I’ll be at the Campaign for Community Change’s Realizing the Promise event in Washington, DC for the next three hours. It’s a gathering of 2,000 leaders and community organizers. Top line quote of the afternoon so far: Community organizing is an American tradition.

You can tune in live here.

I’ll be liveblogging over at the NOW! blog, but push stuff over to The Seminal when it’s over. Stop by and see what’s up!

(alright, full liveblog is pasted below! hit read more to see…)

Update - 3:15 pm

After opening prayers, introductions from the leaders of CCC, Gamaliel,

Highlights: We need big change and we need it fast. We need to move from protesting to governing. Community organizing must change, too.

Update - 3:25 pm

You can follow Realizing The Promise’s official blog here.

April Page from the Alliance to Develop Power: Together, we are powerful!

Update - 3:32 pm

Janet Merguia, head of NCLR: We’ve contributed mightily to the new President. Our senior VP, Cecilia Munoz, was the first Latina appointed to serve in the Obama administration. We have earned the right for our voice to be represented in government. We need to continue to focus on the issues that bind America together - housing, poverty, health care, immigration. This country cannot reach its full potential unless all of its people have a fair chance at the American Dream.

Ralph McCloud, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops - We look for those who are pushed to the margins or society, and we feel the need to respond.

Update - 3:42 pm

Miquel Diaz, an immigrant from El Salvador, introducing Maryland Representative Chris Van Hollen: The immigration system is broken. Immigration agents took my wife into custody in front of my children. I’m proud to introduce a fighter, who fights for health care, for immigration issues, for economic issues.

Congressman Van Hollen: As Obama said, now is the time the real work begins. The movement must continue day after day after day, until we get the change and realize that promise. In order for all of us to be successful, we’ve got to make sure election day wasn’t just one day out of the year. We need everyone who went out to vote for change to keep working for change. If we’re going to have an economy that works for main street, we need to be hearing from main street. If we’re going to mend our health care system - which is severely broken - we’re going to need the campaign for change to continue. We’ve seen what’s happened in the past when people tried to make health care reform happen. We’re going to need everyone in this room. The president-elect understands the power of community organizing. Obama understands this, see the front page of the Washington Post, where Tom Daschle is calling regular people already to get their ideas on fixing the health care system. We will change America. We will make sure we realize the promise. With your help, Congress will work with Obama to get the job done.

(oh, and live pics are being uploaded on Flickr here)

Update - 3:50 pm

Dr. Hoffman F. Brown, Gamaliel, MD: Can you believe it? Our votes counted! Obama’s story is a common story. I believe we’re ready for a new America.

Deana Knutsen, Washington Community Action Network: In the old America, health care was a privilage. We were left on our own to fight against private insurance.

Andrew Cat-Iron Shell, Western South Dakota Native American Organizing: Old America was discrimination.

Ghazala Chughtai, CASA de Maryland: Old America, the immigration system is broken.

Ron Trimmer, UCM: In the new America, we will recognize the promise, recognize we all have value.

Dr. Hoffman F. Brown: There was a time when the powers that be separated us and kept us apart, kept us from sitting at the table. But now, we own the table. Are you ready for a new America?

Update - 4:00 pm

Juan Williams, journalist: Now is the time for understanding how it is we came to this moment and how we can be effective at making this change. That’s what we’ll do in the upcoming roundtable.

(first panel participants are Arlene Holt Baker, AFL-CIO; Illinois Representative Luis Gutierrez; Janice Johnson, Virginia Organizing Project; Maryland Representative John Sarbanes; Dr. Kevin Turman, Gamaliel Foundation; Dr. Lawrence Mishel, Economic Policy Institute)

Mishel: The economic crisis happened because we all haven’t been heard, our economy hasn’t been working for working families.

Baker: The economy hasn’t been working for working families for a long time. We’re hearing that our communities can’t afford health care. We can’t get the jobs we need. We need to do something to make sure we all have health care.

Williams: Johnson, tell me a little bit about families dealing with health care.

Johnson: American families are drowning in debt. Fixing health care is essential for fixing this economy. Health insurance is tied to jobs, those without jobs are left with few resources trying to negotiate with giganitic health insurance companies. Even people across different income levels are afraid to get sick. Preventative care is lacking. There are inequities in the system.

Williams: Congressman Sarbanes, what do you have to say about families?

Sarbanes: For the last 8 years, we’ve had a President thinking about what can he do to help people who don’t need any help. Instead, our new president will be thinking about how to help working families and all Americans. I ask you to challenge your elected officials and judge them on this basis. Who are they thinking about?

Williams: Congressman Gutierez, what do you see in IL and in DC?

Gutierez: We need health care reform. We need comprehensive health care for everyone, and we can afford to do it. It’s not about a Canadian or Swiss version, let’s have an American version, the best version. It’s a basic, fundamental human right, it’s about life and death. We’ve seen $700 billiion to go to a bailout of Wall Street. I voted for it, because they said that would loosen the screws! And what happened? They didn’t lend people any money to start new businesses, to keep people in their homes. Financial institutions should be forced to restructure the debts.

Update - 4:15 pm

Williams: Rev. Turman, we’ve heard the panelists talk about the impact of the economic crisis. What do you see on the ground as you try to serve people in your churce?

Turman: The crisis is older than 8 years, and it has a race aspect. We’ve been defunding urban centers and forcing moves into the suburbs. We’re going to have the change the way we do business if we’re going to have meaningful impact on our cities.

Williams: From the audience, a question to the Congressman. Many people are blaming immigrants for our economic problems. What is the connection between immigrants and our economy?

Gutierez: It’s easy to blame others. We need comprehensive immigration reform so we stop pitting immigrants and entry-level workers against each other to the benefit of employers. No American should be denied a job opportunity, but everyone’s work needs to be respected.

Sarbanes: If you go to the places where immigrants are being beaten down, you’ll see all levels of workers being beaten down. When we don’t fight back on their behalf, a lot of other people are effected. No more scapegoating.

Williams: So many question that came from the audience came down to one question - what is the one thing people on the panel would recommend for us to go back to our communities to deal with the financial crisis?

Mishel: We need good jobs. We need a massive effort to create jobs and get them to the people that need it. Public works, infrastructure, give money to people who can spend it, not worry about the deficit. There is nothing about what’s going to happen to us that can’t be reversed.

Johnson: We need to be sure we have a comprehensive health care plan along the guidelines of Health Care for America Now. Bring those guidelines to Congress and ask them to get on board. We need green jobs, see what jobs can be made in your community.

Turman: We need a Marshall Plan for our people and our neighborhoods. Invest in the community. Cultivate the arts. Cultivate head start programs and old age programs. Shared sacrifice for the common good. When we voted, we were sending a mandate that government is by the people and for the people and we want it now. Too often we assume government will hear us. We need to have meetings and bring our elected officials to those meetings.

Baker: We must ensure that we share in this prosperity. Workers in this country should have the right to freely form and join unions. Support the Employee Free Choice Act.

Update - 4:30 pm

Sarbanes: Keep doing exactly what you did that brought you to Washington today, that elected a community organizer on November 4th, because you’re obviously doing something right. Identify your universe and maximize the positive impact you can have on your universe.

Gutierez: We were wrong about the scapegoating of immigrants, back through our history and today. The way they stopped it was when people like you demanded the government pass fair laws.

Williams: What can religious institutions do? What are you taking away from this roundtable?

Turman: I’m challenged to make sure our faith moves beyond the walls of the church. We must involve in the world outside the walls.

(second roundtable participants: Melody Barnes, Domestic Policy Council for Obama; Dr. Manuel Pastor, Professor, USC; Joesph Hansen, UFCW; Maryland Representative Donna Edwards; Maria Socorro Pesquiera, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights; Rev. Grant Stevensen, ISAIAH)

Dr. Pastor: We need to keep organizing but thinking on how we deliver.

Williams: How do you get politicians to listen?

Stevenson: Politicians are human beings, at least the ones that we’ve met. We can engage them on that level. Sometimes politicians have never really been with folks who’ve asked them what they really care about. We aren’t cogs in a machine, and our politics needs to reflect that.

Williams: How do you get politicians to listen and respond to folks who don’t think they have a voice?

Pesqueira: It’s we who get people out and give people that voice. On Nov. 4th, almost 70% of latinos voted for Obama. We want to make sure that now we’re heard. We’ve been moving, now we deserve to be heard.

Update - 4:45 pm

Williams: Is there a new oppotunity for relations between labor, corporations, and government?

Hansen: Once, there was cooperation between these three groups. We have to get that back. We need economic stimulus, health care, and immigration reform.

Williams: What do you advise people to do to take advantage of Obama being the President?

Rep. Edwards: Don’t let up, keep the expectations high.

Barnes: We have elected a different kind of President. We have a President who understand what this panel is talking about, who understands that we are interconnected, and our problems and solutions are linked. All of us have to bring our expertise to the table. Talk to us. We’ve started that process by listening to people on health care. We’ll use that information to build solutions for America.

Williams: What’s the agenda for the first year?

Barnes: What they talked about in the campaign is what they believe in today. We have to do something about the economic crisis. We’re preparing a stimulus package. We’re not forgetting our promises on health care, education, and we’ll start making down payments on those thing in the first year. It’s all part of our economic recovery.

Williams: If you see Obama not living up the promise, what should we do?

Pastor: Continue to organize. Stay in discussion. Make sure stimulus delivers for disadvantaged communities.

Stevensen: The crisis isn’t just bad policy, it’s a bad balence of power. The people in this room deserve to be at the table. Organized regular people need to have a seat at the table. What if we had a Marshall Plan for our communities? Who knows where that money should go? The people here.

Hansen: Workers need power.

Pesqueira: Immigrants are a strength, not a weakness.

Williams: What would you suggest to make sure people’s voices get heard in DC?

Edwards: Obama will be successul only if voices in local communities are heard. Obama needs to continue to hear from all of you. Then we’ll be assured Obama will be responsive to that. It requires organizing, aggressiveness, and dilligence, but we’ll have a successful Presidency.

Williams: We wish we could walk into the White House, sit down, and have a voice. How will these voices be heard?

Barnes: We recognize that this is a partnership. We’ve took the ideas we heard in house parties during the campaign into our platform. We see Tom Daschle taking the best ideas off the Internet for health care reform. We’re making our operations transparent. This is about partnership.

Stevenson: We got to make sure we’re not moving backwards and making sure people are heard.

Update - 4:50

Here’s a link to the opening video that played at the beginning of the meeting.

Update - 5:00

Pastor Michael Harrison, Gamaliel, introducing Valarie Jarrett: We have earned the right for our voice to be heard. We are Americans, indivisible, working together for justice for all.

(wow, standing ovation for Valerie Jarrett. Like seriously. I guess she’s just as good as talking to Obama, but wow.)

Valerie Jarrett: I spent so much of my career complaining about DC, now I live here. To have all of you come here makes me feel like I’m home again in Chicago. It is such an honor. We elected one of our own as President of the United States. This is a guy who grew up with a single mom on food stamps, he understands struggle. He understands how frustrating government can be when it’s not serving your interests from his time as a community organizer. People all across this country have participated. But the journey has just begun. I am proud to announce to you that Cecilia Munoz will be joining the administration as the director of intergovernmental affairs.

Update - 5:15

Jarrett: Let’s not talk about the issues that divide us, let’s talk about what we have in common. Let’s talk about education, solving energy crisis, rebuilding our economy. Let’s change our country for the better. If we can count on you to work with us, to invite us into your community, we will have more days like this. I just have one question for you? Are you fired up?

(and another standing ovation. Hey, she deserves it.)

Ana Garcia-Ashley, Gamaliel: Today, over 400 leaders went to the lobby of UnitedHealth and demanded real health care reform for families. Over 500 went to Congress called for immigration reform. We’re setting up meeting with Pelosi and Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Over 700 people held 178 legislative visits. Meetings with the transition team. This was all done before 1 pm this afternoon.

Deepak Bhargava, Center for Community Change: We’ve learned this economic crisis is because of inequalities. We’ve heard that we need big changes. We’ve heard we need comprehensive immigration reform and the Employee Free Choice Act. We’ve heard we need millions of new jobs in our communities. We’ve learned that there are powerful people in the new administration who are prepared to partner with us to get that agenda done. We’ve heard and learned that organized communities are the key ingredient to winning the change we deserve.

Gerald Hudson, SEIU: I’ve been doing this since 1968, and I’ve never been part of a campaign like this one. Most of my life, I’ve been stopping bad things from happening. For the first time, we’ve elected someone who carries a people’s agenda into the White House. We can win immigration reform. We can provide for everyone high-quality, good health care. We can produce a clean energy economy that produces millions of new jobs. We can fix our broken public school system. It’s going to take the active participation of all of us. Labor needs you to continue to actively promote this people’s agenda, or it will not pass. But I know that you intend to go on with us. Thank you for the work that you did, and thank you for the work that we will do.

William McNary, USAction: There is no place I’d rather be. We will all be freeer because of the people in this room. The battle for the Presidency and Congress is the urgency, but elections are not enough. Change did not roll in on the wheels of inevitability. We must continue to build this movement. History is not made by heroes, history will only be made when ordinary people get in motion. If we are going to get the kind of change we believe in, we must stand on the front side of history. We have to build a big tent. We have to see ourselves in the center of people’s lives. Fight for big bold change. We need to see a better America. We need to see where every American has a good job, good benefits, and a good retirment. Where every child has a good eduction and can go to college. Where every American has quality affordable health care for all. Where every American that comes here from abroad has the rights they deserve. 1. Orgainize. 2. Organize. 3. Organize. Let’s take our country back!

Update - 5:30 pm

And after prayers and songs, we’re done!