Building the Bench: Racial Equity and Diversity at the State and Local Level
Session Type(s): Panel
Starts: Saturday, Jul. 13 9:00 AM (Eastern)
Ends: Saturday, Jul. 13 10:00 AM (Eastern)
https://www.facebook.com/NetrootsNation/videos/388314575147266/
The 2018 midterms swept in a welcome wave of diverse elected officials, especially at the state and local levels, which is the bench for future national leaders. But the election itself is just one moment in the broader political lifecycle. Well before the election, organizations work to recruit, train and support the candidates and after the election, organizations are in place to help newly elected officials govern. This panel brings together leaders from different parts of pipeline for an integrated look at how they incorporated racial equity and diversity into their state and local work in 2018, what gaps remain unfilled, and a discussion of challenges and opportunities as we look to 2019 and 2020.
Moderator
Krithika Harish
Krithika helps to lead the Pipeline Initiative, a project housed inside Civitas Public Affairs, dedicated to building a diverse talent pipeline of progressive staff, candidates, and elected officials at every level of the ballot. Based in Washington DC, she also works on advancing a wide-range of state and local policies in the immigration and behavioral health spaces. Krithika holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations with a minor in Spanish from the University of California, Davis. Born in India and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Krithika is a proud immigrant American.
Panelists
Gaby Goldstein
Gaby Goldstein is co-founder at Sister District, whose mission is to build progressive power in state legislatures. As Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, she leads programs that strengthen the pipeline of diverse, progressive candidates, as well as programs that educate the public about the importance of state legislatures and policy, and which support progressive state legislators once elected. Prior to founding Sister District, Gaby was a bioethics lawyer and health policy researcher. She holds a BA from UC Berkeley, JD from Boston University School of Law, and PhD in health policy from UC Berkeley.
Helen Gym
Seated in 2016, Councilmember Helen Gym is a longtime educator and community organizer and the first Asian American woman elected to Philadelphia City Council. In her first term, she led a schools agenda that championed the successful end of a state takeover of the Philadelphia school system, passed a tax on soda distributors to fund pre-K, and restored nurses, counselors, music programs and safe drinking water to every public school. She established the city’s first legal defense fund for renters facing eviction and introduced and passed the nation’s most expansive “Fair Workweek” law to give stable schedules and a path to full-time hours for 130,000 part-time workers. She is Vice Chair of Local Progress, a network of progressive municipal electeds, where she leads national efforts to support Sanctuary Cities, affordable housing, and public education.
Other sessions: What Philly Taught Us: How Philadelphia Activists Beat School Privatization to Restore Local Control, Pennsylvania Caucus, Not Just for Presidential Candidates: Bringing the Power of Small-dollar Donors to the Local Level (Sponsored Panel), Daily Kos/Netroots Nation Presidential Candidate Forum, Combatting Fake Clinics: Local, State and National Efforts to Fight Back, Building a Movement to #EndPoverty in America
Johanna Silva Waki
Johanna is the State and Local Regional Director for the West Coast where she works to recruit, train and support pro-choice Democratic women who are running or have the desire to run for office. Prior to joining EMILY’s List, Johanna was the owner and co-founder of Hope Road Consulting, LLC, a full service political consulting and public relations firm specializing in campaign and field strategy for candidates, initiatives, advocacy campaigns and community engagement programs. Johanna brings fifteen years of expertise in communications, mainstream and ethnic media relations, political engagement and government affairs. Prior to founding Hope Road Consulting, Johanna was a Special Assistant to San Francisco’s Superintendent of Public Education. Earlier in her career, her community organizing experience led her to a Partnership Specialist position with the US Census Bureau.
Johanna currently chairs Emerge California’s Campaign Advisory Team, a political leadership training program for Democratic women; is a founder of PowerPAC.org, and is on the Board of Directors of The Advocacy Fund. Johanna holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and La Raza Studies from California State University, San Francisco.