Who We Are
Our History
The 2000s saw a series of campaigns activate progressive activists around the state, only to see that infrastructure fade after each election. In 2011, long-term organizers and newly engaged activists came together to create an organization that could do the year-round organizing work at the grassroots level necessary to realize a vision of progressive change.
Progressive Mass was founded on the belief that on-the-ground activists know best how to organize their own communities and that they are more effective when empowered by the tools and resources to make change and when connected to a network of like-minded activists around the commonwealth fighting for the same goals. In both policy and activism, we are guided by the principle, articulated simply by Senator Paul Wellstone, that we all do better when we all do better.
Our Vision
For over 200 years, Massachusetts has led the nation, always by investing in the future and with a deep sense of obligation to democratic self-determination and the community good:
- Our state government and Constitution became a sturdy model for the nation
- We created the first public park in our new country, and we called it Boston Common
- We founded the first public schools, built the first public transportation system
- We were first to legalize marriage for all, the first to offer health care insurance for all
But Massachusetts also has a darker legacy, one filled with housing segregation, voter suppression, corruption, and penny-pinching.
We can see the impacts of that legacy today. We are one of the most unequal states, and one of the least affordable to live in. Systemic racial inequalities pose barriers to job and educational opportunities, as well as access to justice. On protecting the right to vote and ensuring a livable planet, we lag behind other states.
Inspired by the best of our history, and the need to undo the damage of the darker side of it, Progressive Massachusetts intends to transform Massachusetts into a bold laboratory for progressive state initiatives and foster an open and inclusive political environment.
Our Work
Each legislative session we organize around a legislative agenda, informed by our progressive platform and input from our members, and we provide tools for you to lobby your legislators and hold them accountable.
It can be hard to follow what’s happening in the State House, and that’s intentional. A lack of transparency benefits those with the most money and power. We seek to demystify the legislative process and to identify how progressives can effectively intervene to advance our shared vision.
Members form local Progressive Massachusetts chapters in cities and towns across the state, which become vibrant communities of progressive activism. To get involved in a chapter or launch a new chapter (or learn more), contact us.
Staff
Jonathan Cohn: Policy Director
Jonathan is co-founder of the Issues Committee and Elections Committee at Progressive Massachusetts and has chaired both since 2017, expanding the reach of the organization's legislative agendas and candidate questionnaires and representing the organization in statewide advocacy coalitions on voting rights, immigrants' rights, and economic justice. He is a professional editor, with a focus on global sustainability and twentieth-century political history.
Melanie O'Malley: Outreach & Operations Director
Melanie has over a decade of experience advocating and organizing for progressive issues and candidates in Massachusetts, especially dedicated to the intersection of race, class, and gender. She is the former the Communications and Policy Manager at the Massachusetts Public Health Association and the former Chapter President of the National Organization for Women, Boston.
Board of Directors (2023)
Dan Cusher
Co-founder of Progressive Central Mass East and a municipal government volunteer. A software engineer by day, he likes to find opportunities to bring his tech experience into progressive activism, such as maintaining the PM Legislative Scorecard.
Andre Green
The child of a working single mom, Andre has dedicated his life to combating intergenerational poverty. A nonprofit executive and antipoverty policy wonk professionally, Andre currently serves on the Somerville School Committee and as a Democratic State Committee person for the Second Middlesex.
Helen Moon
A critical care nurse in a rural Western Mass hospital and the Development and Communications Coordinator of a domestic and sexual violence non-profit. As a former city councilor in Pittsfield, she believes in community-led change through grassroots organizing, and volunteers to elect progressive candidates, especially women of color, across the Commonwealth.
Tracy O’Connell Novick
A former Massachusetts public school teacher, Tracy has spent her adult life steeped in matters of public education in the Commonwealth. Tracy lives in Worcester with her family, where she served ten years on the School Committee. She works on public education governance, policy, and budget issues, and wants to help Massachusetts live up to its progressive reputation.
Meg Wheeler
An activist, small business owner, and former candidate for State Senate. Meg runs her own tax and financial consulting firm, with a focus on helping womxn build wealth to eradicate gender and racial inequities. She sits on the Town of Cohasset’s Advisory Committee and the board of the Soul Project.
Francia Wisnewski
A tenacious advocate for working families and community development, Francia has worked in nonprofits, education, and community organizing. She holds elected and volunteer leadership roles with the Town of Montague and with organizations dedicated to racial and gender equity. She has received several awards including Latinx Excellence on the Hill.
Frequently Asked Questions
PM is committed to continuous, statewide, progressive organizing because passing and implementing progressive policy requires attention and activism throughout policy-making cycles. Progressive activists remain effectively engaged between election cycles offering pressure, support, and organizing on issues.
As a multi-issue organization, we work to advance progressive policy across a range of issues (See Our Progressive Platform). Issues intersect with other issues to add up to a progressive vision of life in Massachusetts. Housing impacts education, which impacts the legal system, which impacts jobs, which impacts healthcare access, and so on. Each progressive policy win is important; no single policy win is sufficient.
Moreover, unlike many other groups in the progressive space, our main focus of activity is on the state level. Massachusetts has a history of leading other states on policy, but less so recently, and instead we’re leading where we shouldn’t be—inequity, lack of transparency, commute times, cost of living. The gap between where we could be (and need to be) as a state and where we are is huge, and only persistent progressive activism—and a demystifying of state politics—can change that.
PM is a member-based 501(c)(4) organization, because we believe this is the best way to build long term, sustainable organizing power to influence public policy in Massachusetts. Click here to become a member.
Progressive Mass is organized into geographically based chapters, and members from those chapters (as well as members not involved in any chapter at all) can participate in committees organized around specific goals. We currently have seven committees: Issues, Elections and Endorsements, Chapters, Membership, Fundraising, Digital Engagement, and Tech.
First and foremost, we remain committed to our Progressive Platform. As a member-driven organization, we routinely survey our membership to find out what issues are animating our members and chapters. Our Issues Committee uses survey information — as well as our coalition memberships — to develop a legislative agenda for each legislative session.
Although the main focus of our work is state politics, our chapters can choose to work on local issues as well. If you are interested in serving on the Issues Committee, please email issues@progressivemass.com.
There is a lot of robust organizing happening at the national level, but state-level politics tends to attract less attention, both from the media and from activists. However, state policy has a major impact on our day-to-day life (from the quality of our schools, the affordability of our housing, how safe and welcoming our communities are—the list goes on), and, as our state’s history shows, bold and progressive policy on the state level can spread to other states and inspire action on the national level. States that can lead should lead.
Activists tend to face two major barriers to taking effective action on the state level.
- First, they may not be aware of how many of the issues they care about nationally connect to policies on the state level.
- Second, if they are aware, they may not know how best to intervene. We seek to provide people with the knowledge, tools, and activist communities to make change.
PM is an independent organization, unaffiliated with any political party, and welcome progressives regardless of party affiliation or lack thereof.
In Massachusetts, Democrats hold large supermajorities in both chambers but leave progressive priorities on the table session after session. Having a “D” next to your name is not synonymous with being a progressive, and we cannot rely on parties with other vested interests to build progressive power.
Our accountability is to our progressive values and to the democratic will of our membership. This allows us to work on issues that might not be a focus of the Democratic party, or specific elected officials, or issues on which Democratic officials might not hold a position consistent with progressive values, and enables us to better do the important, long-term work of holding all elected officials accountable.
First, please check on the progressive performance of your Legislators here. You may be surprised by their score! And yes the best way to help your legislators pass progressive legislation is to call and email them. Research shows that both Democratic and Republican state legislators believe that their districts are more conservative than they really are. When conservatives are the more constituent constituents calling and emailing legislators (to fight progress on immigrants’ rights, police accountability, fair taxation, etc.), that will have a skewing effect on how legislators see the district. We need to provide positive reinforcement to progressive allies so that they can make the strongest case possible for their policy priorities and so that they have the willpower to keep fighting (a “thank you” to an ally can go a long way!).
Yes! If you have a core group that is interested in forming a new chapter, contact chapters@progressivemass.com. If not, there are still opportunities for engagement through action alerts, committees, and state-wide forums. Sign up here to get on our mailing list and learn more.
As a 501(c)4, our focus is on advancing progressive policy through issue-based organizing. However, we do make endorsements in select state, county, and federal races when those races could advance progressive policy. For more information on our endorsement process, see our Elections & Endorsements page. Note that Progressive Mass, as a statewide organization, does not endorse candidates for local office. If you are interested in seeking an endorsement, please contact elections@progressivemass.com.
PM believes that we can all be more effective as activists when working in coalition to advance shared goals. Through coalition work, we all learn more, grow in our advocacy, become more effective allies, and achieve goals that no organization could on its own. We participate in various statewide issue-based coalitions and serve in a formal leadership role in some (e.g., the steering committee of the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition on economic justice and that of the Safe Communities Coalition on immigrants’ rights). On the local level, our chapters cultivate partnerships and coalitions with other groups working toward our vision of an equitable, just, democratic, and sustainable Commonwealth.