Do a google search for Democratic party my city . progressive groups my area . Go to a general membership meeting . Not that you necessarily want to participate in those groups long term , but that ' s at least where you ' ll find like minded people . Some cities and college towns will often have some kind of webbased calendar or email list to advertise progressive happenings like meetings , fundraisers , protests , etc . Read your local newspapernews website and find out what ' s happening with local gov . Read regional city ' s newspaper for statelevel govt news . Attend county board of commissioner meetings . Attend city council or city boardcommission meetings based on what issues you think are important . If you can , donate to the ACLU , the Southern Poverty Law Center , and planned parenthood . One of the lessons that people should learn from occupy is that using new energy and momentum to engage with existing organizations and power structures often makes more sense than armchair intellectualizing about the creation of some new force or political party . Not that that should never be a consideration .