The Birth of Huntington Citizen Action Group

By Shawn Phillips, Community Organizer

Community organizing is something that people are called to do. Some of us are lucky and get to do it professionally, and some of us do it without having the language to describe it. It’s all the same, folks recognize a community need, or gap in resources, and get to work trying to fix it.

It’s no secret that the West Virginia Citizen Action Group expanded its organizing capacity this year. We’ve been on the ground across the state fighting data centers, challenging government over-reach, and working to save healthcare for thousands of West Virginians. 

With so many bad players out there it’s hard to focus attention on what’s happening in local communities – thus the birth of a chapter happens. What is a chapter? A chapter of West Virginia Citizen Action Group is a volunteer group of grassroots organizers advocating for change in their local communities. 

In a town there is a river, and next to that river a steel mill, and next to that steel mill a badass group was born called Huntington Citizen Action Group. In their first year, HCAG had taken on several major projects including cleaning out and assisting in renovating 13 low-barrier housing units at Vanity Fair Apartments, holding city council accountable, and providing dozens of meals to those who lost SNAP benefits because of YOU KNOW WHO.

If you would like more information on chapters, please reach out to shawn@wvcag.org.