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Thank you for taking an interest in chartering your club with the Virginia Young Democrats!

The process is very simple and can be a great way to help your local club. VAYD can help connect your club with other young democrat clubs in the area to help make your impact that much more successful. VAYD can also help connect you with Democratic leaders here in Virginia.

All you need to do is fill out the form below and then attach the documents from the bottom. The documents below include:

• Officer List
  • We do not require any certain positions, simply list what the leadership is for your club.

• Membership List
  • We require that you have at least ten members with a name, email and birthday listed for all of them.

• Outreach Plan
  • Detailing how you plan to increase club membership and make your club accessible to all Democrats. A sample is below.

• Constitution
  • The document that governs your club operations. A sample is below.

Once you submit you should receive a follow-up e-mail from a member of the executive board telling you when we will vote to approve the application.

QUESTIONS?

For questions about the chartering process, please email VAYD Membership Director Trent Armitage at membership_director@vayd.org. If you would prefer to mail your charter application, please send it to:

Virginia Young Democrats
1710 East Franklin Street, 2nd Floor
Richmond, Virginia 23223

Courtesy of Politico, a bipartisan coalition of Virginia leaders (including Mark Warner, Jim Webb, and Tim Kaine) express their support for the Rehabilitation of Historic Schools Act. From the article:

"A few years ago, Richmond couldn’t afford to borrow the money to turn a deteriorated, Depression-era high school into a modern K-12 facility. But local leaders and the Richmond City Council devised a novel solution. If the private sector rehabilitated this city high school into a regionally operated, high-tech high school for the top students in central Virginia, this could technically be seen as a “new” use. The IRS agreed. Using the 1986 law, this formerly run-down school is now home to one of the highest-ranked U.S. public high schools.

With that in mind, we all support the Rehabilitation of Historic Schools Act, legislation that would eliminate this roadblock to school renovation and allow local governments to use the historic building rehabilitation tax credit. The legislation isn’t a silver bullet. But it is the only proposal before Congress to leverage private capital to help modernize our public schools."

Courtesy of the Associated Press, Rick Perry produces a verbal gem.

It's not surprising that the Republican Party has trouble reaching out to young voters when one of their leading voices forgets the 26th Amendment.

I just wanted to take a brief moment to thank each and every one of VAYD's chapters for their work this past campaign cycle. From Bristol City to the Eastern Shore, Arlington to Danville... we saw young people knocking on doors, making phone calls, and in many cases stepping up to run for office on behalf of the Democratic Party. Together, we helped individuals like John Miller, John Edwards, Creigh Deeds, George Barker and so many other strong advocates for the interest of young voters return to the General Assembly.

The Young Democrats of America has announced its partnership with Emily's List, a Political Action Committee dedicated to training and supporting pro-choice, Democratic women who are seeking to serve in public office.
Atima Omara-Alwala, Vice President of the Young Democrats of America writes: "For the remainder of 2011 – 2012, Emily’s List will be hosting their signature Political Opportunity Program (POP) to train female candidates.

The VAYD Minority Caucus, in partnership with The Young Democrats of Maryland Minority Caucus, will be hosting a Young Professionals happy hour in celebration of Congressional Black Caucus week.

The event will be held at Local 16 - located at 1602 U Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 on Friday, September 23rd from 5:30 - 8:30pm.
For $10, stop by and network with other activists, community leaders and elected officials in the DC Metro area.

For more information, please contact Amaka Gossett at blackcaucus@arlingtonyoungdems.org