Forward Montana

HIRING: Volunteer Organizer

Bryce — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:42:25 +0000

We know that you have adopted the hipster mentality when it comes to Forward Montana; you liked us before we got big. But with an election year as gigantic as this one we couldn’t stay small. So we’re hiring…again.

Forward Montana is looking for an amazing new team member to be our volunteer organizer. (read the job description) This person will be in charge of growing our membership base so we can be bigger and badder than ever.

We are putting this person in charge of our most precious resource, our volunteers. If you love to help people grow from a noob to our 2012 volunteer of the year this job might just be for you.

I hope you’ll help us spread the word to talented folks across the state. Let Bryce know if you have any questions.

Spring Tour Tops 1000 Reg

Bryce — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:28:50 +0000

We are back in our office after an exciting month of traveling across the state to register young Montanans to vote. We’ve been to college campuses in Butte, Dillon, Bozeman, Billings, Helena, and Kalispell.

- See the photos here -

In the month of April you couldn’t toss a clipboard on a college campus without hitting a pink bunny trying to register students to vote. Not that you should try….

Let’s look at the numbers:

6 Campuses
16 Days
97 Hours of Voter Registration
1,488 Miles Traveled
1,048 Voter Registration Cards Collected!

We went to college campuses big and small across Montana and came home with a haul of over a thousand cards! With the help of our volunteers we pushed further than ever before but there is still so much to do.

JOIN THE PINK BUNNY ARMY! Click here an be a part of the most exciting voter registration program right now!

Office Opening = Packed House

Bryce — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:28:45 +0000

When Forward Montana does an office opening we do it big. Last Friday our new office at 500 N Higgins Suite 103 was packed to the brim with over 70 supporters. They heard about the upcoming pink bunnies events, the upcoming bus trips, and Trick or Vote. However the best part of the evening was when we had a chance to introduce our FIFTEEN spring semester interns.

Forward Montana has a very, very, very, very busy year ahead and we made it clear to the folks in the room that we cannot win without your help. Find out about all the volunteer opportunities by SIGNING UP today.

New Site Launched!

richelle — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:12:27 +0000

Wooo hooo!

We don’t know about ya’ll but we’ve been waiting for this for a very long time. Get comfy, take your shoes off, have a look around.

This site has cool new features like Facebook! Sweet Bio’s! and a History of our work!

We hope you enjoy it, ’cause we sure as heck do!

xoxoxo

Forward Montana

Happy Thanksgiving!

richelle — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:28:22 +0000

We’re so thankful for all of our supporters!

Enjoy that turkey (but don’t fall asleep!).

Griz Nation Votes Event Pushes Forward Montana Foundation Past 2011 Goal

richelle — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:53:43 +0000

Forward Montana Foundation blew past their 2011 voter registration goal of 2,090 voter registrations during the Griz Nation Votes event on Sept 17, 2011. Forward Montana Foundation teamed up with the Associated Students of the University of Montana (ASUM) to put together this first of a kind event. Volunteers registered 128 voters on the day of the Griz game.

Campus Tour Registers 1,167 New Voters

richelle — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:52:33 +0000

Forward Montana is pretty jazzed to announce that our trek to the University of Montana (Missoula) and Montana State University (Bozeman) ended with big numbers of new students registered to vote. Following a week and a half of registering people to vote we ended up with 1,167 new registered voters in Montana. This is a new record for Forward Montana!

We registered 452 Bobcats and 715 Grizzlies on our tour! We want to give a big thank you to the many volunteers who helped us in both cities. This new bench mark is a big freakin’ deal and we couldn’t have done it without you!

Marielle Gallagher: Why I’m a Forward Montana Intern

richelle — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:42:57 +0000

If you wake up one day and realize that at age 16 you’ve lived an unsatisfying shell of an existence and want desperately to be part of something bigger and better than yourself, you can.

You can handle this two ways. You could get a beach-side shack and carve figurines out of driftwood. Or,

you could volunteer.

If television’s to be believed, this basically means bandaging the paws of puppies for hours.

But maybe you’re allergic to puppies.

Turns out, there are thousands of different ways to get involved in your community. Yes, some of these involve animal shelters, but then you have things like Forward Montana.

They register young people to vote, train new leaders (such as myself) and encourage young adults to get politically involved.

Does it sound like the most insanely boring thing on earth?

It’s not. It’s absolutely the most fun I have ever had working without pay.

No, really.

As a child, the only things I knew of politics were the shadow of George W. Bush and the tedium of The West Wing. Today I find myself excited about an internship at an organization specializing in political activism. Confusing, right?

Not quite as confusing as my first day, though. After trekking to downtown and wandering through a florescent-lit maze for a few minutes, I poked my head into the Forward MT offices.

“Hello?”

“Hey! There she is!”

The she was me and within ten minutes I had a task assigned. But my confusion still lingered.

“We need you—are you ready for this? We need you…to make posters,” said The Blond One.

Maybe I looked confused or simply scared, because The Boy One chimed in,

“Yeah, Health Challenge posters. It’s this thing we’re doing. In the office. To see which one of us is healthiest in June. Hint: it’s me.”

“Yeah, that…that won’t be me,” said the one with the gimpy shoulder.

Posters! That’s something I’d done before, lots! This was something I could do, without question.

Armed with Crayolas and poster board, I began. Then it occurred to me.

“Hey, The Boy One?”

“Yes, Intern?”

“How does this relate to politics?”

“Uh…”

Were these people really part of a political organization? If so, why were they laughing and making merry?And whywas I playing with markers?

Maybe this was a test. A hazing process. Maybe my marker selection said something about my political alignment. I put my faith in their system and made some art.

Then a few funny things happened. The first came mid-poster. There I was, embellishing a drawing of a narwhal, when I re

alized something. This didn’t feel like work. This didn’t even feel like unpaid work. This was fun.

And when I presented my creations for the amusement of my superiors, I realized I felt kinda, almost…accepted and liked. Anyone who’s survived high school knows that, during the teen years, this feeling can be as elusive as a leprechaun giving Merry Poppins a piggyback ride. Its presence in the real world, was refreshing, not to mention a great ego boost. All over a few posters.

Of course, a trickier assignments was handed down—“Design thank you cards that are both quirky and original but also appeal to a broad range of people while being cost-effective. Now.”—but the feeling of being appreciated didn’t disappear.

I think that says a lot.

I think any group of people who can meet a 16 year old girl and immediately make her feel ten times more useful to society than she did before—any organization that can do that—has got some serious mojo working for it.

And that was just the first day. I’ve never been this excited to work, for hours, without pay, in a windowless, beige box…where was I? Well anyway, I’m jazzed to be here.

So if you ever find yourself lying in bed, completely incapable of purposeful movement, if you find yourself listless and bored with life, I have but one suggestion: get yourself involved with Forward MT. The driftwood carving industry is tanking anyway.