MassPIRG
Public Interest Research Group
Purpose
MASSPIRG is a state-wide organization that cares about and works to better the community. It works for the public interest at the local, state, and national levels, from environmental issues to consumer issues to helping fight hunger and homelessness. Founded in 1972, this non-partisan, non-profit, student-directed and student-funded organization now has 23 college chapters across the state pooling their resources to work with professional staff on education, advocacy, research, and litigation projects to make a real difference.
In the past year, we have organized large river cleanups to address local water quality issues, organized the Five College Hunger Clean-Up featuring more than a hundred students from the five college area working and fundraising to fight hunger in the Pioneer Valley, and educated students on the impact of their energy use on global warming. Next semester we are working to release a comprehensive energy audit of Amherst College with recommendations on how to reduce our campus’s global warming footprint, and fundraising to alleviate hunger and homelessness in the Pioneer Valley. In addition to this, we will continue our hands-on work cleaning rivers, as well as educating area schoolchildren about important water issues.