educator in inner-city Los Angeles. In addition, Hope is also a founding partner in Dykeotomy LLC, a multimedia production company expanding the conversation around gender expression.
Anthony Ash, Central California Field Organizer: Anthony was born and raised in Central California and currently organizes in Fresno. Anthony got his start as a volunteer helping to organize the Courage Campaign’s Fresno County Equality Team. Anthony has been active with many different organizations including: The Imperial Dove Court, PFLAG, Queer Fresno, Gay Fresno, and most recently coordinating volunteers and logistics for "Meet in the Middle for Equality." Prior to joining the Courage Campaign, Anthony spent the last seven years in the medical field.
CAMP COURAGE STAFF
Camp Courage is a statewide training program designed to teach the principles and skills of community organizing to activists working to restore marriage equality to California. Modeled after the Camp Obama trainings that powered neighbor-to-neighbor organizing across America in 2008, these intensive two-day programs have been instrumental in channeling the enthusiasm of activists into effective action. More than 1,200 activists have been trained in Los Angeles, Fresno, San Diego, Oakland, East Los Angeles and Washington DC. Several more Camp Courage trainings are planned. For more information, check out our Camp Courage web site.
Mike Bonin, Camp Courage Co-Founder and Program Director/Senior Advisor to the Courage Campaign: A veteran political staffer, Mike worked as a field organizer here in California for the Obama campaign. He learned community organizing in the 1980s as an intern for the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers, and has since worked on many campaigns, including managing the 2005 City Council campaign of Bill Rosendahl, the only LGBT elected official in Los Angeles government. Mike currently serves as Rosendahl's chief of staff, and is an active supporter of organized labor, civil rights, and social justice causes.
Torie Osborn, Camp Courage Co-Founder and Senior Advisor: Torie is senior strategist at the United Way-LA. She is a former Senior Advisor on poverty and homelessness to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and former executive director of Liberty Hill Foundation, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. She has been a social justice activist for over 40 years. Torie volunteered full-time on the Obama campaign, and is mentor to and role model for countless organizers for social justice.
Lisa Powell, Camp Courage Co-Founder and Lead Facilitator: Powell is an attorney, longtime trainer, community leader, and co-founder of United Lesbians of African Heritage and Sistahfest. Lisa has been a leader and organizer in the LGBT movement since 1987, when she first volunteered with Minority AIDS Project in Los Angeles. Lisa's life was transformed by working as a Deputy Field Organizer for the Obama campaign, which led her to co-found Black Lesbians United (BLU) in March 2009. She earned her Juris Doctorate from UCLA School of Law and practiced civil litigation for thirteen years, during which time she never lost a jury trial.
Daniel Segura, Camp Courage Logistics and Outreach Coordinator: A Latino LGBT activist from Los Angeles, Daniel is also the outreach chair for the Equal Roots Coalition and a member of Los Angeles' Latino Equality Alliance. Daniel also develops and produces LBGT-related theatrical projects. Most recently, Daniel was full-time staff at U.C. Berkeley, as a performer, writer and educator for the Lawrence Hall of Science in the Science Discovery Theater Group.
Courage Campaign structure and status
The Courage Campaign family of organizations is devoted to bringing progressive change to California. Courage Campaign is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization. The Courage Campaign Institute is a 501(c)(3) non profit organization. Courage Campaign Civic Action is registered under Sec. 527 of the Internal Revenue Code and works to influence the nomination, election, appointment, or defeat of candidates for public office. Courage Campaign Issues Committee is active on statewide and local ballot campaigns and is registered with the California Fair Political Practices Commission. None of the Courage Campaign organizations make contributions to or expressly advocate for the election or defeat of candidates for public office.
A "member" of the Courage Campaign is defined as any person who has participated in at least one online action with the Courage Campaign. Members are generally contacted by the Courage Campaign based on their expression of interest in specific issues or categories. We carefully guard our members’ information and do not sell or use any data for commercial purposes.
Please consider making a contribution to the Courage Campaign to help us build progressive infrastructure, empowering grassroots and netroots activists to create a new era for progressive politics in California.
Contact the Courage Campaign
Courage Campaign
7119 West Sunset Boulevard, No. 195
Los Angeles, California 90046
Phone: 323-969-0160
Fax: 323-969-0157
If you would like to contact the Courage Campaign, please fill out this form and someone will be in touch as soon as possible.
Our web site is designed by Kurland Digital with tools powered by Blue State Digital. For questions on how to use the blog, event and group tools on our site, please check out our "Frequently Asked Questions".