Hannah Sassaman

Hannah Sassaman is an organizer, trainer in communications and legislative planning and strategy, who now works with Media Mobilizing Project in Philadelphia as the Policy Director. As the longtime Campaign Director at the Prometheus Radio Project, Hannah helped lead and design the grassroots organizing and legislative strategy that resulted in the passage of the Local Community Radio Act – a bill that will open up the FM dial to thousands more community radio stations nationwide. Hannah is a member of the Board of Directors of Allied Media Projects, an adjunct fellow at the Open Technology Institute at the New America Foundation, the mom of incredible baby Sara Bela Sassaman Marcus, and the partner of brilliant community programmer Josh Marcus.

Life and Action

Activist, Parent: An Organizer's Look at Change-Making, Time and Life Through the Lens of Motherhood

By Hannah Sassaman

I used to work in a church basement with community activists. We wore worn T-shirts, worked until 10 pm, and wore our spunkiness with pride. No one, at that time, was a parent. Then I joined a big healthcare labor union, where many members, staff and leaders were parents. We’d often have conference calls at 9 pm or later to accommodate bedtime. At organizing meetings, kids ran around as their parents were figuring out the best strategic ways to win their union.