Hi MC-
After the votes have been cast on Nov. 4, the new president, Congress and the American people will have to overturn the disastrous state of affairs left by The Bush administration and create concrete and lasting change. But what should that change look like? What obstacles will we face and what opportunities will the next four years bring? Buoyed by the great efforts of MC members and allies around "Housing Crisis Investigation Week" for LFMS Miami, we're now gearing up for the next one in advance of LFMS Denver. 

As Tracy Fleischman wrote in a previous email, the theme for LFMS Denver is "The Challenges of Change: Exploring the Conflicts and Opportunities Ahead." Using this theme, we're declaring Aug. 18-22 "Challenges of Change Week," an opportunity to showcase, share, and amplify the best political reporting on how real change can come about--and what affect it will have on real people. There will be many opportunities to participate in this week including producing your own original work, distributing content produced by LFMS special guests and other MC members, and much more! We want to support MC members and create a "reportorial splash" the week before the DNC!

Ina Howard's company Represent, Inc is working with Live From Main Street to cross-brand and publicize any pieces that you produce for the investigation week or might already be working on that fit within this framework. Contact Represent at ina@representinc.com with any pieces you'd like to help publicizing to additional media or give her and her staff a call at 347-296-8921. 

Challenges of Change Week will culminate with Live From Main Street Denver - the kickoff event at the Big Tent (http://www.bigtentdenver.org/) during the Democratic National Convention. We hope you'll join us by creating and sharing your own content and posting the content we share with you throughout the week. We'll post a link/blurb to any original material you share on the Live From Main Street website.

In addition to local story ideas and contacts, we've also created a header/footer we hope you'll use when posting Challenges of Change Investigation related work. We welcome ideas suggestions and your participation. If you have questions, ideas or would like to participate, please contact Tracy Fleischman at tfleisch@themediaconsortium.com ASAP. 

IMPORTANT INFO
Please include this header/footer when publishing work connected to Challenges of Change Week: 
"This article is part of "Challenges of Change," a project of The Media Consortium [http://www.themediaconsortium.org] which will culminate with Live From Main Street Denver - a televised town hall exploring the theme of "change"-and what it means for everyday Americans.  For more information about Live From Main Street and Challenges of Change week, go to http://www.livefrommainstreet.org. (INSERT YOUR OUTLET NAME) is a member of The Media Consortium."

Here are some starter ideas for Challenges of Change Week. Your organization could produce pieces:
* on the best political and social leaders representing new faces of change in the country
* on the best grassroots/community organizing campaigns that are making positive or national community change
* Q&As with LFMS special guests Van Jones, Rep. Donna Edwards, Polly Bacca and more (We're happy to help you set up interviews with LFMS special guests.)
* on how the theme of change will play out during the DNC
* on if the next president (whether Republican or Democrat) should hold the Bush administration accountable for past actions or just look to the future
* on the arguments on the immigration debate within the progressive movement and what needs to be done
* the changes within the Rocky Mountain region and how this reflects the opportunities/challenges of building a strong national progressive movement
* on opportunities for systematic change to address fundamental problems in our society
* on corporate and/or other major barriers to sustainable change (and new ways of countering their power/influence)
* on the Republican messaging machine's use of the idea of change and how to counter them
* or other creative ideas that might come to you!

Let us know if you have any questions or thoughts.  We look forward to working with you!

Thanks and best,
Tracy Van Slyke, Project Director, The Media Consortium
Tracy Fleischman, Managing Producer
Yoruba Richen, Content Producer
Ina Howard, Represent, Inc.