New York Public Interest Research Group

NYPIRG, Inc.

Type	Non-Profit
Industry	Non-Profit & Activism
Founded	1973
Headquarters	New York State, United States
Key people	Rebecca Weber, Gene Russianoff, Blair Horner, Russ Haven
Website	NYPIRG

The New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) is a New York State-wide non-partisan political organization. It has existed since 1973.^[1] Its current executive director is Rebecca Weber and its founding director was Donald K. Ross. Blair Horner was its Legislative Director for many years.^[2]

NYPIRG is controlled by a student board of directors. Any issue that NYPIRG works on, or stance it takes, must be approved by its student board of directors. ^[3] Kathleen Jordan is the current chairperson of NYPIRG's board of directors. NYPIRG is one of the largest of the Public Interest Research Groups, which were inspired by Ralph Nader in the 1970s,^[4] and operate at the state level. After leaving Columbia University, current President of the United States Barack Obama became employed at NYPIRG. NYPIRG is affiliated with the U.S. PIRG network of organizations, and is considered to be a prestigious lobbyist organization for young professionals.

Infrastructure

NYPIRG has an office at 9 Murray Street in Manhattan, New York City, and a legislative office located in Albany. NYPIRG also operates in dozens of campus and regional offices statewide.

Campus program

The focus of NYPIRG's program is the campus chapters. Campus chapters exist at schools in the State University of New York (SUNY) City University of New York (CUNY), and two private colleges (Pratt Institute and Syracuse University). The chapters are funded by activity fees which are voted on by students, and/or determined by student governments.

NYPIRG Chapter Locations

• University at Albany
• Binghamton University
• Borough of Manhattan Community College
• Bronx Community College
• Brooklyn College
• Buffalo State College
• City College of New York
• SUNY Cortland
• Hunter College
• Nassau Community College
• SUNY New Paltz
• New York City College of Technology
• SUNY College at Old Westbury
• Pratt Institute
• SUNY Purchase
• Queens College
• Queensborough Community College
• College of Staten Island
• Stony Brook University
• Syracuse University
• SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry^[5]

Fundraising

NYPIRG according to the New York State tax code is not allowed to fundraise any money to support their chapters.

References

1. ^ "About Us". NYPIRG Financial Information. http://www.nypirg.org/about.html. Retrieved 2008-01-07. 
2. ^ "Blair Horner, prominent head of NY Public Interest Research Group, leaving post". Associated Press. http://saratogian.com/articles/2011/04/14/news/doc4da757a2dae5b658590479.txt. Retrieved 2011-07-07. 
3. ^ http://www.nypirg.org/oncampus/aboutcampus.html
4. ^ Nader, Ralph & Ross, Donald. Action for Change. Penguin Books, 1973 (rev. ed.)
5. ^ http://www.nypirg.org/oncampus/offices.html

External links

• New York Public Interest Research Group official website
• New York Public Interest Research Group collected news and commentary at The New York Times