The Greater Boston Young Dems are pleased to be connecting with more and more of the amazing individuals responsible for organizing the foundations of our party - the Democratic Ward Committees.

Joel Watson, Co-Chair of the Ward 19 Committee, was kind enough to share some info about how you can get involved with the Ward Committee, and some news about the exciting things they're doing for Democrats in the 13 precincts they represent in Jamaica Plain and Roslindale.

For starters, the committee is actively seeking interested Democrats (residents of Ward 19) whoa re interested in being Associate and Elected members of their 35 elected member Ward Committee.  If you are interested in getting involved or attending the meetings, please contact Joel Watson at handlerwatson [AT] comcast [DOT] net.

This active committee has a lot going on and would be a great group for more Young Democrats to start getting involved, making a difference, and advancing their political involvement.

Check out what else they've been up to this year:

• Holding a day-long retreat and an Obama Inauguration Ball/Fundraiser in January
• Establishing of an Elections Committee to help manage the Ward Committee’s yearly election calendar
• Creating a ‘Speaker’s Committee’ which has arranged for briefings on the homeless/mortgage foreclosures by Boston’s homeless shelter director and Lt. Gov. Murray’s staff person on the State’s effort to coordinate programs dealing with the homeless - both speakers are elected members of our Ward Committee
• The Speaker’s Committee also arranged for the four Boston mayoral candidates to meet with the Ward Committee for a half hour at our monthly meetings (June – Mr. Flaherty; July – Mr. Yoon; and September with Mayor Menino @ 7PM and Mr. McCrea @ 8PM).
• We have also expanded our efforts to coordinate with other organizations by co-sponsoring 3 Mayoral and At-Large Candidate forums for Boston’s 9/22 primary and 11/3 election with Wards 11 and 12 and MassVOTE
• The first one is August 31 for the 15 candidates vying for 4 At-Large City Councilor positions; it will be held at the Freedom House, 14 Crawford Street, Roxbury starting at 6PM with a ‘meet-the-candidate’ reception – the co-sponsoring Ward Committees are 8, 10, 11, 12, 15, 19 and RoxVote.
• Our outreach programs continued with voter registration booths at several events including the JP Wake Up The Earth Festival and the Boston Gay Pride March

Contact Joel Watson if you are interested in getting involved or just checking out a few meetings - and be sure to add the September Ward 19 Committee Meeting to your calendar so you can hear from Mayor Menino and Mr. McCrea.  You can also keep an eye on our Events Calendar for other ways to get involved.