About CL
& Who We Are
The Commonwealth Lobby ( CL) formerly, The Help Youth Vote Coalition provides opportunities globally to educate communities and individuals of all ages including students on and off campus to civically engage, apply critical thinking skills to evaluate candidates, speakers, writers, conduct non-partisan-neutral research, host candidate and issue forums and debates on high school and college campuses globally. For example, CL Founder Pamela Julian while working as a full time volunteer League of Women Voters Boston Chapter President , organized, recruited and worked closely with Boston Latin School Students, including BLS Alum Steven Gingras who led the student organizing effort with The John Ward Fellows and the Boston Latin School Administration providing BLS students with an historic opportunity to learn how campaigns work, how to host and moderate a non-partisan classroom forum. BLS students were assigned to individual candidates, researched the candidates positions and interviewed several candidates personally. BLS students led this student driven historic Boston Mayoral Forum. All twelve mayoral primary election candidates attended. 300 attendees included members of the community, students, alumni, teachers and the classroom forum received positive media attention (See the Article).
CL working with legislators genuinely interested in establishing effective comprehensive voter registration systems, and working with educators subject to campus culture and logistics to implement the on-campus voter registration voter education pilot system modeled after the first known comprehensive economically efficient on-campus student voter registration legislation filed in United States legislatures in Massachusetts, New York and in Washington D.C. Recently, CL initiated and was the sole sponsor of a student driven and moderated first know state representative candidate forum at East Boston High School. (See Boston Globe article)
The Commonwealth Lobby working collaboratively with individuals and organizations to improve the quality of life for all globally. CL providing educational opportunities to address and solve problems peacefully and effectively in communities by engaging individuals and organizations. Educating citizens of all ages why voting matters in every election and why and how civic engagement can improve the quality of life for individuals and communities.
STAFF
Who We Are
Founder & President
Pamela Julian
Pamela Julian is the founder and President of the Commonwealth Lobby and has been a longtime community activist with a focus on civic education and civic engagement advocacy. She was the principal author of the pending on-campus student voter registration bills in New York, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C.
Pamela Julian was President of Boston’s League of Women Voters and has run for political Office in the state. She also led CL’s sponsorship of the state representative candidate forum at East Boston High School (See Boston Globe Article).
A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, she earned a BA with a concentration in public policy, psychology, political science, and film studies. She was awarded the first Raymond Seidelman Political Advocacy Fellowship in 2009. While attending Massachusetts Bay Community College in Wellesley, she was editor in chief of the student newspaper, The Beacon.
Founder & President
Anthony Bryne
Anthony Bryne is the Communications Director for CL and is responsible for speech writing and press relations among other things. Antony has worked in higher education communications for more than a decade, serving at Berklee College of Music as the Technical and Communications Manager for their summer programs until joining the Commonwealth Lobby.
Anthony earned his Bachelor of Science at Emerson College and has stayed in the intersection between education and communications ever since.
Vice President & Chief Technology Officer
Michael Durickas
Michael Durickas is the Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of the Commonwealth Lobby and has served in an advisory capacity for several non-profits including Heartank. He has extensive experience designing and implementing IT infrastructure and the technical aspects of projects and campaigns. This includes communications campaigns in the non-profit sector for organizations, such as the United Nations and the International Institute for Justice and Development.
In the run-up to the United Nations (UN) 70th anniversary in New York, Michael coordinated the global Elyx70Days campaign to highlight UN activities around the globe and build up momentum for the commemorative events on the web and across social media channels. This successful project involved managing a team of content writers and corresponding directly with UN offices and operational teams across 70 countries. He was also responsible for the English language content for the UN Regional Information Center for Western Europe (UNRIC)’s media channels and helped plan the presence and presentations at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris.
Michael received his Masters of Science from the LSE and his Bachelors in from UMass Boston. He graduated summa cum laude and was awarded Distinction by the faculty of both majors. Michael is an avid photographer, writer and traveler. He has photographed many world leaders and UN officials, such as the UN Secretary-Generals António Guterres and Ban Ki-moon, the President of the UN General Assembly Mogens Lykketoft.