Must-Read: Meet Alex Aronson and the Bus Project

We're always keeping our ear to the ground for the best and brightest youth activists from across the country - which is why you need to check out this profile in The Nation on Alex Aronson, the youth vote director for the Oregon Bus Project.

The Bus Project, one of a network of state-based groups called the Bus Federation, is committed to getting young people involved in the political process through voter mobilization, issue engagement, and training programs. As they say, The Bus Project works to drive votes, leaders, and change - and even sometimes a 47-seater bus. They were even recently honored with a prestigious Reed Award for Best Get-Out-the-Vote Plan in the country for Trick or Vote, a program Rock the Vote was proud to partner on for Election '08.

So why did Alex get involved with the Bus Project?

As a college student in Philadelphia, Aronson participated in 2004 election protection efforts. When he saw how difficult it was to vote in the lower-income areas to which he was dispatched, in contrast to his much more privileged voting experience, he was deeply troubled. "I realize[d] that democracy was an unrealized idea and that we needed to do a lot of work," he says. When he made the move to Oregon, the Bus Project's work caught his eye. Here was an organization directly addressing critical issues of voter and electoral access.

When Aronson was first seeking out ways to be engaged, he recalls feeling alienated by the process. Outside of elections, he wasn't quite sure how to get his feet wet. "The big realization came," he says, "when politics became about more than presidential elections and I started paying attention to city, state and regional politics and thinking about how local laws can really impact our communities." Now Aronson helps organize regular trips to the Oregon Capitol so volunteers can meet their Representatives and press them on local issues.

And there's lots more great stuff where that came from. Check out the whole article, and let us know what you think!