We had an incredible time at NN09 in Pittsburgh. This is one of the only places where political leaders, grassroots organizers, bloggers, and technology innovators can all come together for a conversation. We attended sessions ranging from improving voter registration technology to organizing grassroots movements online to Celeste Taylor’s own panel on Pittsburgh’s burgeoning green industry.

Hip Hip is known as much as a political movement as it is for its music, and right now an energetic panel is discussing the strengths and difficulties they’re facing in organizing this movement. Journalist Davey D, Emcee Jasiri X, Scholar Dr. Kimberly Ellis, Rev. Lennox Jearwood, Jr of the Hip Hop Caucus, and hip hop innovator Paradise Gray are sharing their experiences and debating how well technology has helped the movement.

Even the online battle of Myspace vs. Facebook entered the discussion. 150,000 members of the Hip Hop Caucus are now on Facebook, and Rev. Yearwood wants to see this number grow to include most of their 670,000 members. Davey D and Jasiri X spoke of using Myspace to organize hundreds of thousands of young people. All Hip Hop reaches millions of people with their publication, we’re talking about using the Internet to build a community and Davey D is stressing that there are those who already have.

They’re also discussing issues of consumerism in hop hop, with Gray remembering a time when America’s best known hip hop artists wore cultural celebrations around their necks, and is celebrating those who are getting back to it. Dr. Ellis discussed a battle of messages, and stressing the need for more positive messages to reach music fans.

Jasiri X uses hip hop to promote discussions on health care, education, and community violence: the neighborhood conflicts he calls “Hoodism” and the need to get to one hood of shared experiences and commonality.

The second meeting of the public collaborative led by Pittsburgh Green Innovators, the Regional Equity Monitoring Project and the Penn State Center met on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 to continue discussions regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The meeting agenda is posted below, along with pdf files capturing outcomes of the meeting.

Next collaborative meeting is set for Tuesday, May 26, 2009, from 8:00am – 10:00am at the Connelley Center in the Hill District.

http://pittsburghgreeninnovators.ning.com/profiles/blogs/green-innovators-remp-amp-psu-1

Update your bookmarks! The Regional Equity Monitoring Project’s web site has moved to a new name, which we think captures our mission perfectly:

pennsylvaniaequity.org

Everything else is the same, and if you had an account on our old site (b-pep.net/remp), your account will work here as well.

Got any comments or ideas? Post them down below. We’d love to hear from you!