Arshad Hasan was the executive director of ProgressNow. He was previously executive director for

Democracy for America Democracy for America (DFA) is a progressive political action committee, headquartered in Burlington, Vermont. Founded by former Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean in 2004, DFA leads public awareness campaigns on a variety of pub ...

Education

Arshad grew up in

Grand Forks Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city o ...

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

, and attended

Red River High School Red River High School (RRHS) is a public high school located in Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States. The school was originally built in 1967 for grades 10-12, and was remodeled in 1995 to accommodate grades 9- 12. It serves approximately 1,1 ...

. Arshad attended the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, graduating in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in political science. While at Penn, Arshad received the Senior Bowl Man Award, and was part of the Sphinx Honor Society and Oracle Senior Honor Society. While in college, Arshad worked as a paid canvasser and managed teams of paid canvassers on issue campaigns in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. While at Penn, Arshad also wrote for the school’s online newspaper, ''

The Daily Pennsylvanian ''The Daily Pennsylvanian, Inc.'' is the independent student media organization of the University of Pennsylvania. The DP, Inc. publishes The Daily Pennsylvanian newspaper, 34th Street Magazine, and Under the Button, as well as five newslette ...

'', and was part of the

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

community.

Early political career

Arshad traces his involvement with

Howard Dean Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, lobbyist, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 200 ...

to February 2003, when Arshad founded one of the nation’s first organized pro-Dean groups, Philly for Dean. From 2003 to 2004, Arshad worked as a statewide organizer for

Green Corps Green Corps is an environmental organization in the United States that trains recent college graduates in a one-year post-graduate program in grassroots community organizing. During the program, Green Corps organizers learn in the classroom and ...

on citizen engagement and democracy. Arshad organized statewide environmental issue campaigns on behalf of Clear the Air in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, Bluewater Network in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, and Oceana in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. From April to August 2004, Arshad worked as an assistant canvass director for the Fund for Public Interest Research in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

. From August 2004 to November 2004, Arshad worked as an organizer for

MoveOn MoveOn (formerly known as MoveOn.org) is a progressive public policy advocacy group and political action committee. Formed in 1998 around one of the first massively viral email petitions, MoveOn has since grown into one of the largest grassroot ...

PAC/Grassroots Campaigns, Inc.

Democracy for America

Arshad joined Democracy for America in April 2005. Democracy for America (DFA), is a progressive PAC founded by

in 2004. It is headquartered in

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. Upon joining DFA, Arshad said: "I decided that I wanted to do something that I felt passionate about and I felt passionate about making a difference. We actually deserve better than what we have, so that’s what I work on." In the 2006 general election, Arshad worked as the

GOTV GOtv Africa is a pay television terrestrial service in sub-Saharan Africa owned by broadcaster MultiChoice. It mainly consists of African and international programming. History The terrestrial TV service was founded in October 2011 by MultiCho ...

Director for

Jerry McNerney Gerald Mark McNerney (born June 18, 1951) is an American businessman, politician, and the U.S. representative for , from 2007 until 2023. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district, numbered as the 11th district until 2013, was bas ...

for Congress. Arshad started at DFA as a training coordinator and was later promoted to training director. At this position he built DFA’s political training program from scratch, training over 12,000 people online in 43 weekend "boot camps". He remained at this position until October 2007, when his boss unexpectedly left and he was promoted to executive director. Arshad has been heavily involved with

Netroots Nation Netroots Nation is a political convention for American progressive political activists. Originally organized by readers and writers of Daily Kos, a liberal political blog, it was previously called YearlyKos and rebranded as Netroots Nation ...

, a nationwide non-profit that organizes the progressive online community, since 2007. Arshad currently sits on the board of directors.

Park51 Islamic Center

In late 2010, DFA and Arshad received a large amount of press when the controversy over the

Park51 Park51 (originally named Cordoba House) is a development originally envisioned as a 13-story Islamic community center and mosque in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The developers hoped to promote an interfaith dialogue within the greater comm ...

Islamic Community Center in downtown Manhattan started. DFA, usually agreeing with its founder Howard Dean, split with Dean when he stated his opposition to the building. The disagreement between Dean and Arshad turned into a conversation about resolving religious and cultural differences. Arshad and DFA used the disagreement as an opportunity to engage Americans in difficult discussions.

ProgressNow

In November 2013, Arshad was named the executive director of ProgressNow, a national network of state-based progressive advocacy groups. In 2014, Hasan praised then-Vice President Joe Biden for endorsing

same-sex marriage in the United States The availability of legally recognized same-sex marriage in the United States expanded from one state (Massachusetts) in 2004 to all fifty states in 2015 through various court rulings, state legislation, and direct popular votes. States each ...

Personal

Arshad is gay. He married Abbott Stark in 2013. Arshad & Abbott separated in 2017. Vermont state representative Kesha Ram officiated at the ceremony.

References

External links

"Progressives Rally to Oppose Obama-GOP Tax Cut Deal"

"Countdown with Keith Olbermann for September 15, 2010"

"Countdown with Keith Olbermann' for Tuesday, September 28th, 2010"

"Blue Jersey Radio 10/29/08"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hasan, Arshad 1980 births Living people People from Grand Forks, North Dakota American democracy activists American gay men The Daily Pennsylvanian people University of Pennsylvania alumni