Moira Jayne Walsh, Incumbent Democratic candidate for Rhode Island State Legislature, District 3, Providence, prevailed yesterday in a contentious primary race in which the Rhode Island Speaker, Nick Mattiello (considered one of the most powerful people in Rhode Island politics) pulled out all the stops to try to take her down.
It felt great to fall asleep last night to the sound of rain, and even better to wake up this morning to the news that many women RI progressives prevailed in the primary elections. Nearest and dearest to me is the win for Lammis J. Vargas for Ward One City Council in Cranston. Beyond that, Moira Jayne Walsh, Marcia Ranglin-Vassell and Bridget Valverde all prevailed, despite not being nominated by the Democratic party here in Rhode Island, which tends to be heavily pro-life and pro-gun.
Last night, history was made when Ayanna Pressley won the primary over a 10-term incumbent in Mass. District 7. Now, women like Marcia Ranglin-Vassell will face primary opponents in Rhode Island and will need help prevailing next week.
Exuberant emails from organizations like Higher Heights for America PAC say a lot about what an exciting win progressive democrats had yesterday in Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District. History took a decided turn for progressives as Ayanna Pressley prevailed in a primary over a 10-term incumbent, and will not face a Republican opponent, so has taken the seat in Congress.
How did this happen? Kimberley Peeler-Allen of Higher Heights shared about one important strategy that may have led to this win:
Over 100 members volunteered to send texts to voters in Ayanna’s district over Labor Day weekend and IT MADE A DIFFERENCE!
Our members talked about the race on social media and shared our endorsement with your network and IT MADE A DIFFERENCE!
Our members contributed to Ayanna’s campaign and contributed to Higher Heights for America PAC to support her candidacy and IT MADE A DIFFERENCE!
Higher Heights’ Peeler-Allen recently participated in a Women’s Funding Network panel that discussed the need to support women candidates this fall, particularly women of color. The progressive PAC has a growing roster of candidates they are supporting for a win this November, including:
Jahana Hayes (CT-5)
Ilhan Omar (MN-5)
Lauren Underwood (IL-14)
Lucy McBath (GA-6)
Linda Coleman (NC-2)
DD Adams (NC-5)
Stephany Rose Spaulding (CO-5)
I have heard from many progressive women donors say that they are watching the elections closely this fall because there is no better way to push for systemic change than to become part of the system. Contributing to Higher Heights for America now is one way to ensure more political wins this election cycle.
Another progressive woman candidate facing a primary on the state level is Marcia Ranglin-Vassell. Despite being a Democratic progressive champion in the Rhode Island statehouse, Democratic leaders endorsed Ranglin-Vassell’s opponent. Next week, on Wednesday, September 12, Rhode Island voters will go to the polls for primary races.
Editor’s Note: As we end another Labor Day weekend, it’s a pleasure for me to share this editorial from women leaders in Minnesota, who are reminding us that young women, and particularly young women of color, are a huge untapped resource in our economy. The need for employers to hire more young women of color is not isolated to Minnesota — it is an issue that is being addressed by a national collaborative of women’s foundations working to ensure that young women of color can prosper economically and live safe, healthy lives. This editorial is c0-authored by Jennifer Alstad (Founder & CEO, bswing), Debra Fitzpatrick (Co-director, Center on Women, Gender, and Public Policy, University of Minnesota), and Lee Roper-Batker (President & CEO, Women’s Foundation of Minnesota)
Photo from a 2018 trip to Rwanda for Dining for Women Members to learn about grantees.
Sharing food: one of the ultimate human communing experiences. Now imagine sharing food with a group of generous women who, like you, want to make every dollar they give to charity count toward helping women and girls and addressing gender equality in developing countries.
Welcome to Dining for Women (DFW), a global giving circle dedicated to funding social change for women and girls. At monthly potluck dinners, members come together and discuss today’s issues impacting women and girls, particularly the organizations being funded that month, and in the process, these 8,000-plus women raise more than a million dollars annually to fight for gender equity. Dining for Women was founded in 2003, and many chapters have already had 10 or even 15 year anniversaries.
The Ms. Foundation’s 2018-2022 Strategic Plan targets low-income women, many of whom are women of color. (Photo Credit: Ms. Foundation Strategic Plan, Building Power: Advancing Democracy)
The nation’s oldest public women’s foundation recently announced that it will steer in a new direction over the next five years — toward growing its commitment to low-income women and women of color by more than $25 million.
In addition, the Ms. Foundation will form its first-ever political fund, which will support the legislative agenda for women and girls both nationally and locally.
With Teresa C. Younger at the helm, the Ms. Foundation for Womenis joining other big funders in the feminist philanthropy space, including the NoVo Foundation and Prosperity Together (the national coalition of women’s funds focused on low-income women and women of color) in making economic, social and cultural equality for women and girls of color a central feature of its strategic plan. “Women of color are a political force to be reckoned with,” said Younger, in a press release announcing the new strategic plan. “In 2018, we delivered unprecedented electoral wins in Alabama, Georgia, and New York — yet we are sorely underrepresented in philanthropic investment, with only 2% of that spending going to women and girls of color.”
The Ms. Foundation’s announcement comes at a time when women’s rights and equality are under new threat from regressive local and national political movements. The new grants from the Ms. Foundation will provide both financial support and capacity-building and strategic support. Another important feature of this new strategic plan will be its first-ever formation of a 501(c)(4) fund specifically designed to amplify political movements. “It’s time that we champion and do all we can to ensure that women and girls of color are in power, at the tables of power and are supported as movement leaders,” said Younger.
One more thing this new feminist philanthropy strategic plan will emphasize: relationships, of course! “In response to the fragmented state of the women’s movement and promising new practices that are evolving, our Ms. Foundation for Women team will pilot cross-movement, cross-sector, and cross-generational strategies that can amass a much larger base of supporters and hold diverse social movements accountable for advancing a gender and racial equity agenda,” explains the Ms. Foundation’s strategic plan, Building Power: Advancing Democracy.
As is often the case in feminist philanthropy, this new strategic plan is all about the relationships and building power among the grassroots. For more information, please visit the Ms. Foundation’s website here.
Mothers of Invention, a new podcast featuring former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, and comedian Maeve Higgins, will celebrate the fascinating world of feminist climate change strategy.
The Guardian reports that former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, is launching a new initiative to call attention to feminist solutions to climate change.
Women around the world who are leading the fight against climate damage are to be highlighted by Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and UN high commissioner, in the hopes of building a new global movement that will create “a feminist solution for climate change”.
Perhaps more revolutionary still, the new initiative is light-hearted in tone, optimistic in outlook and presents positive stories in what the originators hope will be seen as a fun way.
Called Mothers of Invention, the initiative will kick off with a series of podcasts showcasing the work of grassroots climate activists at a local level, as well as globally resonant initiatives such as the legal challenges under way in numerous jurisdictions to force governments to adhere to the Paris agreement goals. Scientists and politicians feature alongside farmers and indigenous community leaders from Europe, the US and Australia to India, Kenya, South Africa and Peru.
The podcast is a first for Robinson, who has focused on climate justicefor the last 15 years through her charity, the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice, and as one of the Elders group, after seeing at first-hand as UN commissioner for human rights the danger that global warming presents to women whose lives are already precarious.
Here at Philanthropy Women, we are tracking the grantmaking and strategizing that is happening in the ecofeminist space, from the new Roddenberry Prize seeking solutions to both climate change and advancement for women and girls, to the grantmaking done by the Gender Just Climate Solutions award, which makes grants that share both feminist and climate strategies. We’re also showing how women’s giving collectives like Rachel’s Network are bringing feminist philanthropists together who share a vision of how to integrate climate solutions with gender equality. Stay tuned!
Left to Right: Marai Larasi (Imkaan); Nasra Ayub (Integrate UK); Emma Watson; Devi Leiper O’Malley (FRIDA–The Young Feminist Fund)
“I think supporting girls and women’s organizations is the greatest hope we have for worldwide transformative change – and my philanthropic choices are grounded in that belief,” said celebrity and activist Emma Watson, at a convening on July 10 in London, sponsored by NoVo Foundation, Oak Foundation, Unbound Philanthropy and Ariadne. The focus of the conference was on ending sexual violence.
Watson also noted that research across seventy countries concludes that women’s movements are the key factor in enacting policy change. “This makes it all the more shocking that a survey of European foundations found that less than 5 percent of funds were targeted towards girls and women.”
Marcia Ranglin-Vassell took down House Majority Leader, John DeSimone, in 2016. DeSimone was a close ally of House Speaker Mattiello. Now it looks like the party is trying to take Ranglin-Vassell out.
Bob Plain sums up the sad state of affairs in his post, RI Dem Party Doesn’t Endorse Three Progressive Female Legislators, so I’m going to quote extensively from him. The upshot from my perspective is that the Rhode Island Democratic party’s abandonment of progressive women candidates is a huge misstep for the party, along with their recent endorsement of John Carnevale, who is still on trial for perjury and in 2012 stood trial for charges of first and second degree sexual assault.
From Bob Plain:
Being a progressive woman may be beneficial at the ballot box in the 2018 election but it doesn’t seem to help with respect to endorsements from the Rhode Island Democratic Party.
Three female legislators learned this the hard way when the state Party endorsed their more-conservative primary opponents. Reps. Moira Walsh and Marcia Ranglin-Vassell, both Providence House members, and Sen. Jeanine Calkin, of Warwick, aren’t the endorsed candidates in their races. They are the only incumbents who didn’t win the endorsement of the state Democratic Party.
Walsh lost the House District 3 endorsement to Michael Earnheart, which didn’t surprise her. “My opponent changed affiliation to democrat in March,” Walsh tweeted about Earnheart. “Previous to that he’s been a republican his entire life. He’s a vocal Trump supporter. Now watch as the @RIDemParty shows its true colors and endorses my opponent. Straight up shameful.”
Earnheart could not be reached for comment. His Twitter account, which previously included advocacy for conservative positions, seems to have been deleted. On his campaign Facebook page, peppered with requests from progressives to explain his positions defended some conservative ideas. “I fully support the Second Amendment and will defend against legislation that attempts to stop or interfere with lawful gun ownership,” he wrote.
Let’s stop right here and call attention to the lack of credentials that Earnheart has as a Democrat. He is a pro-gun Trump supporter. Full stop.
Another incumbent progressive Democrat not endorsed by the Democratic party of Rhode Island is Marcia Ranglin-Vassell:
Ranglin-Vassell lost the endorsement in her reelection bid to Holly Coolman, a Providence College professor who doesn’t support abortion rights or, locally, the Reproductive Health Care Act. She told the Providence Journal she considers herself a “traditional Democrat,” though some counter that’s a euphemism for conservative Democrat.
“Not so random thought -speaking the truth has consequences, speak the truth nonetheless,” Ranglin-Vassell tweeted yesterday.
In 2016, Ranglin-Vassell upset Majority Leader John DeSimone, a close ally of conservative-leaning House Speaker Nick Mattiello. House speakers traditionally condone, or recruit, primary opponents against legislators who veered from the speaker’s agenda. Ranglin-Vassell and Walsh have both been outspoken advocates for sharp increases to the minimum wage and codifying abortion rights in Rhode Island law, both of which Mattiello opposes. The pair represent at least the third time a liberal-leaning female legislator from Providence has attracted a conservative primary opponent since Mattiello has been speaker of the House.
On the Senate side, Calkin will have to defend her seat in a primary against Mark McKenney, who won the state party’s endorsement. Calkin is a Bernie Sanders supporter who upset longtime Senator William Walaska in 2016. McKenney and Walaska, who died a year after losing his legislative seat, are friends and McKenney had long fancied Walaska’s Senate seat.
Incumbents aren’t the only women who were passed over in the Party’s endorsement process. In spite of being active with her town party and the state Party’s Women’s Caucus, Bridget Valverde, of North Kingstown, lost the party endorsement to Greg Acciardo, a former state senator from Johnston who has been charged with drunk driving on several occasions.
The point for women donors: it’s important to know about these local legislative candidates in Rhode Island. These are the women leaders who most need and deserve to hold their seats as our state legislatures grow their female leadership base.
Philanthropy Women will be featuring more information about women candidates in the run-up to the primaries and the general election. To learn more about these three women running in Rhode Island, please visit their candidate websites:
Innovations in International Philanthropy is sponsored by Fidelity Charitable, Veris Wealth Partners, the Boston Foundation, and many other notable partners in the corporate and nonprofit sectors.
Good news for the philanthropic sector, as mainstream philanthropy appears to be embracing key concepts and strategies related to gender equality and a more relational way to do grantmaking.
The latest example of this trend? New England International Donors (NEID) and The Philanthropic Initiative’s Center for Global Philanthropy have gotten together to co-host the 2018 Innovations in International Philanthropy Symposium at MIT’s Samberg Center September 6-7, 2018. The goal of this event is to “propel forward the capacity and impact of internationally-oriented philanthropists, including individuals, families, foundations, investors, and corporate funders.”
Attica Scott, Democrat running for re-election in the Kentucky legislature.
In 2010, Representative Attica Scott graduated from the first class of Emerge Kentucky, which prepares Democratic women to run for office.
In 2016, Attica defeated a 34-year incumbent to become the first Black woman in nearly 20 years to serve in the Kentucky state legislature. Moreover, Attica is the only woman of color in the entire Kentucky legislature. In 2017, Representative Scott was named to Essence Magazine’s list of #Woke100 women in the U.S. She is running for re-election to the state legislature this year.
Attica is an inspiring person and powerful speaker. Here is her Tedx talk:
She is a rising star in Democracy party circles. We here at Philanthropy Women thought you’d like to get to know her a little bit better.
