User:Danandlollie

Raise Your Voice
Raise Your Voice is a political messaging application that allows users to contact their representatives directly from news articles on political subjects1, find likeminded groups, and connect with each other. With the goal of “furthering political activism and the democratic process1 ”

History

The Boulder, CO-based company was founded in 2010. Co-founders Dan Busse and Andrew Swayze, say that the impetus for creating the tool was born out of the debates on health care reform. An ER doctor, Busse was frustrated that the town hall meetings, ended up being “hijacked” by special interests and partisan politics. Seeing that individuals’ voices were buried under the messaging from moneyed interest groups, pundits, and party extremes, he saw the need for a way to empower people by enabling direct communication.

Recognizing this need for real communication between citizens and their representatives, he wanted to create a tool that would facilitate individuals’ ability to reach out to politicians and have their voices heard. In one interview, Swayze noted that their "impulse to contact elected representatives, to take action had often been in response to news stories we had read.3 " While there are often ways to socially share articles that individuals read, there isn’t usually a good way to contact the people the story is about. Raise Your Voice changes that, allowing users to get to the people behind the news.

How the Application Works

The app is placed in online news and blogs, such as boston.com, allowing users to write legislators and share content when they are most inspired. Once users enter their home address, the tool provides them with a list of their federal, state, and local elected officials. They can also reach out to presidential candidates4. Then users fill in a few boxes in a form, write their message, and it is sent to the representative’s email box – without the user ever having to leave the page of the article that motivated their impulse to reach out.

From the company website, www.raiseyourvoice.us, all citizens can get computer code that allows them to install the app on their own websites.

1. http://techpresident.com/news/21530/news-site-does-more-report-it-offers-way-act 2. http://www.raiseyourvoice.us 3. http://techpresident.com/news/21530/news-site-does-more-report-it-offers-way-act 4. http://techpresident.com/news/21530/news-site-does-more-report-it-offers-way-act