The mission of the Massachusetts Policy and Organizing Leadership Academy (The Academy) is to help leaders and organizations effectively and confidently participate in public life and influence the advancement of social, economic and racial justice.
Remembering Paul Cellucci

Remembering Paul Cellucci

Rest in peace Paul Celluci ,who always responded to poor people’s advocates— as a State Rep, as State Senator, as Lt. Governor, as Governor, as Ambassador. We called his official office in Canada and told a Secretary that an immigrantion lawyer from GBLS needed his official intervention to facilitate a...
Relationships Matter

Relationships Matter

When two hill town girls from Western Massachusetts get together in Florida – they have fun. Jane Swift and I go way back to our roots in Western Mass, to small town politics, to shared values and commitment to social, racial and economic justice as we pursued our separate careers...
Celebrating National Adoption Day - Like many women in this lobbying business I started as a volunteer 45 years ago.

Celebrating National Adoption Day – Like many women in this lobbying business I started as a volunteer 45 years ago.

Like many women in this business, I started as a volunteer. I belonged to an adoptive parent group. We had decided to “do something” about an existing law that forbade the adoption of children across religious lines. Through our parent support network we had learned that more than a thousand...
What People Are Saying

What People Are Saying

More important than ever – positive policy change on the state level. Here’s what professional and volunteer lobbyists and organizers are saying about the newly-released 2018 edition of Lobbying on a Shoestring, by Judith C. Meredith and Margaret E. Monsell: Making effective and lasting change is harder than ever but...
New! 4th Edition of Lobbying on a Shoestring Is Here!

New! 4th Edition of Lobbying on a Shoestring Is Here!

Lobbying on a Shoestring offers a common-sense, practical approach to political action. Premised on the idea that real people should have a real impact on the development of public policy, this powerhouse of a paperback conveys truths about the legislative process and hard-won, strategic insights. The 2018 Revised Edition gets you...
A Found Poem:  from an official training PowerPoint for workers  who screen shelter applicants.

A Found Poem: from an official training PowerPoint for workers who screen shelter applicants.

THE CHILDREN AND I NEED SHELTER – LAST NIGHT WE SLEPT IN A CAR ( Massachusetts found poem)* Where were you sleeping before you slept in the car? How many nights have you spent in the car? Were your children with you? Do you own the car? Do you have the...
Organizing for Change - Reorganizing Your Internal Resources

Organizing for Change – Reorganizing Your Internal Resources

I bet you can think of 10 MORE reasons why your organization might not want to spend the time and energy to reorganize you existing resources in order plan and implement a campaign to promote positive policy change in your town, in your county or in your state. I can...
New Videos from Freedom House + past Highlights

New Videos from Freedom House + past Highlights

Parents on the March: Organizing for Quality Education in Boston Public Schools, June 2012   Gail Snowden, from Freedom House, hosted the recent session on organizing for quality education in Boston and introduces two of Boston’s greatest education advocates and organizers Rep. Byron Rushing and Sarah-Ann Shaw.      ...
The most fun message training ever.

The most fun message training ever.

What kind of story do you tell?  So far, the most “fun” on-site coaching event is a very lively, interactive message development session which  helps volunteer activists and professional advocates learn how to turn a Chicken Little story that people ignore, into a Little Train that Could story, that makes people want to...
What Does it Take to Promote Positive Change in Our Communities?

What Does it Take to Promote Positive Change in Our Communities?

Answer: One person or organization, willing to be a part of a greater network, fueled by a common vision for the right solution.  Individuals, organizations, communities learning from each other, drawing from a comprehensive library of public policy resources and organizing tools.  Leadership Academy Training Programs: Be part of the Academy’s...
Do you have Real Clout?

Do you have Real Clout?

There’s no secret for how to win the policy change you’re looking for, just a series of planning and organizing activities that add up to a campaign.  Start by learning how the policy-making process works: the Real Clout textbook was written to serve as a how-to manual for community activists who,...
Latest entries
Vetoes -- More News

Vetoes — More News

State House News Tuesday the 17th of July The House on Tuesday plans to take a vote to fully restore a $20 million salary reserve for human service providers that Gov. Deval Patrick cut in half with a veto when he signed the fiscal 2013 budget. Human service providers pressing for an override say low-paid workers have...
Mass Leadership Academy &   One Mass Go Up and Down at the Same Time!

Mass Leadership Academy & One Mass Go Up and Down at the Same Time!

Announcement — The Public Policy Institute and it’s two projects,ONE Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Policy and Leadership Academy have moved out of our incubator at 30 Winter St where we have happily shared space with Health Care for All and Community Catalyst for many years. Lew Finfer’s MCAN will stay right where it is. As of July 1 , PPI,...
Protesters Chain Wheelchairs Together & Halt Traffic in Beacon Hill to Fight MBTA Fare Hikes

Protesters Chain Wheelchairs Together & Halt Traffic in Beacon Hill to Fight MBTA Fare Hikes

From City News Transit activists in wheelchairs chained themselves together and blocked traffic in front of the State House Monday to protest part of Governor Deval Patrick’s plan to raise fares for certain MBTA services. The move was one of the more extreme protests held since the T first announced it would spike the price to use the...
Our video collection

Our video collection

If you missed any of our sessions this year, check this link to all the Academy Videos, including the Frances Fox Piven and the Mel King sessions, and the latest Parents on the March session at the Freedom House. Or you can browse and watch some of the highlighted videos here. Many people have told us...
VOTE 17 and the Lowell Sun

VOTE 17 and the Lowell Sun

You can’t beat this kind of Editorial from the Lowell Sun (in part):  An Open Letter to House Speaker Robert DeLeo:  Dear Mr. Speaker, we know you are busy putting the finishing touches on the state’s fiscal 2013 budget. We know you are working hard with your House and Senate colleagues every day to get things...
Vote 17 in Lowell -- Getting Ready for the Rally

Vote 17 in Lowell — Getting Ready for the Rally

I think there will be some dancing in Nurse’s Hall at the State House on June 28th when the Teens from United Teen Equality Center come to ask all 200 members of the Massachusetts Legislature to pass their local option bill to allow 17 year olds to vote in municipal elections in Lowell.  They’ve worked real...
It Happened Last Night --- Value Based Messaging for the GLBT Community - Organizing for Change

It Happened Last Night — Value Based Messaging for the GLBT Community – Organizing for Change

It happened last night. But Barney had a severe case of laryngitis, and could barely speak — imagine– and so he stayed home and drank hot lemon tea. BUT the panelist moved ahead and led a series of smart and savvy discussions about the development of strategic messages and recruitment of strategic messengers to advance full...
How often have you heard lately: “Oh, I tweeted about that.” Or “I posted that on my Facebook page.”

How often have you heard lately: “Oh, I tweeted about that.” Or “I posted that on my Facebook page.”

 These five sentences from Tom Friedman’s column in the NY Times about Egypt made me sit up straight out of bed on a beautiful Sunday Morning. “No doubt Facebook helped a certain educated class of Egyptians to spread the word about the Tahrir Revolution. Ditto Twitter. But, at the end of the day, politics always comes down...
Bipartisan "Disappointment" Pilgrim Nuke Owners Lock Out Workers

Bipartisan “Disappointment” Pilgrim Nuke Owners Lock Out Workers

They weren’t at the picket line on Wed morning but at the news of the lockout,  Senate President Therese Murray and two House lawmakers on Wednesday called a decision by Entergy to lock out Pilgrim nuclear plant workers “unacceptable” and raised concerns about plant security.
Knowing How to Say Thank You

Knowing How to Say Thank You

And the Mass Home Care Association knows how to do it through their AT HOME Newsletter emailed to almost everyone in the Commonwealth it seems. We all get an E Mail asking us to download AT HOME   announcing: The following 20 people, in order of appearance, are in this June, 2012 AT HOME:   Therese Murray, Bruce...
Senior Action in Bold Action

Senior Action in Bold Action

Not much to say except admire the gumption and the bold actions from Mass Senior Action who finally — after 8 long years — got a shelter for MBTA users. Massachusetts Senior Action Council They say: Don’t Just Take It. Take Charge!

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