Shortly after the election of President Donald Trump, a group of former congressional staffers published a 26-page guide on grassroots strategies for fighting against the “Trump agenda” and supporting Democratic and progressive candidates, values and organizations.
The popularity of this “Indivisible Guide” has skyrocketed being downloaded from the IndivisibleGuide.com website over a million times, with more than 5000 groups registering with the non-profit organization.
Dan Lederer, 57, of Williamsburg said that he started the “Indivisible Williamsburg MA” group because of the “overwhelming amount of things there are to take action on.”
“I wanted to set something up to focus on a few things,” Lederer said, noting that this included becoming well versed in the workings of local and state politics, connecting with specific resources to help the group work effectively, and trying to improve dialog with “Trump supporters” so typically acrimonious conversations might become more civil and productive.
The 75-member Williamsburg group meets weekly and often has guest speakers like Matt Baron, former chair of the Chesterfield Democratic Town Committee, to share their expertise.
“I think we have learned a lot about politics in Massachusetts, and he (Baron) has been a huge help,” Lederer said. “If he hadn’t shown up, we would never have known that there were towns in Massachusetts that didn’t even have Democratic Committees.”
By working with residents in several surrounding Hilltowns, Lederer said that the Williamsburg group has been able to help with the process of creating Democratic caucuses and identifying candidates to run for Democratic Town Committees this year.
The group is now focusing on public outreach via phone calls to Williamsburg residents on what they see as key political concerns.
“At our meeting tonight we are going to split up on a few different topics and set up a little phone bank,” Lederer said.
Indivisible Williamsburg MA is also working to get every state senator to visit the Hilltowns at least once a year.
Lederer said that the group is also placing a non-binding resolution on the warrant for the June 5 Annual Town Meeting in Williamsburg that will address campaign finance reform.
“This is purely nonpartisan; that is, just about getting money out of politics,” he said.
Indivisible Williamsburg MA meets at 6:30 p.m. every Thursday, at the former Helen E. James School on Main Street.
The Williamsburg Democratic caucus will be held on this Saturday at 10 a.m. at the town offices in Haydenville.
State Sen. Adam G. Hinds, D-Pittsfield, will convene his next Speak Up Western Mass public forum and community office hours event in Huntington on Monday, March 27, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Stanton Hall, located at 26 Russell Road.
The meeting is agenda-free and designed for residents and local officials to ask questions, share concerns, and make recommendations to the state senator and his staff.
The Williamsburg Animal Clinic will sponsor rabies vaccination clinics on Saturday March 25 and April 1.
All clinics will take place at the town’s fire station and proceeds will benefit those volunteer fire departments. The schedule is as follows:
March 25: Cummington 8:30 to 10 a.m. and Haydenville: 10:30 a.m. to noon.
April 1: Chesterfield 8:30 to 10 a.m., and Goshen 10:30 a.m. to noon.
Shots are $25 each. Cats must be in a carrier and dogs must be on a leash.
State Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, will be holding an open meeting with residents at the Goshen Public Library on Saturday, April 1. This event will begin at 10:30 a.m. All are welcomed and refreshments will be served.
Ideas for this column on life in the Hilltowns can be sent to Fran Ryan at fryan.gazette@gmail.com.