A Community of Communities

The most recent statewide Proposition 2 1/2 Convening took place on May 31, 2008. The trainers - including Colleen Corona and staff from ONE Massachusetts - did an amazing job training local Prop 2 1/2 advocates from across the state on Municipal Budgets, State Budgets, and Communicating About the Value of Government (our Public Structures).

Activists from Newburyport, Malden, Monson, Woburn, Ashland, Ashburnham, Rehoboth Brookline, Boxborough, Harvard and Shrewsbury learned about the challenges facing our state budget, the looming ballot question that proposes the elimination of the state's income tax and ONE Massachusetts framing techniques.

The most amazing part for many, though, was seeing those participants really connecting with activists from other communities - Colleen included - around an issue which has traditionally developed as a long series of very isolated and lonely battles... a list that seems to be getting longer every year.

There was a dynamic exchange of information from communities of all shapes and sizes, with experience in equally diverse campaigns: What are the advantages of stealth versus media? How much volunteer time and funding needs to go into a truly effective database, and what do you do with that information once you have it? What are residents in different towns looking for in their communities, and what are they willing to pay for it?

Most, if not all, of the answers to these questions were provided - and actively debated - by the participants, and we all learned a lot more about our state from the people fighting to keep it healthy, safe, and vibrant!

Join the Proposition 2 ½ learning community!

Please send an email with your contact information to: info@onema.org. Include the words Prop. 2 ½ in the subject line.

Proposition 2 1/2 Community in the Media

July 2008 - CommonWealth Magazine - Override forces turn to the pros in the art of winning elections By Shane O'Neill

March 2008 - Boston Globe - Moms for more taxes: Women lobby for overrides as Mass. towns struggle By Erica Noonan (photo above)

Background

For more background information on Proposition 2 ½ click here.