From Online to Offline: How OFA Leverages the Web and Social Media for Real-World Organizing
The Obama presidential campaign and its successor, Organizing for America (OFA), have learned through experience how to pair robust and open online tools with a network of organizers working in communities across the country. The OFA team has made online to offline organizing a priority—and has won behind-the-scenes victories and learned lessons in moving online clicks to boots on the ground. In this panel, the technology, new media and deputy field directors will engage the room in a conversation about those experiences and their potential implications for activists and organizations throughout the progressive movement—and solicit ideas on how to better fuse online to offline organizing moving forward.
Greg Greene is the new media outreach manager at the Democratic National Committee, where he works with blogs and online media outlets as part of the communications team. Greg has held new media positions at the National Democratic Institute and Blue State Digital, and has worked in communications on federal and local campaigns and as a state-level advocate for progressive causes. A non-practicing attorney, Greg enjoys cooking, indie music and walks in the woods.
Jeremy Bird, the current National Field Director of Obama for America, is a long-time community organizer in democratic politics, legislative campaigns and advocacy work. In his current role, Jeremy will direct Barack Obama’s national ground game for the 2012 presidential campaign.
Jeremy most recently worked as the National Deputy Director of Organizing for America, the grassroots organization built to support the President’s policy initiatives by building on the movement that elected Obama and empowering communities across the country to bring about our agenda of change.
With humble beginnings as a community organizer on an educational equality campaign in Boston, Jeremy moved to national politics working for both Governor Howard Dean and President Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns.
An Organizing Teaching Fellow and Harvard Divinity School graduate, Jeremy put his campaign and community organizing skills to use leading national progressive campaigns such as: WakeUpWalmart.com (National Field Director), 21st Century Democrats (Deputy National Field Director) and Democratic Gain (National Training Director). Jeremy worked as Congressional District Director for Howard Dean in New Hampshire and as Deputy Field Director at the DNC in 2004.
In early 2007, Jeremy signed on to be Barack Obama’s South Carolina field director for the 2008 Presidential race. He later ran Maryland and Pennsylvania and worked with the campaign's national field team to take lessons from the primaries and integrate them into general election strategy. Jeremy then served as the Ohio General Election Director for Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
You can find his organizing ramblings on twitter: @jeremybird
