Major Fellowship Activities: Divinski worked on countering the “rail-garrison” scheme to shuttle MX missiles around the country on trains. He researched and wrote the Council’s MX rail-garrison factsheet and talking points for environmental impact hearings on the project. He also wrote background documents on the Star Wars and small-ICBM (“Midgetman”) programs.
Current Activities: Divinski is a Grants Officer at the Highland Street Foundation in Newton, MA. HSF is a private family foundation that awards about $12 million in grants to non-profit organizations (mostly in MA). He manages grants and grantee relations for the foundation that funds education support for disadvantaged and under-served children, environmental conservation, healthcare and the arts. He serves on the USA National Coordinating Committee of Peace Brigades International/USA and on the advisory board of Peacework Magazine (published by Cambridge MA office of AFSC), and was an antiwar delegate to the 2007 Massachusetts state Democratic Party convention. He is also a board member of Save Fenway Park, which in 2007 received Preservation Massachusetts’ Charles W. Elliot Award for a citizen’s group that has shown “Exceptional Vision and Excellent Planning” in the cause of historic preservation.
During my tenure as a fellow, I learned a lot about how arms control organizations work… about how the military budget gets hammered out (and how $100 million here or there is small change within the beltway) including how much of it is pork and sheer nonsense….I enjoyed the “team spirit” and collective work of the arms control community. This experience was key in my later decision to pursue a career in the world of non-profit political organizations instead of academia.