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There is Only One New York

About NYPIRG

The New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) is New York State's largest student-directed research and advocacy organization. Our principal areas of concern are environmental protection, consumer rights, higher education, government reform, voter registration, mass transit and public health. We are a nonpartisan, not-for-profit group established to effect policy reforms while training students and other New Yorkers to be advocates. Since 1973, NYPIRG has played the key role in fighting for more than 150 public interest laws and executive orders.

NYPIRG's 20 college campus chapters provide much of our energy, resources, and activism. Students at NYPIRG chapters work on projects that both support NYPIRG's statewide agenda and focus on local issues.

NYPIRG's full-time staff works closely with students, coordinates grassroots statewide campaigns, produces studies on a wide array of topics and lobbies public officials.

In addition, NYPIRG’s outreach program travels to communities across the state to educate and activate local residents on vital issues. NYPIRG's community-based membership exceeds 85,000 people from all parts of the state. These members give NYPIRG political clout and make our advocacy efforts successful.

History

There is some debate about the precise moment when NYPIRG’s story begins. 1973 is certainly a fair place to start, when three visionary groups of college students from Queens, Central, and Western New York came together and officially incorporated under one name, the New York Public Interest Research Group. From within their ever-growing student base, they built the organization’s board of directors, comprised entirely of students, and hired a small, dynamic staff to give students the continuity and expertise to be able to research and propose solutions to a range of societal problems. From the start, the organization had a dual mission: to provide a critical training ground for students and community members to be active participants in their own democracy and to bring about meaningful social change. (read more...)