“I realized that I wanted to help other struggling campaigns in any way I could.”

From Commonwealth Magazine: Homegrown campaigns often work if a lightening-rod issue is on the ballot, but when the issues are more mundane, it isn’t so easy, particularly when voters are working long hours or are newcomers to politics. An alternative, at least on one end of the ideological spectrum, is One Massachusetts, which provides free training sessions for groups organizing Proposition 2 1/2 override campaigns. The year-old, Boston–based nonprofit was spun off from the Public Policy Institute, a liberal group that promotes community activism. Colleen Corona, a member of the leadership team at One Massachusetts and chairman of the board of selectmen in Easton, remembers the “ Eureka !” moment she had in 2006, when receiving invaluable tips from a campaign manager working for an elected official. At the time, Corona was organizing a Proposition 2 1/2 override campaign in her hometown.

 

“The information got us going, and without it we could not have run our campaign,” she says. “I realized that I wanted to help other struggling campaigns in any way I could.”

 

Colleen's picture was not featured in the Commonwealth Magazine article. This photo was taken of Colleen training local advocates on municipal budgets at the ONE Massachusetts Statewide Proposition 2 1/2 Convening in Boxboro on May 31, 2008.