No Hub in your area? You can start one!
What is a Hub?
A Hub is a local organizing group affiliated with Mass-Care's statewide campaign to win Medicare for All. It's the basic unit of grassroots, neighbor-to-neighbor outreach about Medicare for All.
Our goal is to have at least one Hub in each State Rep district, carrying out effective organizing work.
A Hub can be:
- a group specifically created to advocate for single-payer health care (e.g., South Shore M4A) OR
- a multi-issue organization that commits to supporting single-payer organizing work in a particular town or area (e.g., River Valley DSA)
A Hub’s primary goal is to build support within their district for Medicare for All and mobilize on behalf of single-payer legislation. A Hub takes primary responsibility for their State Rep, and works in collaboration with neighboring Hubs in lobbying their State Senator and Members of Congress.
There can be more than one Hub in a legislative district and if so, those hubs should coordinate their organizing and lobbying activity. One group can also cover more than one legislative district, if they have the capacity to do so
Building Hubs in every district is the pathway to a strong grassroots movement across the state that will enable us to win Medicare for All in the State House and to move the Massachusetts delegation in Congress.
How to Form a Hub
Hubs agree to carry out the responsibilities described below and to work in a collaborative way with our Grassroots Organizing (GO!) Committee.
To be listed as a Hub, an organization (or group of activists) will first organize an action for Medicare for All. A canvass, phone-bank, or delegation to your legislators are some ideas. If your group needs further education on M4A, an educational event might be appropriate.
A Hub should have an on-boarding process to plug new activists into organizing work, designating a primary contact person(s) for new people in your district who want to get involved. Mass-Care will list contact info for every Hub in the state on its website. An “on-boarding process” can be as simple as a monthly meeting that new folks can attend, or it could be someone designated to have 1-on-1 meetings with new volunteers, to help them get involved.
Finally, each Hub should work with Mass-Care to develop a strategic plan to move their legislators. For legislators not on board with single-payer legislation, this means trying to win them over as cosponsors. For legislators who are already cosponsors, it means trying to move them into leadership roles such as joining the Medicare for All Caucus, co-hosting events in the district, and convincing other legislators, especially those on the Health Care Financing Committee and in Legislative leadership.
Effective Hub Organizing
To be the most effective, local groups organizing for Medicare for All should focus on three areas of work - prioritizing the areas that are most needed for your district and your Hub’s current size and strength:
1. Outreach/Coalition Building: Growing your base of single-payer activists and allied organizations to have enough power to move your legislators, and to build the regional and statewide movement;
2. Internal Education/Leadership Development: Educating your activists about Medicare for All and providing enough support and training for them to become effective leaders, speakers, and writers; and
3. Medium-Term Campaigns within a Long-Term Strategy: Having a strategic plan for each of your legislators and being disciplined about running only medium-term actions and campaigns that advance this strategy.
One common pitfall for Hubs is to focus exclusively on one of these activities: e.g. continuing to lobby a legislator with a small number of people, but without enough power to move them; or focusing too much on internal education and policy discussions, without deploying your members to do public outreach and pressuring your legislators.
If you feel you have enough activists and allied organizations to win, focus on lobbying, and continue base-building to support and inspire the movement in your region and the state. If you feel you don’t yet have enough power to move your legislators, focus on base-building, coalition-building, and leadership development.
Here are a few tips for becoming a more powerful Medicare for All Hub ...
● Internal Education – Hubs usually begin by learning more about Single Payer themselves. Invite a Mass-Care speaker, watch Fix It (the documentary) as a group, or review the slide show about proposed legislation in Massachusetts. Subscribe to Mass-Care’s and Healthcare-NOW’s email list. Follow us on social media.
● Public Education / Outreach – Show a movie such as Fix It with a community discussion afterwards. Host a house party; table at community and social justice events. Write letters to the editor. Collect petition signatures or stories in busy pedestrian areas of your district. Post on social media. Talk to your friends, neighbors, and co-workers; discuss their questions and concerns. Recruit new activists!
● Lobbying - Meet with the State Rep and Senator in your district. Raise Single Payer as an issue with local and statewide candidates for office. Ask your Member of Congress to endorse Single Payer nationally and join the Medicare for All Caucus. Join Mass-Care’s Lobby Days and Hearings at the Statehouse. Run a non-binding ballot question in your legislative district or municipality.
● Medium-Term Campaigns - If your legislator(s) is not willing to support Medicare for All yet, you can run campaigns to win the support of intermediate institutions and individuals that will have an impact on your legislator(s): City Councils, Mayors, Select Boards, School Committees, Ward Committees, Neighborhood Councils, local businesses, local unions, nonprofits, and grassroots organizations, and key individuals in the district. There are national and state campaigns to pass Medicare for All resolutions through municipal bodies - this can be a great medium-term campaign for local groups. Use our Municipal Calculator to show the savings.
View our PowerPoint presentation on Hub organizing from 2019 Boston Medicare for All Organizing Meeting.