BlogHers Act: Let's pick an issue, organize and blog a difference

Today, Elisa, Jory and I announced a very important initiative at BlogHer: BlogHers Act.

BlogHers Act is an opportunity for the BlogHer community to have a collective impact on a global scale. We're going to pick a single issue, organize a year-long campaign, and blog a difference. As Elisa write announced:

"Have you ever imagined the impact if every member of BlogHer – more than 11,000 bloggers strong and growing every day -- focused our considerable brainpower, ingenuity and influence on one red-hot issue? How about if that one red-hot issue was the focus of an organized, year-long campaign to make a measurable difference that this community cares about?

"Yes, some of you have. And you've emailed all three of us (sometimes more than once!) to ask BlogHer to take a leadership position in bringing the BlogHer community of powerful women together to create real change

"Today, Lisa, Jory and I are very proud to say "yes"...

The best part? Like the BlogHer.org community hub and the BlogHer Ad Network, this idea started with members of the BlogHer community, in this case Emily McKhann and Cooper Munroe. You may know these impressive women from their Hurricane Katrina relief blog, or perhaps from their new blog, been there.

McKhann and Munroe have a trackrecord of walking their talk. And that is what we must commit to as a community. Case in point: A writer I really respect just wrote via email, "I think that what makes or breaks an initiative like this is making it ACTIONABLE." Amen, I say: Action is what completely captivated me about Cooper and Emily's pitch.

These two women approached Elisa, Jory and me with:

1. The invitation to sound off on what we individually care about, in order to seek a collective cause

2. Not just talk. Walk. They're committed to helping make it happen.

Now Elisa has taken this idea to the next level, committing an entire swath of this year's conference--and next year's--to delivering on this opportunity, both a global issue and a voter manifesto for Americans. (For those of you who are neither in nor read-up on the ad network, we did a test case of sorts on group blogging for Doctors Without Borders last December and raised $10,000.)

Me? After years of yawping on and on about the power of American women as the voting majority, and wondering when we were going to pool our ballots on something big and go change the world, this makes me want to howl at the moon. Yes, in that good way.

The key is to deliver, and that means delivering action. The only way to do that is to get a serious discussion going on here at BlogHer in the same tradition of posts many of you have made on your own blogs and/or seen on BlogHer (such as Catherine's Open letter to presidential candidates, Laura's Save the Internet agenda, and Nordette's post on mothers living in poverty).

The more ideas we have, the more ideas we can vote for and against in the official survey, pick a red-hot issue and go make a difference. Great to see Suzanne and Virginia and Mata already articulating their priorities on http://blogher.org.

And, to some of their points, we would love *all* of you to get as involved as you would like to be in the politics track on Day Two. Whether you're an American or not, this is a pivotal election.

So -- a huge thanks in advance to Emily and Cooper. This is going to be a massive amount of work.

And I can't wait.

Comments

[cooper munroe]

Lisa,

Emily and I are so fired up about this project. And from the thoughtful, smart comments and ideas so far, we are off to an amazing start. We are honored and grateful for the opportunity to work with BlogHer's army of brilliant, kick-a, caring women.

The possibilities of this project are limitless, and I can't wait to see where it goes!

[MammaLoves]

This is a terrific idea.

[jen lemen]

This is incredibly energizing to me--I'm so glad that Blogher wants to be a force for social change. This is just one more thing I love about this community, and I can only imagine what amazing things will happen from this effort. Count me in.

[Matt]

Lisa,

I'm wondering why there is nothing on the Blogher homepage to point people to Bloghers Act? At least one very well-known female blogger was unaware of the program until I asked her about it. I'm not a member (not a female - or a blogger), but I'm wondering if an email was sent to member in addition to the blog posts so they would all be aware of it.

I may be a guy, but I'm also a feminist (Can't believe I just wrote that.), so I'm pretty excited about Bloghers Act. I hope you guys take every opportunity to make it a smashing success. By the way, if contributions are needed to support it, I'd do so.