1992

In 1992 the St. Joe Valley Greens (SJVG) adopted a charter and bylaws and helped organize a statewide Green meeting. On March 3, 1992, Geoff Downie of the SJVG's called the first meeting of Green activists which was held May 9, in Indianapolis.

Representatives from five emerging locals attended the May meeting:

* Delaware County Greens (Muncie)
* Northwest Indiana Greens
* St. Joe Valley Greens (South Bend)
* The Tribe (W. Lafayette)
* Wapahani Greens (Indianapolis)

21 Indiana Greens are listed in the minutes of the May meeting. The representatives called a second meeting for July 25, 1992, at the Bloomington Peace Center in Bloomington. Although there are no documents from the July gathering, there is a letter dated Oct. 12, 1992, to Greens in Indiana. In the letter Geoff Downie indicates that the state organization created a clearinghouse. There is also a 1992 state Green party charter.

The clearinghouse, state organization and locals, except for the SJVGs, disappeared. The first attempt to start a Green party in Indiana failed.

1999

At their annual Congress the SJVGs determined that the upcoming presidential election cycle would be a good time to reach out to the northern half of the state to foster new Green locals. Members of the SJVGs began to solicit speaking engagements in the northern tier counties.

2000

Ben Manski of the Wisconsin Greens and Progressive Dane was hired by the Nader 2000 national campaign committee to organize the ballot access drive in Indiana. Ben met delegates from the SJVGs in Feb. and was invited to speak at the next chapter meeting. The local voted to participate in the ballot access campaign and help Ben organize.

Ben traveled the northern 2/3 of the state from Feb. to July and nearly wore out his aging Volkswagon Rabbit. But in the end Greens and supporters turned in 32,000 signatures to put Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke on the ballot in our state. Half the signatures were rejected by the Secretary of State, not unusual figure in Indiana which is tough on third parties.

The petition drive and the outreach efforts of the SJVG's sparked interest in the Greens all over the state. In July two dozen petition drive organizers met in Indianapolis to plan the next step in the Nader/LaDuke campaign. The overwhelming choice was to support the two candidates through the election, establish a state Green organization and foster new locals.

2001

Almost a year later the IGP is still meeting monthly and conducts an active organizing list service on Yahoo Groups. The number of active supporters declined after the election hoopla and energy subsided. This happens to every political party post-election.

Even so, the Greens have made substantial progress in just one year.

* Over 200 activists are subscribed to the Ingreens list for organizers.
* Indiana now has three Green locals: Huntington Co., Monroe Co. and St. Joseph Co.
* A half dozen Indiana cities have strong potential for establishing local chapters.
* Three Campus Greens chapters formed: IU Bloomington, DePauw U. and IU South Bend.

The Indiana Green Party welcomes you to join us as we create an ecologically wiser, more just, democratic and peaceful society.