Hoosier Action

Hoosier Action, founded in 2017, aims to create an Indiana where all Hoosiers, Black, white, and brown, can shape the decisions that affect their lives. Small town and rural communities throughout Indiana are facing poor healthcare, an opioid crisis, toxic contamination, and negligible worker protections, which disproportionately affect families and vulnerable populations. Almost a half million Hoosiers meet the criteria for having a substance use disorder, and 94% of families with children under 18 are expected to receive a monthly cash payment to help lift 80,000 children above the poverty line. Hoosier Action has achieved powerful results, such as defeating work requirements for Medicaid recipients, winning an EPA commitment to clean up a carcinogenic toxic site in Franklin, and helping secure $40 million in statewide rent relief. The organization’s goal is to promote justice and improve the lives of all Hoosiers.

The key to Hoosier Action’s success is their person-to-person contact. They have gathered hundreds of members by going door to door, talking to people outside grocery stores, phoning friends and associates, and holding large texting parties, open houses, association meetings, and the occasional town hall. They have a staff of six, three of whom are organizers focusing on different counties or issues. Most members of the organization are women. In other ways the group is very diverse; in an area that is mostly white and Republican, their membership includes people of color as well as Democrats, progressives, and people who thought little about politics until they joined Hoosier Action to protect their families by presenting testimony on how they have been affected by toxic pollution, for example, or by attending community rallies for better living conditions. Hoosier Action’s emphasis is on developing members’ organizing skills so they can improve conditions that impact them directly.

For more information:

A town hall: City candidates gather to share thoughts on issues – The Republic, October 2023

Editorial: Local candidate forums give voice to voters – The Republic, October 2023

Medicaid Navigators and clients point to errors costing eligible people their insurance – WFYI Indianapolis, September 2023

Clark Memorial Health honors overdose victims – The Evening News and The Tribune, August 2023