Issue Campaigns

Utilizing a model of education, grassroots volunteer involvement and interactive technology, Brave New Foundation has created a unique system of alternative media distribution designed for long-term impact and sustainability. Through strong narratives and strategic partnerships with over one-hundred organizations we have produced internet video campaigns that help change perceptions and build social movements.

Each Brave New Foundation campaign consists of a short compelling video, a website with background information on the issue, a coalition of groups pushing the issue out, bloggers, and press outreach. The campaigns also provide concrete steps the public can take to help shift attitudes and make a difference.

Partner organizations have included churches, youth groups, national advocacy associations, and local grassroots groups. Through these partnerships and our network of more than 2,400 volunteer "field producers" we have reached a wide and diverse audience that includes young people, African Americans, Latinos, business leaders, veterans, and many others. Our work has been covered in newspaper articles, television shows, magazine articles, blogs, and radio shows including ABC, NBC, the Tavis Smiley Show (PBS), Air America, NPR, Daily Kos, Huffington Post, and Alternet. In fact, our videos had over 10 million views during 2007. Our e-mail list has more than doubled to over 500,000 active members who are ready to make a difference.

HOUSING IN NEW ORLEANS

When the Saints Go Marching In. This campaign, produced with the Center for Social Inclusion, exposed the realities of tens of thousands of families still living in temporary FEMA apartments and trailers two years after the devastation of Katrina. The campaign was viewed over 100,000 times and motivated 122,000 people to sign a petition in support of Senate Bill 1668: The Gulf Coast Recovery Act.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Lift the Ban. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue, Don't Harass" is the only law in the land that authorizes the firing of an American for being gay. Brave New Foundation's campaign with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network raised awareness about this prejudiced law and how it has resulted in the firing of much-needed qualified Arabic Linguists. The campaign was viewed over 109,000 times.

GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY

Heckuva Job DHS! 5 Years of Corporate Cronyism. Brave New Foundation provided visual documentation of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) mismanagement, excessive spending, criminal conduct and shady no-bid contracts in its campaign with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). The campaign was viewed over 24,000 times.

PEACE

Mother's Day and Father's Day for Peace. These campaigns with No More Victims featured real people with celebrities like Vanessa Williams, Gloria Steinem, and David Arquette. The campaigns were viewed over 207,000 times and raised over $68,157 to bring two young Iraqi victims to the United States for critical medical treatment.

THE WAR IN IRAQ

Tell us the Mission. Four years after President George W. Bush gave his infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech, nationally renowned spoken word artist Steven Connell asks what exactly has been accomplished in Iraq. This campaign has been viewed over 130,000 times and garnered thousands of petitions asking Congress to fly the lag at half-staff whenever an American service member dies at war.

IMMIGRATION RIGHTS

A Dream Deferred. More than 20 advocacy organizations worked with us on our Dream Act campaign on immigrant student rights and it inspired strategy conferences with California organizations and student activists. It has been featured in Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, Alternet, Citizen Orange, MyDD, Long Island Wins, among others.