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New: Breakthrough Generation Blog
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Young people today are faced with an unprecedented opportunity to define a new politics for a new era. In the wake of the collapse of the Bush presidency, amidst the drift of American political identities and the emergence of new political fault lines, youth are already taking the lead. Young adults are shaping the course of the 2008 elections, and the youth climate movement has quickly become the largest student movement in decades. How young Americans seize this opportunity may define the course of this country for years to come.

Breakthrough Generation aims to capture this moment by fostering the development of a new and powerful youth progressive movement capable of advancing large-scale solutions to today's greatest challenges, transcending the narrow politics of the Baby Boomer Generation, and empowering a broad base of the next generation in a way that establishes new and lasting political identities.

Breakthrough Generation -- like its parent think tank, the Breakthrough Institute -- sees the creation of a new clean energy economy as the defining challenge and opportunity of our time and the center of the new progressive movement. The pursuit of transformative action to create the new energy economy can overcome a comprehensive set of societal challenges while achieving greater global prosperity and security, and it exemplifies the type of expansive and aspirational politics the next generation needs in order to break through issue barriers and advance large, inspiring visions.

Breakthrough Generation Fellowship 2008

Breakthrough Generation is hosting its second annual Fellowship program at its main office in Oakland, California, and has selected fifteen of the best and brightest young thinkers, writers, and organizers. Fellows enjoy an experience that is qualitatively different than a typical internship, because much of the work involves research, writing, and analysis that is substantial and substantive. In 2007, Breakthrough Summer Fellows conducted research and co-authored a major white paper, "Fast, Clean and Cheap," that appeared in the Spring 2008 edition of the Harvard Law and Policy Review.

This year's Fellows will contribute to the Breakthrough Institute's mission to overcome ecological crises through a new kind of economic development that increases security and expands opportunity. Breakthrough is developing a new policy agenda on energy technology, deforestation, and a new social contract for the United States. Breakthrough has made significant progress in developing this new agenda, but there remains a large amount of work to do. As a group and as individuals, Breakthrough Generation Fellows will contribute to the creation and advancement of this new policy agenda.

The Breakthrough Institute will help our Fellows to better understand their unique talents and to apply them in individual or group projects. These projects could include, but are not limited to, a research paper, a Breakthrough strategy proposal, a campaign plan, digital presentations, new media and online work, a series of short articles and op-eds, or a combination of the above. By the end of the summer, every Fellow will have created a concrete work product that reflects his or her own interests and the mission of the Breakthrough Institute.

See the new Breakthrough Generation Fellows.

For more information, contact Teryn Norris