A reprint of the Huffington Post Article by Caroline Avakian

On a rainy and cold Wednesday evening, in a church in the town of Ridgewood, New Jersey, 250 women gather for a Women for Progress meeting. All over the country, grassroots groups of women just like this, are gathering to show up for the human, civil, and environmental rights they feel are at risk under the current administration.

Women for Progress Leadership Team gather for Wednesday’s meeting.
PHOTO BY CAROLINE AVAKIAN

One of the great stories to come out of this election are the number of women choosing to lead at this moment and stepping up for the causes they care about. Women are creating and joining communities to become involved in advocacy work, while others are inspired and want to learn more about what the processes are for running for public office.

Erin Chung addresses members at WFP Postcard Writing Event

Women for Progress is one of these groups. Founded by Erin Chung, Women for Progress started as a Facebook Group that organized quickly after the election, marched locally in a Women’s Sister March in Wyckoff, NJ, and whose leadership turned all of the group’s motivation and fast-growing membership, into creating action-related events like the one I attended on Wednesday. The meeting was a member meet and greet, and postcard writing event with guest speaker, Bergen County Freeholder, Tracy Silna Zur.

At the meeting they learned about the goals of the organization, while they sat around tables together armed with books of stamps they had brought with them, to collectively write over 2000 postcards advocating on behalf of accountability issues to state and federal legislators, to private companies, and other civic-related issues they felt strongly about. The issues being written about are represented by the organizational committees that make up the organization: Women’s Health Issues, Equality for All, Education and Gun Violence Prevention, Climate Change and Environmental Issues, and Progressive Politics.

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