This action center will help you join the fight within—and beyond—our local area to oppose the extremist trends and destructive policies (see Project 2025) that will be center stage starting January 20, 2025. The Action Center is a work in progress, so sign up for our emails to receive updates as we add action steps and resources.
If you’re already doing some of the actions or using some of the resources provided below, fantastic! If you’re newly energized to get involved, start small. Choose any one area or resource to explore and invite a like-minded friend or family member to join you. Whenever and wherever you can, spread accurate, positive news about what you’re learning or doing.
Four Avenues of Action
Act on Your Passion or Expertise
Choose and engage with an issue-focused organization whose mission matches your passion or area of expertise. From the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to the Center for Common Ground to Planned Parenthood to the Union of Concerned Scientists, there’s an organization—many with local or regional chapters–closely tracking wins and setbacks and putting pressure on government officials to do the right thing.
Why do this: Advocacy organizations keep an eye on what’s happening and issue timely alerts and step-by-step instructions so you can know the actions you take will be effective. Can’t act? Donations–of any size or frequency–help, too.
How: Sign up for your chosen organization’s newsletters and email alerts. You can also check out action–by geographical area, campaign, and issue–posted on Mobilize, the platform for progressive/Democratic volunteer event/action organizing.
Stay Informed
Subscribe and donate to nonprofit news organizations that cover state government. And because disinformation and misinformation are rampant across the country, urge your friends and family members in other states–perhaps even those who don’t always share your views–to do the same.
Why do this: Nonprofit news organizations dig into a state’s economy, culture and society and the corresponding policies proposed or enacted by its state legislatures. They hire professional journalists to investigate stories, present the facts and deliver unbiased news you need to take informed action.
How: Every state has at least one nonprofit news outlet focused on state government (see here); Connecticut’s is CT Mirror. Subscriptions are typically free, though donations are needed.
Find Community
Seek out and join a community with whom to share information and take action. Grassroots action organizations use understanding of their communities to educate neighbors and friends about issues and candidates and how local, state and national initiatives–good and bad–affect them.
Why do this: You can quickly undertake effective actions, spread hope, build coalitions, interact with people outside your usual sphere–and have fun!
How: The Ridgefield Democratic Town Committee has fostered a vibrant community of dedicated, innovative volunteers. Join us. You will also find community with grassroots organizations that include ReSistersCT, ICT4 (a local chapter of Indivisible), and many others.
Demand Officials’ Attention
Speak up and be visible! Constituents need to be more visible and vocal to overcome the out-of-control influence of lobbyists, special interest groups and big donors.
Why do this: Your votes put government officials in office, and your tax dollars pay their salaries. And the generally well-meaning neighbors on volunteer boards/commissions deeply appreciate your efforts to be informed about and provide input on their efforts.
How: Add important numbers, email addresses and hearing/meeting dates to your phone’s contact list and calendar. Sign up for Ridgefield’s e-alerts (see below) and your state legislators’ emailed updates. Communicate your views in person when you can, and with phone calls, emails, letters to the editor, and written or spoken testimony during town halls and public comment periods.
Resources and Tools: A Place to Start
Our Ridgefield Elected Officials
| Who They Are, at a Glance | https://ridgefielddems.net/ |
| Ned Lamont, Governor | www.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/Contact/Email-Governor-Lamont |
| Susan Bysiewicz, Lt. Governor | ltgovernor.bysiewicz@ct.gov |
| Stephanie Thomas, Secretary of State | Stephanie.thomas@ct.gov |
| William Tong, Attorney General | attorney.general@ct.gov |
| Richard Blumenthal, US Senate | Blumenthal.Senate.Gov |
| Chris Murphy, US Senate | Murphy.Senate.Gov |
| Jim Himes, US House, CT.4 | Himes.House.Gov |
| Julie Kushner, State Senate District 24 | Julie.Kushner@cga.ct.gov |
| Aimee Berger-Girvalo, House District 111 | Aimee.Berger-Girvalo@cga.gov |
| Ceci Maher, Senate District 26 | Ceci.Maher@cga.ct.gov |
| Savet Constantine, House District 42 | Savet.Constantine@cga.ct.gov |
| Rudi Marconi, First Selectman | torfirstselectperson@ridgefieldct.gov |
| Arnie DiLaura, Chair, Ridgefield Democratic Town Committee | volguy1@gmail.com |
Action Guidance from the State Party, CT Dems
Town of Ridgefield
- Subscribe to Ridgefield Town E-Alerts (meetings, minutes, traffic and emergency notices)
- Ridgefield’s Town Charter (2023)
- Ridgefield’s Democratic Elected Officials
- Town Contact Info/All Boards and Commissions
State of Connecticut
- Find My CT State Legislators (for Ridgefield)
- The Legislative Process in CT – Civics 101
- How to Testify at a Public Hearing on CT Legislation
- Know Your Rights 2025/Immigrants’ Rights (CT ACLU)
- Major Issues: 2025 Legislative Session
National
- AllSides
- Indivisible: A Practical Guide to Democracy on the Brink
- Chop Wood, Carry Water (Jessica Craven, on Substack)
- Today’s Edition Newsletter (Robert Hubbell, on Substack)
- Assembly Required (Stacey Abrams, podcast)
Resources and Tools: Digging Deeper
Environment
| CT League of Conservation Voters | As a legislative watchdog, CTLCV works in concert with Connecticut’s environmental advocacy groups to identify and highlight important bills impacting our air, water, wildlife, open space, and our health. |
| Environmental Defense Fund | A global nonprofit organization tackling climate change — the greatest challenge of our time. Its bold, game-changing solutions put people at the center of stabilizing the climate, strengthening nature’s ability to thrive and supporting people’s health |
| Sierra Club | The Sierra Club is the most enduring and influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. We amplify the power of our millions of members and supporters to defend everyone’s right to a healthy world. |
Civil Rights
| ACLU – Connecticut | The ACLU of Connecticut defends, promotes, and expands the civil rights and civil liberties of all people in Connecticut through litigation, community organizing and legislative advocacy, and civic education and engagement. |
| ACLU – National | For nearly 100 years, the ACLU has been our nation’s guardian of liberty, working in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country. |
| NAACP – Local | The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons. |
| NAACP – National | The home of grassroots activism for civil rights and social justice. |
| Ridgefield Pride | Ridgefield CT Pride is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization created in 2019 under the umbrella of the Friends of Ridgefield Community Programs. Its mission is to foster a sense of belonging for our LGBTQ+ community members and their families by educating, promoting awareness and understanding, increasing visibility, and celebrating our LGBTQ+ community members. |
Healthcare
| Planned Parenthood Action Fund | Planned Parenthood was founded over 100 years ago on the revolutionary idea that women have the right to access the information and care they need to live strong, healthy lives. Today, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund (Action Fund) fights to protect that right. |
| AARP (Medicare) | AARP empowers people to choose how they live as they age. More than 100 million Americans are 50 or older, and people want their money, health, and happiness to last as long as they do. We are a wise friend and fierce defender, focusing on the priorities of older Americans. |
Women’s Rights
| Center for Empowerment & Education | The Center for Empowerment and Education (CEE) has been a safe haven as the sole provider of services to victims of domestic and sexual violence in Northern Fairfield and Southern Litchfield Counties that provides state approved domestic violence and sexual assault resources and services. |
Guns
| CT Against Gun Violence | CT Against Gun Violence works to make Connecticut safe from gun violence through legislative advocacy, public education and grassroots engagement. They work to educate the public, elected officials, community leaders and the media about the public health crisis of gun violence in Connecticut, and that to create programs to reduce gun violence in all of its forms. |
| Sandy Hook Promise | Sandy Hook Promise is the only national nonprofit organization taking a holistic, public health approach to ending the gun violence epidemic. Based in Newtown, Connecticut, they are founded and led by several family members whose loved ones were killed in the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. |
Freedom of Speech/Association
| American Library Association | ALA is the largest and most respected membership association in the world for the library industry. It is a community of people working together to ensure that libraries remain vital centers of literacy, access, and opportunity. |
Voting/Democracy
| Common Cause CT | Common Cause has been leading the nonpartisan charge for healthier democracy for over 50 years, working at the national level and on the ground, state by state. |
| Ridgefield League of Women Voters | The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. |
| Project 2025 | Project 2025 is a plan for an authoritarian takeover of the United States that goes by a deceptively neutral name. It preserves Trumpism’s original radical intent in its goals to ‘[d]ismantle the administrative state’ and ‘decentralize and privatize as much as possible,’ allowing the American people to ‘live freely.’ The intent here is to destroy the legal and governance cultures of liberal democracy and create new bureaucratic structures, staffed by new politically vetted cadres, to support autocratic rule. |
Political Activist Groups
| Vote Forward | Vote Forward is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that empowers grassroots volunteers to send handwritten letters encouraging fellow Americans to vote. |
| Run for Something | Provides a safety net for new and exciting progressive leaders — at all stages of their journey — helping them run efficient, strategic, grassroots, driven campaigns while feeling supported throughout the process. |
| Galvanize USA | Galvanize USA conducts research, provides issue education, and supports women to use their civic power to create an America that works for everyone. |
| Galvanize Action | Galvanize Action connects with moderate women in rural, small town, and suburban communities to build an America that works for everyone. |
| Indivisible | Brought together by a practical guide to resist the Trump agenda, Indivisible is a movement of thousands of group leaders and more than a million members taking regular, iterative, and increasingly complex actions to resist the GOPs agenda, elect local champions, and fight for progressive policies. |
| The New Indivisible Guide | A set of strategies and practical first steps to help you get started in the grassroots fight to protect our families, neighbors and democracy. |
| Markers for Democracy | Markers for Democracy is dedicated to building and maintaining an inclusive and educated grassroots community focused on saving American democracy. We achieve this through daily engagement in postcard writing and other forms of activism to promote the election of Democrats up and down the ballot all over the country. |
| Postcards to Voters | Postcards to Voters are friendly, handwritten reminders from volunteers to targeted voters giving Democrats a winning edge in close, key races coast to coast. |
| Vote Save America | It’s a website, an initiative, and a community designed to help guide you with each step you need to take throughout the year to have the impact you want. We’ll help you not only get registered to vote and learn about candidates on your ballot, but also volunteer locally. |
| Sister District | With over 70,000 volunteers across the nation, Sister District is one of the largest and most effective progressive grassroots organizations in the country. |
| Mobilize | Mobilize helps mission-driven organizations manage events and recruit volunteers. |
| ActBlue | As a nonprofit, we’re driven by the belief that our democracy works better when more people participate in civic life and when our campaigns and nonprofits are powered by the people they serve. That’s why we’ve built a powerful online fundraising platform for Democratic candidates up and down the ballot, progressive organizations, and nonprofits |
| NextGen America | As a nonprofit, we’re driven by the belief that our democracy works better when more people participate in civic life and when our campaigns and nonprofits are powered by the people they serve. That’s why we’ve built a powerful online fundraising platform for Democratic candidates up and down the ballot, progressive organizations, and nonprofits |
| When We All Vote | When We All Vote is a leading national, nonpartisan initiative on a mission to change the culture around voting and to increase participation in each and every election by helping to close the race and age gap. Created by Michelle Obama, When We All Vote brings together individuals, institutions, brands, and organizations to register new voters across the country and advance civic education for the entire family and voters of every age to build an informed and engaged electorate for today and generations to come. |
| Center for Common Ground | Since 2018, the Center for Common Ground has been fighting for voting rights and mobilizing communities of color. |
| Focus for Democracy | Focus for Democracy Action (F4D) is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit dedicated to empowering donors to make the most impactful contributions possible to strengthen democracy. Their primary purpose is to strengthen democracy by evaluating and supporting non-partisan programs, while a smaller portion of our funding and recommendations is directed toward programs that effectively support pro-democracy candidates. |
| State Party Advancement Network | The State Party Advancement Network (SPAN) connects progressive donors with Democratic State Parties building invaluable infrastructure to help elect more Democrats. |
| Civics Center | Under umbrella 501c3 organization Community Partners, it focuses on registering young people to vote |
Educators
| Anat Shenker-Osorio | Anat Shenker-Osorio is a political strategist and communications researcher for progessive campaigns. |
| Jessica Craven [Substack] | Activist, organizer, climate hawk. Author of Chop Wood Carry Water Daily Actions. Political content creator. |
| Ruth Ben-Ghiat From Lucid [Substack] | |
| Scott Dworkin [Substack] | Journalist and fearless democratic operative with a long history of standing up to corrupt leaders. Co-founder of The Democratic Coalition. Host of The Dworkin Report and The Dworkin Weekly podcasts. Worked with 100’s of political campaigns and progressive orgs across |
| Dean Obeidallah [Substack] | Host SiriusXM radio’s The Dean Obeidallah show, writer, lawyer and comedian. Saving America one fact and punchline at a time–not necessarily in that order! |
| Heather Cox Richardson [Substack] | Historian who provides daily historical perspective on current events |
| Joyce Vance [Substack] | Lawyer who decodes current legal cases to hold MAGA accountable |
| Robert Hubbell [Substack] | Citizen, Optimist. Realist. Lawyer with insights & positive encouragement on national developments. |
| Marc.e.Elias | Democracy Docket is the leading digital news platform dedicated to information, analysis and opinion about voting rights and elections in the courts. |
| Meidas Touch Network [Substack] | The fastest growing independent news network in the world. We cover breaking news, politics, law and more. We are unapologetically pro-democracy. Because TRUTH is golden. |
| Robert Reich [Substack] | Professor, writer, former Secretary of Labor, author of The System, The Common Good, Saving Capitalism, Aftershock, Supercapitalism, The Work of Nations. Co-creator of “Inequality for All” and “Saving Capitalism.” Co-founder of Inequality |
| Simon Rosenberg [Substack] | Veteran Political Analyst, Strategist and Commentator. 2 Presidential campaigns (incl Clinton War Room), senior roles at DNC, DCCC, NDN. Author or Hopium Chronicle on Substack. |
| Timothy Snyder [Substack] | Snyder is an American historian of Europe and a public intellectual on both continents. Among his books are On Tyranny and Bloodlands, which appear in new editions in 2022. His work inspires art and music, and is read at protests around. |
| Andy Borowitz / The Borowitz Report [Substack] | A little levity: Andy Borowitz is writer, comedian, and creator of The Borowitz Report, a news satire site published since 2001. |