Our Communications (or “Comms”) Working Group amplifies the messages and goals of our chapter by creating social media posts, updating the website, writing press releases and other copy, designing graphics and developing campaigns that align with the larger DSA mission and chapter-specific efforts. We’re also building a proactive presence for our chapter online, gathering our chapter’s talent to capture political moments and spread our ideas across our region and beyond.

We’re always looking for more hands-on-deck and have a need for anyone with creative ideas, writing skills, design skills, and tech skills. Finally, you can use those skills you worked so hard for to survive in capitalism for their true purpose of destroying capitalism.

Email comms@mhvdsa.org.

Our Culture and Education Working Group leads the development of MHVDSA’s culture and political education programming. We work to create a healthy, welcoming, and hospitable chapter for all people who are interested in building a democratic society free of exploitation. 

As part of our culture work, we welcome and onboard new members, organize chapter socials and events, and bring folks from all over into the organizing life of our chapter. In tandem, our political education work aims both to educate the general public about socialism and to give socialist organizers the tools to link their daily activism to larger questions of socialist strategy and vision. Join us an be part of building a chapter that works for all of us!

Email culture@mhvdsa.org. Biweekly Zoom  meetings are Wednesdays, 7:30-8:30PM.

Our Ecosocialism Working Group is leading the fight to shift our institutions from private corporations to the public good, prioritize people and the planet over profits, and organize across the multiracial working class to build a livable planet for all.

This year, we are organizing around our chapter’s priority campaign to create the Hudson Valley Power Authority and fight for a transition to publicly owned, democratically controlled, renewable energy system. We also play a critical role in Public Power NY, a coalition of climate advocacy organizations, DSA chapters, labor, and other groups focused on implementing the most comprehensive version of NYS’’s Build Public Renewables Act — a Green New Deal for New Yorkers.

Email ecosocialism@mhvdsa.org. Biweekly Zoom meetings are Thursdays, 8-9PM.

Our Electoral Working Group fights to elect socialists to office so they can wield power across the issues we care about: using local government to strengthen public goods, spurring  independent working-class organizing through labor and tenant unions, and building the modern socialist movement. Our members lead campaigns from within DSA to elect candidates and co-govern with them in office, working toward the long-term creation of a socialist party.

In 2022, we elected Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha to represent the 103rd Assembly District in the NYS Legislature — the first DSA-endorsed candidate to win outside NYC, and the first woman and person of color to hold this seat. In 2025, we are organizing to elect our endorsed candidates, Giselle Martinez for Newburgh City Council and Daniel Atonna for Poughkeepsie Common Council! Email electoral@mhvdsa.org. Sign up to knock doors with our endorsed campaigns here. Weekly Zoom meetings are Mondays, 7-8PM.

Given the nature of our severe housing crisis, our Housing Working Group is taking on several campaigns. The priority campaign approved by the chapter is the fight for House the Future (also known as Green Social Housing) — permanently affordable, mixed income, and democratically controlled housing that we want the state to directly build. Beyond that, we are supporting the expansion of tenant protections and are working to build tenant associations in places where we’ve already passed them. 

Email housing@mhvdsa.org. General Housing meetings are biweekly on Sundays, 7-8PM, and House the Future organizing calls are biweekly Sundays, 5-6PM.

With Trump’s mass deportation campaigns ramping up,  immigrants in our communities need our support now more than ever. Our chapter’s newly-formed Immigrant Solidarity subcommittee will be coordinating with other organizations in the region around rapid response and Know-Your-Rights workshops. We also plan to fight for policies that will deter detention and mass incarceration in NYS, including Dignity Not Detention and New York for All.

Email mutualaid@mhvdsa.org.

What do we do when workers are under attack? Stand up, fight back! When unions in our region strike or picket — they know to expect us to show up. We are also integrating ourselves deeply into the labor movement by supporting our chapter members in organizing their own workplaces and coming together rank-and-file with working class people in the Hudson Valley, whether that be for large corporate employers, public employers, or local businesses and nonprofits.

Our labor work extends beyond the shop floor—we are committed to building strong relationships with organized labor to advance shared priorities around climate, housing, healthcare, and more. By bridging these connections, we aim to strengthen a movement that is truly led by and for the multiracial working class.

Email labor@mhvdsa.org.  Biweekly Zoom meetings are Sundays 7-8PM.

As corporate price-gouging drives us all into debt, many of our neighbors are losing the ability to pay for a meal, let alone pay for rent. One way we can support each other as a community is by providing free food and sharing practical skills. Our Mutual Aid Working Group is currently running a Poughkeepsie food pantry and planning to expand to Newburgh. We are also organizing skillshare events for us to learn important skills from each other, from carpentry to farming. We also host a regular virtual Spanish language roundtable for chapter members to practice and learn Spanish!

Email mutualaid@mhvdsa.org. Biweekly Zoom meetings are Sundays 4-5PM.

Our Palestine Solidarity Working Group works to support the Palestinian struggle for liberation as part of our commitment to the broader struggle of working class people around the world.

Currently, NYS spends millions in state retirement funds on bonds that directly finance Israel’s apartheid regime, and the Trump administration is relentlessly maintaining US imperialism over Palestine. We are organizing in coalition with other organizations through the Break the Bonds campaign to demand that the state comptroller stop funding genocide. Beyond this, we are actively participating in local actions, building public support for Palestine, and mobilizing people in resistance against fascism in all its forms. Our work extends in solidarity with all oppressed people worldwide.

Email palestine@mhvdsa.org. Biweekly Zoom meetings are Sundays 6-7PM.

Our informal Queer Organizing group formed this year due to a need for queer spaces in our chapter, made even more necessary by the widespread transphobia being pushed by the current administration. This year, we will plan our presence at Pride events through the region and host workshops, such as name change support. Most importantly, we will have fun!

Email organize@mhvdsa.org. Biweekly Zoom meetings are Thursdays 7-8:30PM. Check our chapter events page for an upcoming social!