VoteRunLead is honored to have hosted 21 women from 5 countries through our latest international endeavor, the Gender Equality Political Leadership Education (GEPLE) Project. These remarkable women hail from Poland, the Czech Republic, Finland and Ireland, and joined us for 10 days in September 2016. We kicked off the listening and learning tour in New York City at Civic Hall, a center for civic tech innovators, for a morning program hosted by Microsoft.

GEPLE at Civic Hall NYC

NEW YORK CITY: We had an engaging discussion around civic tech, civic engagement, and truly understanding community needs, with Andrew Rasiej, Founder of Civic Hall, Ross Dakin of Microsoft Civic Tech, Kathryn Peters, Co-Founder of Democracy Works/TurboVote, Erin Simpson of Civic Hall Labs, and Emily May, Founder of Hollaback!.

Kathryn Peters TURBOVOTE

Emily May HOLLABACK!

 

Marian Guerra New American Leaders Project

GEPLE at Barnard College

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VoteRunLead made a video with GEPLE, to talk about the first day here (see all of the videos on Facebook!):

We were also hosted by the Athena Center at Barnard College, hearing from the top thinkers in girl’s and women’s political advancement in the United States, including Marian Guerra of The New American Project, Glynda Carr of Higher Heights for America and Kristin Hayden of IGNITE National. We connected with Barnard College students to learn about their experiences in the Athena Scholars program, and their views on women’s leadership and the future. We also made our way to the New York Women’s Foundation to hear from Ana Oliveria, CEO, on the American philanthropic system, and Kate Landon and Madeline Lamour Holder, about what it takes to run one of the largest women’s foundations in the country.

PHILADELPHIA: GEPLE talked with Chris Bartlett at The William Way LGBT Community Center, where we learned about how they serve the Philadelphia community through service, recreational, educational, and cultural programming, by implementing an inspired intergenerational approach.

We headed to Pipeline Philly, a creative hub for startups and entrepreneurs, to connect with Christopher Wink at Technical.ly and Generocity.com, and Alison Perelman from Philadelphia 3.0, committed to bringing new voices into the city’s political discussions, and specifically, to city council seats.

Chris Barlett William Way Community CenterChristopher Wink and Alison Perelman

WASHINGTON D.C.: We finished our trip in DC hosted by Monica Ramirez, Director of Gender Equity and Advocacy at the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, Crystal Patterson and Sharon Yang at Facebook Elections, Heather Hurlburt, the Director of New Models of Policy Change Initiative Political Reform program at New America, as well as teams from their Cybersecurity Initiative, Better Life Lab, and more.

GEPLE at NHLA

GEPLE AT FACEBOOK ELECTIONS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last but not least, we enjoyed a lively roundtable discussion with Emilie Aries at BossedUP, Jessica Grounds of Solid Grounds Strategy, and Michelle Whittaker, of Representation2020 and FairVote.

GEPLE W/ FAIRVOTE, BOSSEDUP, GROUNDS

We were honored and thrilled to be a part of the GEPLE learning and listening exchange, and are excited to continue the collaboration, and look forward to learning more from our international collegues in Prague early next year. Follow GEPLE on Facebook and Twitter!