by Dean Briggs
How do you inform and engage a widely-distributed group of activists and supporters around progressive issues? What if they live in largely conservative suburban and rural communities, and they don’t feel comfortable with standouts or yard signs? These are some of the concerns for progressive groups far from Greater Boston, and Rise Up Western Mass Indivisible (RUWMI) has dealt effectively with these challenges for eight years by producing the weekly RUWMI Newsletter and Founding the Freedom Writers Inc. They have many lessons learned that are applicable to other groups.
RUWMI is centered below Springfield in the lower end of the Pioneer Valley. Their two main activities are a digital presence, through an 1,100-member Facebook and email newsletter; and an activist effort, through a robust postcarding group. These efforts are led, respectively, by neighbors and friends Jackie Neiman and Erin Freed. After meeting at an early RUWMI event in their community, Jackie and Erin decided to work together, bringing complementary skills and experience.
Accidental and Digital Activism
Jackie became an “accidental activist” after the 2016 presidential election: “(Before that) I didn’t know anything about politics, but I got freaked out when Trump got elected. I have leadership skills. I’m PTO President, I’ve been a room mother, and in leadership at my temple.” RUWMI had a bumpy start, when two other co-leads left. Erin arrived just in time to help keep the group going. Jackie attended the 2017 Women’s March in Washington, “We were knitting Pussyhats in the car. We were wearing one hat, knitting another.” The march was a good experience, “We’re OK, it’ll be OK”, she says. And her activism grew.
Jackie’s digital work includes summarizing and focusing content from the progressive zeitgeist —”I read the 850 emails a week so you don’t have to!” The RUWMI newsletter has an impressive 50% “open rate” among their 350 subscribers across the region. Readers are largely south and west of the “Tofu Curtain”, as Jackie describes the Amherst and Northampton corridor.
Their communities’ conservatism “is not conducive to getting people to stand out with signs.” So their digital presence makes people aware of issues, feeling that they are not alone, and are part of a community. She posts information about other groups’ activities—many in Springfield—for those who want to attend. She notes, “(The digital presence) is not really a group, it’s more of an information conduit. If someone is looking to get involved, we are a good entry point.” She publishes surveys of members, links to petitions, local political news, and calls to contact legislators on issues.
The Freedom Writers
Another side of RUWMI is The Freedom Writers (TFW), a robust and active postcard writing group led by Erin Freed. Erin has been organizing since she was 15, supporting the AFL-CIO, migrant farmworkers, and the New England antinuclear group Clamshell Alliance. Erin has a technology background, and brings the structured and systematic mindset from that field to her work organizing TFW.
Creative logistics are vital to postcarding in TFW communities. The cards are packaged with stamps, addresses and instruction sheets by an assembly crew that meets at someone’s house to put them together. All the coordination is through email and a variety of small newsletters. They distribute postcard packages geographically, in relays. One person drives the postcards to Greenfield and someone else drives them to Gill and Colrain, distributing them to individual writers. Or they might be delivered to Chicopee or West Hartford. The same network was used during the election to distribute hundreds of lawn signs, including those reading Stop Project 2025.
The Freedom Writers wrote 44,000 postcards this election year, and are currently exploring where they focus next. They will likely communicate with legislators around critical votes. Erin notes that MAGA does well with legislator communication, and her group wants to be as vocal as MAGA in reaching elected officials.
Erin says, “We’re not committed to postcards; we’re committed to being impactful. If we need to be more impactful in some other way, we will do that.” Their actions have focused on getting out the vote, abortion rights, women’s rights, and environmental issues. They often work with Swing Blue Alliance, and are discussing a larger cooperative effort among progressive groups in Massachusetts.
TFW’s experience is readily applicable to other groups, Erin notes. It depends on members’ comfort level with the amount and type of activity. “We don’t ask members to do 50 things. We ask them to do one thing.” She notes that not everyone is comfortable participating in boycotts, protests, or phone calls, so they try to strike a balance. For example, they had a long conversation around lawn signs. Some people felt intimidated by their MAGA neighbors. Where there are more lawn signs in a neighborhood, people feel more protected.
What’s Next
They’re recruiting young people, and Erin would like to see activist groups rely less on social media and hold more in-person meetings. Post-election, Erin is considering how to focus more on protecting the Constitution, and the freedoms guaranteed by it.
Rise Up Western Mass Indivisible is HERE on Facebook, or contact them at riseupwesternmass@gmail.com. You can also sign up to get the latest news from the Freedom Writers here: www.freedomwritersinc.com.
Dean Briggs is a member of the IMC Communications Team.
