Right now we’re interviewing candidates for our spring Obama Organizing Fellowship Program—and it’s not too late to apply. The program is a great way to get hands on organizing experience, and I should know: I started out a summer organizer myself. Being a summer organizer in New York last year gave me the tools I needed to be first a field organizer, and now a regional field director. From the "hard ask" to honing my personal story, being a summer organizer was the best thing I have ever done for myself.

Organizing is such a rewarding experience. Talking to voters on a daily basis and meeting folks who feel the pull to get out there and do something about the kind of country they want to live in has been inspiring and eye-opening. I’ve learned that listening is the most important part of the job—listening to voters about the issues that are important to them, about what they need to help them get the message to their neighborhoods, and about their personal ties to the campaign and why they support the President.

Are you interested in organizing and want to help grow this campaign in your community? My advice: Apply now. The fellowship will give you skills that will benefit you for years to come. More importantly, it will give you an outlet to be proactive in the direction you want this country to take, and empower you to BE the change we seek.

We’ve rolled out an interactive campaign calendar that will keep us all in the loop as we organize over the next year.

It’s got it all—from upcoming primaries and debates to neighborhood canvasses and trainings happening in your community. We’ll be updating this calendar regularly—and you’ll know about changes as soon as we do, because it syncs with your personal Outlook and Google calendars online. You'll be able to find all your important campaign dates, like the last day you can register to vote where you live, right alongside your other to-dos.

Another really cool thing about this calendar is that it actually maps out our organizing strategy for the next 12 months. It shows the phase we’re currently in, what that means for your community, and how the work we’re all doing is connected to that strategy. Right now, we’re in the team-building phase—growing neighborhood teams of supporters across the country. It's the phase that will lay the foundation for the four phases to come over the rest of the campaign.

Commit to volunteer for 2012 today and stay up to date by downloading the interactive calendar.

This Sunday, November 6th, we’ll be exactly one year out from Election Day 2012. If you’ve been to one of our events in Georgia before, you’ve probably heard a saying we’re fond of—that we’re not starting early, we’re starting on time. But now, with just 12 short months before Election Day, we need to kick it into high gear.

From Atlanta to Albany, it’s up to us. When we wake up one year from now, our country will be headed in one of two directions, and it’ll be because of our efforts or lack thereof.

So I hope to see you at one of our events across Georgia on November 6th. You can find a complete events listing by clicking here.

With your help, we’ll build the biggest grassroots movement in political history and have fun at the same time.

If you can’t make it out on Sunday, commit to volunteer in the coming days, weeks and months.

The work we do now, a year before the election, will determine its outcome. Thousands of volunteers have already laid out the groundwork—it’s time for us to take advantage it.

With your help, we’ll win this thing. See you out in the field.

Next week the Senate will hold a vote on the American Jobs Act, President Obama’s plan to create jobs now and help middle-class families like Renae’s.

A technical resource coordinator in Georgia, for the past few years Renae’s life has mirrored the economy:

“Whatever was going in the economy was going on in my life,” Renae explains. “Our mortgage payments were too high; we were paying more than our house was worth. My husband lost his job and is still looking for work. At one point every part of my family had someone who was unemployed—my husband, my two sisters-in-law, my cousin’s husband—it was hard.”

Renae hopes that the President’s jobs plan won’t just help her husband find work, but help her community too.

“In our circle of friends, there are three other men who are unemployed. The President’s plan makes me hopeful for them, for our community. We shouldn’t be going down, we should be going up.

“If we can just get companies hiring it will mean so much. It’ll mean we can start to do things again—like fixing up our houses, doing some painting, completing maintenance—which we’re just not able to afford right now. It’ll mean we can start contributing to the local economy again.”

Renae’s message to the Republicans in Congress who are refusing to support the President’s jobs plan is simple:

“I do my job, I expect you to do yours.

“We’ve got a chance here. We’ve got to give people a chance to get back on their feet. We may never get back to where we were, but we can be better than we are.”

Join Renae and thousands of people like her in calling on Congress to support America’s middle class and pass the American Jobs Act.

From recording his own video to spotlighting anti-bullying groups like GLSEN, President Obama is helping to make sure “It Gets Better” for LGBT youth.

With your help, this movement is growing person by person, dollar by dollar, in communities across the country.