From Lesson Plans to Action Plans, Diane Burrows Transforms at the Local Level

An activist and educator, Diane Burrows is a bastion of boundless energy. “I’m the kind of person who’s not going to sit in a rocking chair and knit,” she laughs. “That’s not who I am. I have to do.”

And when it comes to doing, Burrows is a seasoned pro. During her 38-year teaching career, she mentored students from all ages and walks of life, from adult educators and religious learners to students from high school and the fifth grade.

It was that last leg of her profession – her 22 years teaching fifth grade in Goshen, New York – that filled her with the most pride and passion. “In fifth grade, we did everything,” she says. “So I had students all day, every day. They went out for [physical education] and music and art, but otherwise I taught all subjects.” 

While “rest” was never part of her vocabulary, in 2015, Burrows found herself nearing retirement from her teaching career – so she and her husband planned a move from small-town Goshen to bustling New York City. “But my retirement started off a little bumpy,”  she says, “because three weeks before my retirement [date], my husband died.”

“It was horrible,” Burrows recounts. “We knew that I was going to retire. We’d planned on my retirement. We’d raised our kids. But as one of my daughters said to me, ‘You’ve got to have a kick-ass plan B.’” 

For Burrows, that kick-ass plan B meant keeping busy. She moved into an NYC apartment – solo – and began exploring grassroots projects where she could be of service.

“I started looking around at different volunteer opportunities here in the city – of which there are many,” Burrows explains. “And after about a year, I stumbled on the League of Women Voters [of the City of New York].”

A nonpartisan organization to promote “informed and active participation in government,” the League of Women Voters of the City of New York (LWVNYC) champions a mission to “expand our outreach and increase all New Yorkers’ participation in local communities and government through civic engagement, voting, and issue advocacy,” according to its website.

“Of course, I knew about the League and I started volunteering with the League,” Burrows says. “And like any good grassroots organization,” she laughs, “I started volunteering with them in about 2016, and then by 2020, I was the co-president.”

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Burrows jokes modestly, suggesting her fast trajectory from trainee to leadership was anything but traditional. But for Burrows, civic engagement had long been in her blood, far before she’d ever stepped into the classroom as a teacher.

“My mom, who’s still alive at 93, was an activist and was very much antiwar,” Burrows recalls from her childhood. “She was a member of Another Mother for Peace, so she used to go to meetings and she took us kids when I was a kid. 

“I was around 16 and she took us to Washington, DC, for an anti-war demonstration. So I think I came by my activism honestly, through my mom,” she says.

That spirit of activism stayed strong in Burrows’ heart, even as she moved from her childhood home in Westchester County, New York, to attend the University of Missouri. “I was all of 17 years old and thought I was going to be a journalist, and I got involved in the anti-war movement on campus,” she says. “We went to national demonstrations and were trained by the Quakers in nonviolent resistance. We did guerilla theatre where we’d go into a ROTC event and disrupt it, totally peacefully. I always got to play the war widow!” 

It was in college at Missouri that Burrows met her late husband, and the couple moved back east to Goshen to raise their family. “Goshen was really our home. We lived there for 25 years. All of our kids graduated from Goshen High School,” Burrows recounts. “But I was always an activist,” she emphasizes. “When I started teaching in Goshen, I became very active in the union. I even became our building rep and served on the executive committee of the union,” she says.

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Fast forward a few decades, and Burrows found herself bombarded by change: she’d retired from teaching; her husband had passed away; and here she was alone in the Big Apple, galvanized to make good trouble, to carry out her civic calling.

“So that’s what led me to the League,” Burrows, who remains on the Board of Directors, explains. “And because we are grassroots, it’s the kind of organization where when you volunteer, you’re doing meaningful work. You’re not just giving out cookies and stuffing envelopes. It’s really meaty work where you’re meeting with your legislators and engaging with community groups, and I find that very powerful.”

While the League of Women Voters is a national organization that emerged from the Women’s Suffrage Movement 100 years ago, the “boots on the ground” work happens within the local chapters like the LWVNYC, where Burrows channels her efforts to build change from the city level. 

“We’re the ones making the phone calls to our elected officials. We’re the ones who are bubbling up policy that we want to see happen through the state up to the national level,” she says. “So for example, gun control legislation bubbles up because we really believe in gun control. So we’ll go to a national convention and that will bubble up to a position on gun control.

“The local Leagues are also doing all of the engagement with communities,” Burrows adds. “We’re out there in communities doing voter education, voter training, and voter registration at schools, hospitals, senior centers, community groups, you name it – any place we can get ourselves invited.”

Though Burrows wears many hats with the League, among her favorites is chairing the internship program, where she mentors local high school and college students who are eager to become engaged – a role reminiscent of her decorated teaching career. 

“One of our focus points is it’s all local – trash; rats; air pollution; even schools are controlled by the state, but there’s an aspect of it that’s local,” Burrows explains. “So one of the activities we do with high school and college students is, we talk about local issues that people in the group care about – and then I challenge people to grab their phone. I show them how to look up their city council or state assembly person. We make the call right there in the room, and they can really see the impact.”

Many issues that ignite people’s passions are those that directly affect their health and the health of their communities. “Rats are a health issue. So are food deserts and air pollution,” Burrows emphasizes. “For instance, in one of the sessions, we talked about the bus depot they wanted to put in the Brox and the elevated level of asthma in children as the result of these bus depots – and how [community activists] were able to kill that plan,” she says. “So all of these issues locally that really affect people’s health, those are great ways for people in the health field to get involved in the community where they’re living and working.”

Ultimately, Burrows says, the League aims to empower community members – from students to healthcare workers and everyone in between – to use their voice, to take a seat at the table and make sure their voice matters.

“It’s all about using your voice, whether it’s voting, whether it’s lobbying and advocacy work, or just being involved in your community, working at the local animal shelter or whatever you feel strongly about,” she explains. “And if you don’t use your voice, somebody else is going to use their voice – and that might not be the position you care about or that’s beneficial to your community.”

As for her advice to fledgling volunteers, Burrows offers these words: “First step, what are you passionate about? Think about that; kind of dig into yourself. What really gets you going? What do you care about? To get people to say, ‘this is what I care about’ is such a powerful first step, because apathy is the enemy. If you’re apathetic, nothing’s going to change.

“Second step, find a positive outlet for that passion,” she says. “So it might be looking online and finding an organization that’s doing this work, or maybe you yourself are already a member of a faith organization or community group. Once you have that group – that coalition of people – now you’re elevating your voice, because it’s not just you talking. Now you have a team, and you can do something.”

Meanwhile, Burrows clings tightly to that passion that has propelled her forward for the last four decades: the mentorship of young people.

“Young people are amazing,” Burrows shares with excitement. “We have to train young people because we’re all very replaceable; we have to have our successors come into the movement and really take over. And the passion of young people, to channel that and teach them, that’s what gives me the most hope.”

For more information about the LWVNYC, visit https://lwvnyc.org/. 

Written by Jessica Grinspan