ROBIN GREENWALD

Robin is in the foreground

I’m Robin Greenwald, a native New Yorker living in Manhattan for the past 39 years. I’ve always paid attention to social justice issues and voted regularly. However, I first became involved in political activism after the presidential election in 2016, when I saw that our democracy and its institutions were at risk. I was introduced to the Workers Circle during my political activism journey. 

 In 2016, I looked to social media for actions and events and found a meeting sponsored by Common Cause NY. I joined a bus trip to Albany with Common Cause NY to speak with state representatives about implementing fairer voting laws. I met several volunteers on the bus trip and became part of a small group who connected with our senators’ New York CIty staff members and met biweekly to discuss “asks” from constituents. I felt out of my comfort zone but this was a great learning experience and forged lasting relationships with some wonderful, like-minded people.

 I began phone banking and door-to-door canvassing in the suburbs for the 2018 midterm elections. Again, I found myself out of my comfort zone and wondering “does this ‘stuff’ really work?”  Well, the proof was in the pudding, so to speak, or rather, in the results of the 2018 midterm elections, flipping Congress from “red” to “blue.” It was extremely gratifying to see that my efforts had made a difference. 

While phone banking with the Center for Common Ground (CFCG), a nonpartisan organization, I became impassioned with their mission of reaching out to underrepresented Black voters living in the southern rural communities of vote-suppressed states. I assisted with a weekly phonebank for the 2020 presidential election. The Workers Circle regularly participated in the CFCG phonebanks. More recently, at a virtual CFCG meeting hosted by Andrea Miller, Founding Board Member, the featured presenter was Noa Baron, Social Justice Organizer at the Workers Circle, who gave an inspiring talk about how to form a Democracy Circle. 

I am excited to say that a group of us from a CFCG 2020 phonebank team with other CFCG volunteers have formed a Democracy Circle, officially named the CFCG Big Apple Democracy Circle.  We have been meeting virtually on a monthly basis since September. For now our focus will be on the 2024 presidential election and also, local primaries and special elections coming up before then. We will assist volunteers in writing postcards at the end of this month and lead a weekly phonebank beginning the end of May. After this focused 2024 effort, we will add actions to further address voting rights and other issues for social justice.  

The monthly Democracy Circle meetings provide an opportunity to share experiences and learn about other actions and organizations members are involved in. One of the members is a volunteer with Vote RIders which helps voters obtain IDs required for voting in their states. By sharing with each other we not only broaden the scope of our activities, we also strengthen the impact of our efforts. In addition to the gratification we feel in helping inform and empower voters, we see the impact the voters we contact have on elections through the data collected by CFCG. On behalf of the CFCG Big Apple Democracy Center I would like to thank Noa Baron for inspiring us to form a Democracy Circle.

If you are interested in learning more about Democracy Circles, you can learn more and sign up to be a convener here. Questions? Reach out to Noa Baron, Social Justice Organizer, at nbaron@circle.org.