If you missed Convention, don’t worry! We elected a great team of officers and there are even more ways to get involved in the Young Democrats now than ever before!
At the Progress Summit, we heard from Christina Mullinax, Voter File Manager for the Democratic Party of Arkansas; Carly Squayres, campaign manager for Kelly Krout; Austin Ross, organizer for Planned Parenthood Great Plains; and June Borst, Arena Academy trainer and Development Director for YDAR.
Austin Ross of Planned Parenthood Great Plains doing a training as YD’s make buttons
At our YDAR Leadership Dinner, we awarded the Young Democrats that have been doing the work during the pandemic and as we’ve emerged.
We heard from Senator Joyce Elliott, who always inspires us to work harder and do more to make Arkansas better.
We awarded Alexandra Paulsen and Drew Dillman for their work doing service for the Young Democrats of Arkansas.
We awarded Roosevelte Williams and Aliah Rowe for their leadership in the Young Democrats and the state of Arkansas. We celebrate the historic nature of Roosevelte’s time in YDAR – he’s the first Black Vice-President our organization has ever had.
We celebrated the work of June Borst and Dean MacDonald, our Young Democrats of the Year!
Finally, the University of Central Arkansas Young Democrats were awarded the Chapter of the Year award!
Saturday and Sunday, we heard from candidates, amended our bylaws and platform, and elected new officers!
Our New Officers
Meet our Vice President of Young Professionals Destiny Maine! She’s the current President of Northeast Arkansas Young Professionals, and she’s excited to grow the Young Professionals within YDAR!
Our new Vice President of Colleges Michael Ankton is a Justice of the Peace candidate in Clark County, the Vice Chair of the Clark County Democrats, and a Henderson State University Young Democrat!
Drew Dillman will serve as our Vice President of High Schools – former chair of the Winter Seminar Committee, an intern for Joyce Elliott and the current President of our Little Rock Catholic High School Chapter!
We’ll do more officer introductions for our District Directors and National Committee people, too, so stay tuned, but here’s an incomplete list of our newly elected Young Democrats of Arkansas Executive Committee members!
Platforms and Resolutions Committee Update:
We added these planks to the YDAR Constitution, grouped by section:
Foreign affairs & Veterans
We Support
We recognize that those who live under oppressive governments have the right to freedom from those governments.
Economic Justice
We Support
We support unionization efforts among American workers to facilitate a more Democratic economic system.
Education
We oppose
Any efforts to erase the history of Black, LGBTQ+, and any other marginalized groups from our public education curriculum
Criminal Justice & Law
We Support
Amending the Thirteenth Amendment to strike out the phrasing “except as a punishment of crime whereof the party shall be duly convicted” to fully make slavery illegal in the United States.
We Oppose
Any form of involuntary prison labor regardless of pay
Rules and Bylaws Committee Update:
We updated existing language from “opposing gender identities” to “differing” gender identities:
We changed Constitution Article 402 of the to say:
There shall be two (2) district directors of differing genders for each congressional district of the state of Arkansas.
Constitution Article 503 –
Two YDAR members of differing genders from each congressional district shall be nominated to serve on the DPA State Committee in compliance with DPA Rule 11(c). Representation will be granted first to statewide officers in the order listed in Constitution 401.1, then to district directors. Any member who is elected to the State Committee by any other means shall not be eligible under this section. The President may fill any vacancy in the DPA State Committee delegation.
We changed the YDAR Constitution so it easier for chapters to charter quarterly, rather than at Convention. This will allow us to add new chapters faster!
We changed Section 205 of the YDAR Constitution –
Charters shall be issued by the State Convention subject to the requirements set forth in the Bylaws, and are subject to renewal by each succeeding State Convention. Charters may be issued between State Conventions in accordance with the Bylaws. All charters not renewed by the adjournment of the State Convention shall be immediately terminated at that time.
We changed Section 104 of the YDAR Bylaws to say:
Title of Section: Chartering Between Conventions
Chapters newly organized between meetings of the State Convention shall be eligible to receive a charter. Charter applications shall be submitted to the President, Executive Vice President, or appropriate district director. Charters may be granted by a simple majority (½) of the Local Presidents Assembly.
We changed Section 305.2 of the YDAR Bylaws to say:
Members of active chapters shall be afforded one (1) vote, given that no chapter may cast votes exceeding one-half (½) of the number of members on their membership roster seven (7) days prior to the opening meeting of the Annual Conference.
We changed section 205.1 of the YDAR Constitution to say:
All Presidents of chapters duly chartered at the State Convention or at an Local Presidents Assembly meeting shall be members of the Local Presidents Assembly. The President shall be the chair of the Local Presidents Assembly, and all Vice Presidents shall be ex-officio members. In the absence of the chapter President, the highest ranking chapter officer present at a Local Presidents Assembly meeting may cast the vote of that chapter.