ACTIVIST AFTERNOONS

How a simple gathering grew into a movement

Fiercely dedicated to the power of everyone doing a little to get a lot done, “Activist Afternoons” is a movement channeling resistance into action. Because these afternoon gatherings are sprouting all over, the Connector asked two veterans to share their stories.

Connecticut, by Vicki Volper

In January 2017 a small group of women with little or no activism experience began meeting weekly, mostly to comfort each other, share information, and talk about what we could do to resist the Trump agenda. We began writing and phoning for issues we cared about. Over time, we broadened our skills and our political activities with canvassing in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and trips to Hartford to lobby for proposed State legislation. We soon called ourselves The ReSisters.

The ReSisters grew in numbers. In early 2020 we launched our own Activist Afternoons modeled on the ones we’d heard about in the Boston area. With COVID, we replaced Activist Afternoons with Backyard Activism. And last summer we shifted from members’ backyards to gathering Wednesday evenings at the pavilion at Sherwood Island State Park, where we could watch geese and sailboats go by while we wrote postcards and letters and painted lawn signs.

Activist Afternoons was a terrific vehicle for introducing new members to activism. All hands are needed in 2024 so we are scheduling Activist Afternoons again. We are meeting in an indoor venue and drawing in new members who want to learn how to take actions to protect our democracy. We hope our Activist Afternoons Toolkit will encourage other activist groups to try out the model.

Massachusetts, by Lili Allen

When I retired in 2023 I knew that I was going to spend a significant amount of time on social justice issues that mattered to me. For example, in Massachusetts, a number of us are fighting for a moratorium on new spending for prison construction because many are realizing that incarceration is a failed policy solution. But in 2024, like so many of us, I am concerned about the outcome of upcoming elections.

Thinking about how to channel my energy, I recalled attending Activist Afternoons in Cambridge before the pandemic. Those afternoons were always an inspiration. We would walk in and immediately sense the buzz that permeates a space when so many people are taking action and are happy to be doing it together. I used to run into other activists I had met through online meetings and it was great to connect. 

Cambridge’s Activist Afternoons started small, with 2-3 organizations bringing opportunities to a small group of volunteers in a co-working space each Sunday.  Examples included postcards for voter registration, calls for immigrant rights, and texting to encourage people to go to the polls.  By February 2020, the number of participating organizations had grown and the number of participants had swelled to over 100 weekly attendees.

After COVID, I realized I had the time and inclination to revive Activist Afternoons. I consulted with the founders, then spent some time identifying a space and finding organizations to participate.  Today, the Cambridge Activist Afternoons is going strong again. We meet the first and third Sundays of the month, regularly drawing between 50 and 100 people and I expect we will soon exceed 100 participants.  The video above shows Cambridge Activist Afternoons in action and highlights how simple it is to get such started, and I have offered to advise anyone interested in replication.  Clearly, the pandemic could not kill this contagious idea!

Read More of “What Works” in The Grassroots Connector