Paul Bass Photo
Cofounders Jennifer Pope and Jorge Fernandez in the WNHH studio.
Spurred by last fall’s presidential election, a new breed of activists has jumped into local and state politics in Hamden.
Originally organized in the Spring Glen neighborhood, the group has taken a town-wide focus and dubbed itself the Hamden Progressive Action Network, or “Ham PAN” for short.
Over 100 supporters attended an inaugural event last week at Hamden Middle School, where they heard from the state’s three state representatives, Michael D’Agostino, Josh Elliott, and Robyn Porter. Participants also responded in a poll that they want to see the state rely on revenue increases, not just budget and job cuts, to address the projected $5 billion two-year deficit in the new two-year budget. At the top of their wish list was an increase on top income tax rates, followed by tolls on interstate highways and legalized recreational marijuana.
In an interview Thursday on WNHH radio, group cofounders Jorge Fernandez and Jennifer Pope said they and other group members were not active in politics before, not even in last year’s presidential race or in Elliott’s inaugural run, a magnet for area progressives. Fernandez, a social worker, and Pope, an academic research coordinator, said the election of Donald Trump convinced them to move beyond social media and become genuine activists.
To that end, they envision HamPAN supporting Democrats in municipal and statewide races in town (but not getting involved in party primaries). Given how “true blue” Hamden has become in recent years, they’ve started helping out Democrats in municipal races in more Republican-leaning adjoining towns like North Haven and Bethany this year. They also traveled elsewhere in the state to help Democrats in special elections for state representative seats.
And “we plan to be very busy in 2018” supportive progressive candidates for state offices both in Hamden and statewide, Fernandez said.
On the program, they spoke in support of State Rep. D’Agostino’s efforts to rewrite the formula for state education funding to include not just the percentage of students receiving free lunches, but also those receiving special education and English as a Second Language services, so that Hamden can obtain more help in paying for its schools and lowering its high taxes.
The pair acknowledged that if Hillary Clinton had become president, they probably wouldn’t have become activists and formed HamPAN. But they predicted their group will remain active no matter who wins future presidential elections. “Once you start,” Pope said, “you can’t stop.”
Click on or download the above audio file to hear the full interview with Pope and Fernandez on WNHH FM.
My non-CT friends are amazed at all the opportunities we have to be active in Hamden (and New Haven)--and Jen and Jorge are a couple of the main reasons there's so much activity. Kudos to them for getting organized and enabling outlets for channeling our frustration about where this country is headed in a positive way. They are definitely guiding lights.