Continuing our series on activist afternoons/evenings, Marjorie Siegel explains that gatherings for activists can be more than a drop-in event. She sees them as the starting point for building a community and new leaders. By Paul Lehrman "We came together in 2019. People were panicked, and for good reason," says Marjorie Siegel of Activist Evenings Indivisible in Brookline. "Sandy Wixted and I independently went to a meeting in Cambridge and came to the conclusion that we could organize a similar gathering for activists on this side of the river. At United Parish we started in a small room that held 50, but very quickly needed a much bigger room." We told people how to find us, “United Parish, the one with the chairs!”
I'm hopeful that this will inspire others to do something similar and we are happy to share what we've learned. One addition to the information in the article, in 2019 when we originally came together, we were able to secure financial and organizing support from JALSA (the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action). That foundational support enabled us to build our skills and confidence so that we knew we could find enough support without that affiliation.
I'm in NC in Mecklenburg County, the epicenter of the NC GOTV effort. Yesterday afternoon I was at a volunteer fair for a neighborhood Democratic group (what would be called a Democratic club in NY). We heard from some of the candidates on the ballot in Nov - running for both local and state offices and then visited "stations" to hear about all the volunteer opportunities available to canvass, register voters, phone and text-bank, write postcards, volunteer at the polls, and do miscellaneous stuff. There was a pretty good turnout for a Sunday afternoon when there was a college basketball tournament underway.
Super. You are it, the epicenter of NC GOTV and our hearts are with you. I love to hear about people like us putting the parties, gatherings, and joy into our political lives. It's called the Dem Party, right? The Connector is happy to publish a piece about the volunteer fair if you or someone wants to write about what it took to pull it off, what you would do differently next time, what seemed to be most impactful, etc. We want to share the details so others can consider similar events and formats.
Check out the website for Activist Evenings Brookline, tiny but has all it needs: https://activist-evenings-brookline.org/
I'm hopeful that this will inspire others to do something similar and we are happy to share what we've learned. One addition to the information in the article, in 2019 when we originally came together, we were able to secure financial and organizing support from JALSA (the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action). That foundational support enabled us to build our skills and confidence so that we knew we could find enough support without that affiliation.
I love to hear about successful activism!
I'm in NC in Mecklenburg County, the epicenter of the NC GOTV effort. Yesterday afternoon I was at a volunteer fair for a neighborhood Democratic group (what would be called a Democratic club in NY). We heard from some of the candidates on the ballot in Nov - running for both local and state offices and then visited "stations" to hear about all the volunteer opportunities available to canvass, register voters, phone and text-bank, write postcards, volunteer at the polls, and do miscellaneous stuff. There was a pretty good turnout for a Sunday afternoon when there was a college basketball tournament underway.
Super. You are it, the epicenter of NC GOTV and our hearts are with you. I love to hear about people like us putting the parties, gatherings, and joy into our political lives. It's called the Dem Party, right? The Connector is happy to publish a piece about the volunteer fair if you or someone wants to write about what it took to pull it off, what you would do differently next time, what seemed to be most impactful, etc. We want to share the details so others can consider similar events and formats.