ProgressNow, previously the Rocky Mountain Progressive Network, is a progressive 501(c)(4) advocacy organization in the United States. Founded in 2003, ProgressNow bills itself as a network of state based communications hubs which act as a marketing department for progressive ideas.
History and mission
ProgressNow was created in 2003 as a response to the libertarian Independence Institute. It has since grown a subscriber base of more than 350,000 grassroots activists in Colorado as of 2012. In 2006, ProgressNow began to expand its network outside of Colorado and has since created ProgressNow Partners Networks in 26 states.
The first chairman was Rollie Heath, a Boulder executive who gained office as the 18th district's state senator in 2008. Heath was followed by Dr. Albert Yates, the former president of Colorado State University. The founder of ProgressNow is Michael Huttner, a Brown University and University of California Hastings College of Law graduate and lawyer turned political strategist. The current executive director is Arshad Hasan, who previously led Democracy for America.
Its founding board members included Wes Boyd, founder of MoveOn.org, Rob McKay, chairman of the board of the Democracy Alliance and president of the McKay Family Foundation, Jared Polis, elected in 2008 as the U.S. Congressman for Colorado’s 2nd District, and Ted Trimpa (the current chair), an attorney and government relations expert.
The group co-sponsored a blogging workspace, 'The Big Tent', during the 2008 Democratic National Convention. In 2007, progressnow.org received multiple honors from the Golden Dot Awards (online political advocacy awards).Westword, Best of Denver 2007, 7/2008
In 2010, the book The Blueprint: How Democrats Won Colorado, and Why Republicans Everywhere Should Care by Adam Schrager and Rob Witwer described ProgressNow as the "crown jewel" of the progressive investors' effort to flip the state.
Affordable Care Act advocacy In October 2013, ProgressNow Colorado released a controversial series of advertisements promoting Obamacare. According to the Denver Post, one advertisement "features a woman flashing a thumbs up with one hand and holding a packet of birth-control pills in the other. She is wrapped in a man's arm next to text that includes the sentence 'Let's hope he's as easy to get as this birth control.'" In response to inquiries about whether taxpayer funding was used for the advertising campaign, Amy Runyon-Harms, the executive director of ProgressNow Colorado said, "I know some people are saying this is a taxpayer-funded campaign...but that is just not the case." ProgressNow said the series of advertisements was paid for with donations and individual contributions, and the organization denied association with state agencies.
Cardboard Cory ProgressNow Colorado was notably a part of a four year campaign to oppose Republican U.S. Senator Cory Gardner. A group of activists and ProgressNow came up with the concept of a cardboard cutout of Garner, and developed and participated in events, press conferences, and rallies with the stand-in from 2017 until Gardner's defeat in 2020.
State affiliates ProgressNow has state partner organizations in 26 states. State Organization Year Founded Alaska The 907 Initiative 2022 Arkansas For AR People 2020 California Courage California 2007 Colorado ProgressNow Colorado 2003 Florida Progress Florida 2008 Georgia Progress Georgia 2020 Indiana Stand Up Indiana 2023 Iowa Progress Iowa 2012 Kansas Kansas Coalition for Common Sense 2022 Maryland Advance Maryland 2018 Michigan Progress Michigan 2007 Minnesota Alliance for a Better Minnesota 2006 Missouri Progress Missouri 2022 Montana Middle Fork Strategies 2022 Nevada Battle Born Progress 2009 New Hampshire Granite State Progress 2014 New Mexico ProgressNow New Mexico 2011 North Carolina Progress North Carolina 2011 North Dakota Prairie Action ND 2019 Ohio Innovation Ohio 2011 Pennsylvania Commonwealth Communications 2020 Tennessee Forward TN 2017 Utah Alliance for a Better Utah 2011 Virginia Progress Virginia 2011 Washington Fuse Washington 2007 Wisconsin A Better Wisconsin Together 2019
See also Democracy Alliance MoveOn.org
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