How to get involved in progressive organizing

The 2024 election national elections were a depressing repeat of 2016. In response, people often want to get involved in the community and make a difference. But they just don’t know where to get started or how their efforts can be directed. This is difficult to address because progressive organizing is always topical, with different issues and campaigns coming and going over time. Even so, I developed a list of organizations and communications channels that would make it easier for community members to get involved when these initiatives do pop up. This will be a guide that I plan to update periodically, and feel free to reach out if you think this is missing anything.

Get connected

The modern information environment is terrible, and getting involved really means signing up for a load mailing lists and social media platforms so that you know when and where things are happening. Yes, this does mean that you need to sacrifice your email inbox. Here are a few of the relevant platforms and communications channels for Medford:

Social Media Pages

Medford, MA subreddit - A general subreddit for Medford issues. Typically focuses on politics as elections near and gets into more general Medford issues after those finish.

Medford, MA politics - The Facebook page where people discuss local politics. It can get rather contentious.

Mobilize Medford - A Medford Facebook group, though it’s exclusively for progressives. It’s generally more tame.

Tufts Daily - The daily newspaper of Tufts University. They’ve recently become more interested in local issues around Medford, which is probably the best hope we have for bringing an oasis to our local news desert.

Medford Bytes Podcast - Hosts 30-plus-minute interviews with different community members around Medford.

Mailing lists

Many groups (some of which are listed later) have their own proprietary mailing lists that goes out only to members, but these are the ones that, as far as I know, are public:

City mailing list - The official City Hall mailing list. The events calendar, which you can sync to your online calendar, is probably a better way to keep up with local, city-sponsored events.

Medford City Council Newsletter - The newsletter detailing the activities of Medford City Council over the past month. I chair the committee that finalizes and votes on these, though we rotate through Council members who draft them.

Medford Public Library Mailing List - It’s the library. Who doesn’t like libraries?

West Medford Community Center Mailing List - The mailing list for the West Medford Community Center, which hosts events and weekly senior lunches.

CACHE in Medford - Publicizes arts events in the city.

My mailing list - Shameless plug — I have a mailing list outside of this blog, with more topical subjects. My colleagues in City Hall also maintain their own mailing lists, social media pages, and blogs.

Senior Center Newsletter - Published once a month by the Medford Council on Aging. Publicizes events around town and at the senior center.

Groups

Groups tend to come and go, going through periods of activity and inactivity. They’re cyclic by nature. The groups in themselves, in my opinion, aren’t as central to local organizing as the relationships developed through them, but groups are meant to facilitate those relationships. Joining these groups also means getting on proprietary mailing lists, Slack channels, and so on, which often have more notifications about what’s happening around the city.

Our Revolution Medford - The local progressive group that sprung up after 2016 and since successfully endorsed numerous local elected officials (including yours truly). In practice, the Medford chapter is a bit more centrist than the others.

Medford People Power - Focuses on civil liberties. Sort of like a local ACLU for Medford.

Safe Medford - A group of advocates who popped up after 2016. They cycle through campaigns, depending on what's needed at the time.

Trees Medford - Pushes for more trees in Medford. Currently working with Council on the tree ordinance.

Housing Medford - Pushes for affordable housing policies in Medford. I was involved with them. They pushed for Medford’s Affordable Housing Trust.

Medford Democratic City & Ward Committees - The official chapter of the Democratic Party in Medford. Organizing energy comes and goes, especially depending whatever upcoming election is happening. The most consistent function — and thus a good reason to get involved — is sending delegates to the state convention every year.

West Medford Community Center - Again, great community group and space for hosting events.

Additionally, there are a few dozen City Boards. These usually require professional experience or personal connections, since the positions are limited and have real administrative authority, but they are another great option.

Keep up to date with current initiatives

Relevant initiatives and campaigns come and go, so staying plugged in to a few of the sources above are critical to knowing what’s going on so that you can get involved when it comes up. The Invest in Medford campaign was the most active local campaign in Medford this past election, and over the next year the local elections are going to heat up and likely be a source of interest. And, after those end, it will be something else. Developing relationships with people in the community is the most important part of being and staying involved in organizing.