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Progressives from across the state gathered at Binghamton High school on Sunday for the first New York Progressive Action Network state conference. The origins of this group have a not too distant past, stretching back to the 2016 presidential primary where the seeds of this movement were sowed by a certain senator for Vermont.

Most of us were Bernie delegates and we met while working on the petition drive last January. said Emily Adams, director of the Tompkins County Progressives and secretary of the NYPAN executive committee. We stayed in touch as we were getting up to the convention in July and many of us met each other in person for the first time at the convention in Philadelphia. We said we cant let this energy die after the convention so we stayed in touch and we formed NYPAN a few months later.

That formally materialized for the first time over the weekend as progressives from Buffalo, Albany, Syracuse, Ithaca and every other nook and cranny of New York gathered to talk progressive political policy and how to promote it moving forward.

There are a number of goals, Adams said. getting information out about single payer, getting information out about the environment and how that impacts the southern tier, but also really sort of a bonding moment a place to network and get your energy up a little bit because many people in the progressive community are feeling kind of down right now.

Adams also said NYPAN doubled its membership by approving 16 new affiliated groups, effectively doubling its membership to 32 member affiliates statewide.

The event featured several special guests including Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, Stephanie Miller, Mayor of Syracuse, Nomiki Konst of The Young Turks, and Arun Chaudhary, former Sanders campaign creative director and White House videographer under President Obama.

There are lots and lots and lots of folks who are taking it upon themselves to be activists in their community and its inspiring to see, said Chaudhary who now serves as vice president of Revolution Messaging, a media group committed to supporting progressive organizations nation-wide. Chaudhary says as people begin gearing up to the 2018 and even 2020 elections, business is booming.

It will be a lot about presentation of things and how you talk about things and how you make them emotional. Thats not always popular with people who are super smart and super wonky.

NYPAN is still in its infancy stages, but Adams and the other organizers are enthusiastic to continue organizing and pushing forward with the progressive agenda.

This is an opportunity not just to reach out, said Adams. But to connect with each other and to feel like were in this together and we can keep moving forward.

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Tompkins progressives head to Binghamton - ithaca.com