Emerge America

Emerge America is a non-profit national political organization based in San Francisco with the mission to increase the number of Democratic women leaders from diverse background in public office through recruitment, training and providing a powerful network.[1]

Background

Andrea Dew Steele is Emerge America's founder and was their first president, resigning in May 2019.[2] Steele co-founded the original affiliate, Emerge California,[3] which was formed in 2002. After initial success, Emerge was expanded to a national organization known as Emerge America by Steele in 2005.[4] Emerge America added affiliates in 6 states in its first year and by the 2016 presidential election, it had affiliates in 23 states. The organization's strategy is to have affiliates in all 50 states by 2020.[1][5] Steele says the initial aim is for women to achieve 30% representation for women in government, noting evidence suggests this level passes a critical mass to effectively enact institutional change.[5] Emerge America has had 4,000 graduates, of which more 690 have been elected and are currently serving a political office, as of October 2018.[6]

Hillary Clinton has praised the group as an organization helping to elect Democrats since the 2016 election by using coaching on public speaking, fundraising, networking, and ethical leadership.[7][8][9] A’shanti Gholar, the Political Director, said enrollment has increased across the board since the 2016 presidential election, and some classes have seen attendance almost double.[10] Overall, Emerge has seen an 87% increase in the number of applications since the 2016 election.[11] Gholar notes that at the end of 2017, there were 427 women running for a position in the U.S. Congress, compared to 219 women running at the same time in 2015.[10]

References
  1. "Emerge America". Idealist. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  2. Hunt, Swanee; Dew, Andrea (2018-04-21). "A seismic shift in government is coming, and here's who will drive it". CNN. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  3. "Andrea Dew Steele". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  4. Kim, Betsy (2017-07-14). "Female Candidates "Emerge"". New Haven Independent. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  5. Richmond, Riva (2017-11-09). "Emerge America is Embracing a 50-State Strategy". The Story Exchange. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  6. "About Emerge America". Emerge America. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
  7. Roshell, Starshine (2017-05-04). "More Women Are Running — For Office". The Independent. Retrieved 2017-05-18.
  8. Merica, Dan (2017-05-16). "Hillary Clinton officially launches 'resistance' outside group". CNN. Retrieved 2017-05-18.
  9. Weber, Joseph (2017-05-17). "Clinton PAC aims to boost left-wing, anti-Trump groups – will she still have clout?". Fox News. Retrieved 2017-05-18.
  10. "LIVE: Emerge America's Gholar on Surge of Women Running For Political Office". GoLocalProv. 2018-01-13. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  11. "Trump is propelling a record number of women to run for office". Women in the World. 2017-11-06. Retrieved 2018-01-19.


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