Episode 89: Indiana Indivisible Offers On-Ramps to Activism
Guests: Kim Eldridge - Indivisible NWI & Karen Byrd - Indivisible Central Indiana
https://www.mobilize.us/indivisiblenwi/
https://www.mobilize.us/indivisiblecentralindiana/
Welcome to the HoosLeft Podcast, a show about Indiana politics, history, and culture from an unapologetically leftist perspective. My name is Scott Aaron Rogers, and I’m recording from Bloomington.
Last week, we spent a lot of time talking about one consistent theme - the fraying social safety net and the real Hoosiers who will fall through. Disability advocate Jennifer David talked about both recent and larger, looming Medicaid cuts. Then Saturday, I anchored an 8.5 hour livestream in conjunction with the nationwide Families First day of action, jumping to sites across the state, checking in with Indiana Rural Summit’s Motorcade for Medicaid as they stopped at several of the rural hospitals in danger of closure, and listening to stories from people whose lives would be negatively affected by those cuts. Finally, on Sunday morning’s HoosLeft This Week panel, we revisited the topic during our One Big Thing segment.
This week’s topic: action. As the pain of Trump’s tariffs, the cuts to human services, and open cruelty of the regime radicalize people, so many folks have a desire to help but don’t know where to begin. Getting involved in party politics is one entry point, but it can be intimidating, unappealing, or inaccessible to many people. Originally formed in the wake or Trump’s first election, one organization offering another on-ramp to activism is Indivisible. From their website,
Indivisible started as the Indivisible Guide, a Google Doc guide to organizing locally to pressure your elected officials to resist Trump’s agenda. It caught fire as millions of people picked up the guide and its name - Indivisible - and organized their own local Indivisible groups to put the guide into action. These new Indivisible activists formed a nationwide movement of people taking matters into their own hands to build their own power through collective action.
Indivisible national is a social movement organization that grew as the Indivisible movement grew, building out a professional team of organizers, wonks, campaigners, digital and data specialists, and other experts to support the movement and fight for progressive values. Like other social movement organizations, Indivisible's staff both supports and works independently of the movement itself - just as local Indivisible groups both take autonomous action and also coordinate with each other and with our national team.
Today, the Indivisible movement is a progressive grassroots movement of millions of activists across every state, fueled by a partnership between thousands of autonomous local Indivisible groups and a national staff. Indivisible’s national team offers strategic leadership, movement coordination, and support to Indivisible activists, and also directly lobbies congress, builds partnerships, runs media campaigns, and develops advocacy strategies. Together we fight to defeat the rightwing takeover of American government and build an inclusive democracy.
My guests today are organizers with Indivisible chapters in different parts of the state. Kim Eldridge is an original member of Indivisible Northwest Indiana, one of the longest continually-operating groups in the organization. Karen Byrd handles communications for Indivisible Central Indiana, the chapter active in the greater Indianapolis area.
In the following conversation, we’ll talk about how they each got involved with Indivisible, finding the activism lane that suits your strengths, and the impact of person-to-person organizing. We examine the nuances of managing people, moving diverse teams in one direction, and how to build solidarity.
Real quick before we get to the interview, please consider supporting HoosLeft with a paid subscription. This is an independent media project; I don’t paywall content; and I don’t rely on advertising. Only individuals like you keep this thing going. Maybe I could make more money if I did things differently, but I refuse to gatekeep valuable information in the middle of a political crisis. So please, if you find value in this work, go to HoosLeft.us and subscribe at the paid level - it’s only $5 a month, or $50 a year, to help me write more, research more, and organize more. Not ready for long-term commitment? You can make a one-time contribution on Cash App or Venmo. Links are in the show notes. Me, and my old body, would like to spend less time on construction, and more time constructing a better future for Indiana, but I need your financial support to do so.
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Now, here is my conversation with Karen Byrd and Kim Eldridge.
Things We Talked About:
History of Indivisible: https://indivisible.org/about
The Indivisible Guide: https://indivisible.org/resource/guide
Story of Indivisible NWI: https://indivisiblenwi.org/about-us/
Black Church Coalition: https://www.facebook.com/people/Black-Church-Coalition/61560594422679/
Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis: https://www.concernedclergy.org/
MADVoters/Indivisible NWI Civics Lab (FULL): https://www.mobilize.us/indivisiblenwi/event/807822/
MADVoters Civic Literacy Labs: https://www.madvoters.org/events
Young Rolls Over for Trump: https://punchbowl.news/article/senate/young-trump-relationship/
Breakdown of Civil Society: https://nupoliticalreview.org/2021/03/28/a-lost-generation-and-the-breakdown-of-civil-society-as-we-know-it/
Braun Gets to Work from Home: https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2025/03/14/braun-family-home-in-jasper-gets-118k-in-security-improvements-with-helipad-trailer/
Citizens’ Impeachment: https://citizensimpeachment.com/
One Million Rising Events: https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/event/803953/
One Million Rising Toolkit: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18n1nP7WvlGSqjX1CV7SNgoNBUikGUfu1GmayoWXd2iQ/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.8ai0uajg9e50
Bystander Effect: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/bystander-effect
Neoliberalism Creating Loneliness: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/12/neoliberalism-creating-loneliness-wrenching-society-apart
Third Spaces: https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/how-third-places-contribute-thriving-communities
Mosquito Devices: https://www.npr.org/2019/07/10/739908153/can-you-hear-it-sonic-devices-play-high-pitched-noises-to-repel-teens
Hoosier Action Knock Your Block: https://www.facebook.com/HoosierAction/posts/on-may-10th-we-held-our-largest-organizing-meeting-with-hoosier-action-leaders-g/1026936502870439/
Hamilton County Library Controversy: https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/hepl-board-ends-controversial-review-policy-will-return-books-to-teen-section
Once again, that was Karen Byrd from Indivisible Central Indiana and Kim Eldridge from Indivisible NWI. Both groups are hosting events this week and already have more lined up. Check them out. Get involved. If you’re not near one of these groups, go to indivisible.org to find a chapter near you. There is a place for you in this fight.
But, Sunday morning, the place for you to be is on the Project Next Media network’s YouTube, FaceBook Live, or Twitch streams, where I’ll be hosting HoosLeft This Week. Come check that out live if you get a chance. It’s a lot of fun, if you can call following the news in this timeline fun. But sometimes you have to laugh to keep from going crazy. I bring together panelists from the democratic socialist left to never-Trump conservatives and we look at the week’s headlines from around Indiana and beyond. We’ll also take time to examine one big thing, a different deep dive every week. I hope to see you there in the comments, but if you can’t make it live, the program will be available as a podcast Sunday afternoon.
Thanks again to Karen and Kim for their time and all the work they do in their communities. Find just one way, through Indivisible or otherwise, to help yours. Finally, one last bit of virtual panhandling - please consider a paid subscription at HoosLeft.US, where you’ll find everything I’ve ever published. I rely solely on the generosity of kind patrons like you to make this information available for free to everybody. In addition to the website, you can also find me on Facebook, Bluesky, YouTube and TikTok at HoosLeft or on most other social media sites at ScottRog78, where you can hit me up with feedback, tips, ideas, and concerns. Finally, please forward the show to a friend and have them pass it on. Let’s keep building this project - and a truly democratic state - one conversation at a time. Until the next one, this has been the HoosLeft podcast. I’m Scott Aaron Rogers. Love each other, Indiana.
Indivisible NWI Online:
Web: https://indivisiblenwi.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100095364423787
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indivisible_nwi/
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@indivisible_nwi
Indivisible Central Indiana Online:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/IndivisibleIndianapolis/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indivisiblecentralndiana/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/indivisiblecentind.bsky.social
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@indivisibleindiana
HoosLeft Online:
https://www.facebook.com/hoosleft
https://bsky.app/profile/hoosleft.us
https://www.youtube.com/@hoosleft
https://www.tiktok.com/@hoosleft
https://www.instagram.com/scottrog78/
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