THE COMMUNITY FIRST COALITION
a path forward for working-class leaders in new hampshire
WHY COMMUNITY FIRST?
SERVING YOUR COMMUNITY SHOULDN’T BE THIS HARD.
We want working people in government. People who understand their communities because they are part of them and live with the same problems their decisions affect.
Have you ever tried to run for office? Anyone who has will tell you it is an uphill battle, even with money and political connections. Without those things, many working people never get a fair chance to run. Public office should not be this far out of reach.
SO WE MAKE IT EASIER.
Community First builds campaign infrastructure that working-class candidates can share. We provide coaching and hands-on help, maintain the tools campaigns need, and work with partners to offer services at reduced or no cost.
our standard for public service
Community First holds its members and the candidates it supports to the same four standards. They guide how we make decisions, use public authority, handle money, and treat the people affected by our work.
Community
Public decisions should help people build stable lives in the places they call home. Members and candidates should ask who will benefit, who will carry the cost, and whether the result serves the community as a whole.
They should listen to the people affected, respect local knowledge, and remain answerable to their communities after the decision is made.
integrity
Public service should never be used to gain money, contracts, favors, influence, or special treatment at the community’s expense. People can and should benefit when their community becomes safer, healthier, and more secure. Integrity means refusing to benefit by shifting costs, risks, or harm onto someone else.
Members and candidates should disclose conflicts, refuse corrupting money, and step away when a private interest could interfere with their public responsibility.
solidarity
We treat every person as a neighbor. Their dignity and safety do not depend on their wealth, status, identity, or agreement with us.
Concentrated wealth and power are easier to maintain when working people are divided and taught to blame one another.
Members and candidates must reject scapegoating, exclusion, and dehumanization. We do not sacrifice other people to improve our own position. Working people succeed when they care for one another and act together.
Democracy
Government should be of the people, by the people, and for the people. The people affected by public decisions should have a real role in making them, and authority should stay as close to them as practical.
Members and candidates should support fair elections, open meetings, accessible participation, transparent decisions, and accountable leadership. Larger public institutions must also protect rights, distribute resources fairly, and address problems that communities cannot solve on their own.
join the flock
Working-class candidates should not have to carry a campaign alone. Community First needs people who will help shape the coalition and resources to carry out the work. Joining and donating are the two most direct ways to help.