Dear Friends of PopDev,
We hope you are keeping well in these challenging times. We are writing to let you know that PopDev is entering a new organizational phase. As of September 2020, PopDev will leave Hampshire College to operate as a temporary project of our longstanding ally and collaborator, CLPP, the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program. CLPP is now fiscally sponsored by TSNE MissionWorks having moved its operations from Hampshire College last year. CLPP is a reproductive health, rights and justice organization that aims “to inspire, educate, train and support new activists and leadership to secure reproductive and sexual rights, freedom, and justice for everyone.” CLPP provides leadership development to students and community activists from around the US, including paid internships, trainings, and other educational and networking opportunities. We are very grateful for CLPP’s support during PopDev’s transition.
Anne Hendrixson will continue to lead PopDev through this phase. She aims to establish PopDev within a larger institution that can sustain the project’s critical challenges to population control across multiple realms. From reproductive politics to immigration policy to COVID and climate change, PopDev will continue to analyze and expose how fears of “overpopulation” are mobilized to obscure deep-seated economic, social and environmental inequalities and to place the blame for them on poor women and communities of color. For instance, Anne recently co-authored the “Population” entry in Uneven Earth’s political ecology glossary with feminist scholar Diana Ojeda. She plans to publish new DifferenTakes articles including “10 (More) Reasons Why Population Control Won’t Solve Climate Change” this fall. Anne will be available for talks and media commentary on an on-going basis. PopDev will also continue to make its existing publications, including DifferenTakes, Population in Perspective and special reports, available online.
We are pleased to tell you that PopDev’s 35 years of advocacy materials, publications, and teaching tools will be archived in the Sophia Smith Collection of Women’s History at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts where Betsy Hartmann’s papers are also being placed. As part of the Sophia Smith Collection, the papers will be available to the public and preserved alongside other prominent feminist work.
PopDev was located at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts from 1986-2020. As we move into our new organizational phase, we wish to recognize the college’s support over these many years with particular thanks to close colleagues at the college and in the Five Colleges. PopDev was fortunate to be a part of such a vibrant community. We would also like to thank our network of national and international collaborators who remain committed to challenging population control. We value these relationships and will continue to look for new ways to collaborate in the future.
We invite you to stay in contact with PopDev at our new address, popdevprogram@gmail.com, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter @popdevprogram. PopDev will provide periodic updates on our progress and publications. We look forward to staying in touch with you.
Anne Hendrixson
PopDev Director
Betsy Hartmann
Former PopDev Director, 1988-2014
