We began life in the 2008 Obama campaign as Northwest Bronx For Obama. After President Obama was elected people all over the country who volunteered for his campaign and wanted to work to see his programs enacted formed groups to support his efforts. Our founders pulled folks together and Northwest Bronx For Change was born.

 

We are proud that we were very in the fight to pass the Affordable Care Act—Obamacare. We began two activities to educate folks about issues and politics. We continue them today. One is our weekly newsletter—E-News Update. The other is public meetings featuring speakers who can provide information and answer questions about issues.

 

We sometimes volunteer in political campaigns. We’re proud to say we helped State Senator Gustavo Rivera defeat the very corrupt Pedro Espada who pioneered the idea of running as a Democrat, but caucusing with the Republicans in Albany so they could remain in power.

 

Somewhere along the line we changed our name to Concerned Citizens For Change because we attract members from other locations than the northwest Bronx.

 

We also endorsed Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary. Our positions on issues align very much with his positions on issues. After that campaign was over volunteers who began his New York State efforts traveled around the state and asked Bernie activists if they would want to start a statewide coalition to work for a more progressive New York. Many people were on board and we joined the resulting New York Progressive Action Network (NYPAN) as a chapter. Although Bernie did not receive the Democratic presidential nomination his candidacy put many progressive ideas such as Medicare for All on the table and some have already become law.

 

We are also very proud of two other endorsements we made. Both were for opponents running against State Senator Jeff Klein. He perfected the idea of running as a Democrat, but caucusing with the Republicans in Albany. He formed a group of other Democrats who join him--the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC). They were able to keep the Republicans in power in the New York State Senate for many years and that kept all sorts of progressive legislation from getting a vote.

 

We volunteered in Oliver Koppell’s unsuccessful 2014 Democratic primary campaign against Klein and Alessandra Biaggi’s successful 2018 campaign against him. Our efforts to elect Senator Biaggi were part of a statewide effort which defeated most of the IDC members. The victories of Senator Biaggi and the other IDC opponents cleared the way for Democratic control of the New York State Senate and subsequent passage of a raft of progressive bills. We are proud of our role in these events.