Arizona Program Emerges to Get Progressive Women Elected

by Mike Hall, Oct 6, 2007

Dana Kennedy
Angie Crouse

In a recent Point of View guest column at www.aflcio.org, Brown University Political Science professor Jennifer Lawless described the many reasons more women don’t hold elected public office in the United States.

The barriers range from voter bias against women candidates to different standards for men and women office hopefuls and even to women’s own perceptions of their qualifications. (Click here to read Lawless’s POV).

Dana Kennedy, director of Communications for the Arizona AFL-CIO, told us of one major effort to bridge the political gender gap—Emerge America. The political leadership training program was founded five years ago in California and now includes affiliates in seven states.

Kennedy, a co-chair of Emerge Arizona—along with Arizona AFL-CIO Executive Director Rebekah Friend and Chris Arzaga-Williams—says:

Women often need to be asked to run. Even if they are qualified, they don’t think they are.

Since the Arizona program got under way in 2004, 54 women have graduated from the six-month training that meets one weekend a month. She says Emerge Arizona 

provides Democratic women with the tools, inspiration and mentorship need to attain public office….We teach basically campaign skills. We teach them public speaking skills. We teach them how to frame a message. We teach them fundraising. We teach them how to network, how to work a room, all the skills that are necessary if you are going to run for office.

In 2006, nine Emerge Arizona graduates ran for office, including Lena Saradnik, who won her state House race, and Tiffany Troidl, who was victorious in a school board race. Angie Crouse, a member of the National Writers Union/UAW (NWU/UAW)and who grew up in a Boston union household before moving to Arizona, was unsuccessful in her House race but says her Emerge training continues to pay dividends.

Yes it was disappointing. And Yes, I will run again, to answer the most common question. However, what I ended up coming away with were some great skills and abilities. I now have no problem speaking in public. I can do fund raising. I can go talk to a bunch of strangers…walk to a roomful of people I don’t know and start talking to them.

Overall, 250 women have graduated from the Emerge programs, including 15 percent of those running for office in the 2007–2008 election cycle. Some 46 percent of the graduates are women of color.

For more information, visit Emerge Arizona, Emerge America or the Emerge affiliates in California, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico or Wisconsin.

		Become a Fan on Facebook			Follow Us on Twitter			Subscribe to YouTube			Subscribe to Blog RSS

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article |Comments (0)