OUR STORY

PROGRESS PORTSMOUTH grew over several years out of the growing recognition that political life in Portsmouth could be better. Residents with differing views need to be heard, and not just the vocal few. 

Our professional city staff must follow the leadership of the Council, but they must also feel that  their expertise is valued and respected. The principal job of any City Council is not micro-managing the day-to-day business of the city, but instead is the difficult and time-consuming work of policy-making. We elect officials to make decisions and make policy. If we don't like their decisions, we vote for someone else next time.

PROGRESS PORTSMOUTH is committed to improving civic engagement, encouraging citizens to participate to whatever extent their daily lives allow. We also believe the city should make participation by as many residents as possible, as easily as possible.

In 2021 we registered as a political action committee (PAC) and supported a slate of candidates whom we felt well represented a cross-section of our changing city. Of the top 9 vote-getters, we direclty supported 8 and indirectly supported the 9th. We immediately ended our days as a PAC and focus exclusively now on civic engagement. In particular, we are very active in advocating for the development of additional permanently below-market-rate workforce housing. (You can sign up for our regular Housing Update newsletters here.)

Welcome to PROGRESS PORTSMOUTH.

Gerald Duffy
Co-founder