A new grassroots advocacy group aims to address the specific and unique concerns of Upper Bucks County residents.
Upper Bucks United (UBU), an organizing unit of Indivisible, aims to change the perception of Upper Bucks County and attract community members and residents through education, organizing, engagement and actions.
While only four months since its founding in February, UBU organized a Sellersville Presidents Day Protest on Feb. 17 attended by more than 400 people gathered. The protest was to draw attention to the Trump Administration’s policies, measures and initiatives since he took office on Jan. 20.
“We expected maybe 100 people and 425 people showed up. Upper Bucks needed representation and a voice and that was the moment we decided to do something,” said Kim Barbaro, UBU spokesperson and organizer and a Palisades School District resident.
For many, Barbaro said the Sellersville event was a watershed moment.
“If getting a 65-year-old out for their first protest [like in Sellersville this year] … bit by bit, it’s all going to matter. We’re building muscle here, building community and building civic engagement muscle,” she explained.
Upper Bucks County is the region north of Doylestown, and its surrounding municipalities which make up the Central Bucks School District.
Upper Bucks communities stretch from the Delaware River [east] to the Montgomery County line in the west; its northern townships and boroughs share borders with Lehigh, Berks and Northampton counties. Upper Bucks County’s public schools are served by the Palisades, Pennridge and Quakertown Community school districts.
Barbaro said Upper Bucks County is often viewed as an either “everything is conservative” or “no one cares about our votes” footprint – and neither of these assumptions is an accurate depiction.
She said UBU takes a different approach to bringing people together.
“It’s honest, pure, grassroots, bottom-up work representing the needs of Upper Bucks [communities] and people,” Barbaro said.
She acknowledged in the current political climate it’s easy to forget how much ordinary people can – and will – tolerate, until they’ve had enough.
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Laura Foster, a UBU member and organizer, grew up in the Pennridge School District. She’s lived in other parts of the county before returning to Pennridge, and she said Upper Bucks is a different landscape.
“I always knew it was more rural; that the landscape was different and that the issues talked about were very different” from other parts of the county, Foster said.
Many residents across the region are “not OK” with decisions being made in Washington, D.C.; they aren’t happy about tariffs, about Medicaid and SNAP cuts as part of the “one big, beautiful bill” and what it all ultimately means to local communities, she explained.
“There’s a misconception that we’re a quiet space, but we have a deep concern for democracy and our country” as anywhere else, she explained.
Foster said the level of agitation across the U.S. is deep in Upper Bucks County, too. Engaging voters and increasing voter turnout is among UBU’s top priorities.
“Now that we’ve gone to ‘every vote matters’ the Republicans feel like they have a stranglehold here; the Democrats want to approach Upper Bucks like they do every other part of the county,” Barbaro explained, “and that simply doesn’t work here.”
“For us, that’s a big issue. Pay attention to your Democratic representatives. Don’t just call your GOP people and complain; bring the federal attention down to the state and down to the local level,” she added.
As more established groups begin to notice UBU and its outreach, the group garners attention
“In four short months we’re getting a ton of attention, not just from Quakertown Area Republican Club and Pennridge Democrats, but now we’re getting attention from the county Democrats. We’re getting approached by candidates, and we want to be extremely intentional in our non-partisan work. You can’t show up in Upper Bucks the way you show up in other places. We need you to show up here – and listen,” said Barbaro.
UBU is working to build a movement, which includes working in new ways and being actively engaged with candidates and elected officials.
“The established way of doing things is not working. Anger and agitation is an incredible motivator to get people to do things,” Foster said.
