Grassroots Central Mass grew out of the wonderful organization, Brookfield Indivisible, which was formed right after the disturbing outcome of the 2016 election. Brookfield Indivisible launched a number of very successful educational programs on issues such as climate change, rights of immigrants, gun safety, and the Massachusetts budgeting process. It also launched a very effective Hate Has No Home Here lawn sign campaign.
Over time the members of Brookfield Indivisible decided it would make sense to broaden our reach beyond Brookfield and the towns surrounding it and to make the organization more regionalized. This organizing strategy worked really well and brought more activists to our group. In this way Grassroots Central Mass was born.
Lawn Sign Campaign
We were excited to celebrate the formation of our new organization by hosting a Launch Party at the Ice House Pub in Barre on November 14, 2019. We had a great time with presentations made by several group members focused on the vision for our organization, the experiences of running for local office, and ways to use our inner creative processes to energize our activism. An engaging slide show of our accomplishments played throughout the evening. Given the tasty food, great presentations, and lively conversation a great time was had by all.
The primary concern identified on a questionnaire sent to all members of our new group identified defeating Trump in 2020 as its top priority and we were overjoyed when this goal was achieved. The survey also identified climate change, environmental degradation, and racial and social justice issues as concerns of greatest importance. Ever since organizing we have addressed these important matters through educational programs, fun activities for families, as well as focused political action on the local, state, and national levels. We partner with multiple organizations with goals similar to ours. We enthusiastically support individuals as they take action to articulate and implement a progressive agenda.