About
Our Mission
The Mission of Organize for Action WNY is to strengthen our democracy by creating progressive change through civil engagement at the local, state, and national level.
We are fact based. All information that we share online or in print is verified.
Realizing this mission is grounded in grassroots action organized around core areas of concern including: voting rights, the environment and renewable energy, civil liberties, governance, support of science and the pursuit of knowledge, education, health care, human rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, refugee/immigrant rights, racial, environmental, and economic justice.
Our History
Organize for Action WNY was formed in 2017 by a group of friends looking for ways to resist the policies of the new administration. We met with local legislators to discuss our most important concerns and hosted events where people could write postcards to local, state, and congressional officials regarding specific issues.
While writing to members of Congress was important, many grassroots groups across the country recognized that the best way to put a check on the administration was to regain Democratic control of Congress in the 2018 midterms. They sponsored get-out-the-vote and voter registration campaigns employing traditional voter outreach methods (phone calls, texting, canvassing).
One group had the novel idea of sending personalized, handwritten postcards to encourage likely Democrats in swing states and districts to vote. The idea caught on and soon we evolved into a postcard-writing group.
Since then, “postcarding” as a voter outreach tool has been shown to be an effective way to motivate voter turnout and is offered by most grassroots groups as a volunteer option. Through our weekly postcard/actions email, we have expanded from a small group of concerned friends into a rapidly growing community of impassioned defenders of democracy. When we work together, we win!