A diverse group of more than 65 progressive bloggers and activists gathered on Saturday, Dec. 11 to pool their ideas for more effective ways to push the politically left agenda in the St. Louis area.<\/p>\n

Coordinated by Adam Shriver, of St. Louis Activist Hub, the all-day meeting at the Regional Arts Center in the Delmar Loop brought together an enthusiastic and engaged who\u2019s-who of area progressive organizations and bloggers: Organizations represented included Missouri Jobs with Justice, West County Democrats, the Sierra Club, Missourians for Honest Elections, Women\u2019s Voices Raised for Social Justice, Planned Parenthood, Amnesty International, NAACP and Missouri Votes Conservation, to name only a few. The progressive blogosphere was another highly visible presence [Show Me Progress, Fired Up! Missouri, Momcrats and more], as were individual activists whose efforts focus on LGBT rights, public education, retired citizens, jobs, the arts, environmental justice, media reform and peace.<\/p>\n

At a morning panel discussion of the state of Missouri politics, participants got an inside look at the issues that promise to dominate progressive activism and blogging in 2011: Missouri\u2019s looming budget and revenue shortfall; ultra-conservative Rex Sinquefield\u2019s proposed \u201cmega\u201d sales tax to replace the state income tax; the fight to maintain Missouri\u2019s minimum wage and to beat back an effort to turn Missouri into a \u201cright to work\u201d [for less], anti-union state.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to help make Missourians smarter about the issues,\u201d said Lara Granich, executive director of Missouri Jobs With Justice, when the panel was asked to talk about a role for progressive activists. \u201cWe need to mix on-line organizing with face-to-face activism.\u201d<\/p>\n

St. Louis Activist Hub\u2019s Adam Shriver offered an answer to that call to action when, later in the program, he unveiled Forward StL<\/a>, a new website that \u201caggregates\u201d articles on progressive issues posted by bloggers and mainstream media sources from throughout the St. Louis region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe deck is stacked against Democrats and progressives, not by accident or because the message from the Right is better, but because conservatives have spent the past 30 years developing a unified voice and a network to deliver their message,\u201d said Shriver. Adding that mainstream media outlets can\u2019t be relied upon to report on progressive ideas or events, Shriver called the Forward StL website \u201ca way to get our message out without having to rely on the mainstream media. It\u2019s a way to publicize events, cover events and to offer an incentive for progressive-minded people to start producing more content.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officially launched at the December 11 meeting, Forward StL will be a \u201ccurated\u201d site that will gather internet \u201cfeeds\u201d from a wide range of local news sources and blogs and highlight those that focus on local issues otherwise under- or unreported in traditional media. The site will cover issues such as state and local legislation, elections, LGBT rights, environmental concerns, politics, employment, jobs and many others of importance to the progressive community. The site will be updated daily, with the mix of articles determined by the information that flows in, says Shriver.<\/p>\n

The day-long gathering also featured break-out workshops designed to: help bloggers draw more attention to their sites via search engines; help activists document events using video and audio; and encourage progressive bloggers and activists to strengthen their political presence by networking and collaborating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A diverse group of more than 65 progressive bloggers and activists gathered on Saturday, Dec. 11 to pool their ideas for more effective ways<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77,119],"tags":[2505,791,221,1330],"yoast_head":"\n