Short­ly before we lost our beloved Lynn Allen to ovar­i­an can­cer three months ago, she entrust­ed us with the respon­si­bil­i­ty of car­ry­ing for­ward the polit­i­cal and civic caus­es she was so pas­sion­ate about. One of those caus­es was bring­ing pro­gres­sive activists togeth­er to orga­nize and mobi­lize for change.

Not long after Lynn and I attend­ed Camp Well­stone togeth­er in June of 2005, we start­ed talk­ing about orga­niz­ing a con­fer­ence for net­roots and grass­roots activists. As sum­mer became autumn, and autumn became win­ter, we began active­ly work­ing to pull togeth­er mon­ey and reserve facil­i­ties for what became the first NWroots Con­fer­ence. It was an eye-open­ing expe­ri­ence for me, because I’d nev­er planned some­thing like it before. Lynn had, and her knowl­edge and dis­ci­pline kept us on track as we firmed up all of the details.

Two more NWroots Con­fer­ences fol­lowed, in Feb­ru­ary 2007 and June 2008. After 2008, the con­fer­ence went on hia­tus due to the reces­sion and our desire to con­cen­trate our ener­gy and resources on oth­er projects. It was our hope that some­body else would pick up the man­tle and bring NWroots back to life.

And for­tu­nate­ly, some­body has. Robert Sar­gent, who knows me well and knew Lynn well, has stepped for­ward to orga­nize the fourth NWroots Con­fer­ence for local writ­ers, read­ers, activists, elect­ed offi­cials, and pro­gres­sive can­di­dates. Robert has formed the NWroots Fel­low­ship to orga­nize the event in coop­er­a­tion with NPI.

NWroots 2011 will be hap­pen­ing on July 9th, 2011, in Pio­neer Square. Reg­is­tra­tion is now open, and is only $50 for activists and $25 for stu­dents. Both rates include break­fast and lunch.

(Note that you can also RSVP on Face­book.)

Most ses­sions will take place at Com­e­dy Under­ground, which many NPI read­ers are undoubt­ed­ly famil­iar with. The even­t’s keynote speak­er will be Ujjal Dosan­jh, for­mer Pre­mier of British Colum­bia and for­mer Cana­di­an Health Min­is­ter, who will talk about the impor­tance of uni­ver­sal healthcare.

Fol­low­ing his remarks, he’ll take ques­tions from the audience.

In the after­noon, Seat­tle’s own rep­re­sen­ta­tive to Con­gress, Jim McDer­mott, will address a gen­er­al ses­sion of the conference.

Here’s a quick run­down of some of the break­outs we have planned:

Plus, there will be doc­u­men­taries to screen, a can­di­dates’ social, and an after-party.

Plan­ning an event like this is no easy under­tak­ing… we know from expe­ri­ence. That’s why we urge you to reg­is­ter today. If you can­not attend, but can afford a con­tri­bu­tion of any amount, that would be great­ly appre­ci­at­ed. Any mon­ey left over after expens­es will be donat­ed to NPI.

If you have any sug­ges­tions, or would like to make a pre­sen­ta­tion or lead a pan­el dis­cus­sion, please con­tact Robert. The agen­da is by no means final­ized, and if you’d like to par­tic­i­pate as a speak­er, we’d love to have you.

Again, reg­is­tra­tion is just $50 ($25 for stu­dents). Reg­is­ter today and let us know that you’re com­ing to NWroots 2011!