May 15:
Brief presentation of The Big Decision and Running as a Woman, followed by Panel Discussion, "So You Want to Run for Office."
Course Description: The Big Decision and Running as a Woman: This course will cover reasons women run for office, questions every candidate should consider before making the big decision, important factors to take into consideration such as family, history, resume quality, potentially harmful secrets, and a candidate’s own personal stamina and strength of character. We will also cover the steps a candidate should take before the campaign begins, including researching the district and seeking professional advice. This brief course will be followed by the panel discussion “So You Want to Run for Office.”
Panelists:
Delaine Eastin
A native of San Diego, California, Eastin graduated from the University of California at Davis in 1969 with a bachelor's in political science. She received a master's in political science from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1971 and joined Pacific Bell as a corporate planner in 1979. Eastin left Pacific Bell as an accounting manager in 1986 following her election to the California State Assembly. Eastin returned to private life in 2003, joining the National Institute for School Leadership as its executive director. In 2004, Eastin began teaching educational leadership at Mills College as a distinguished visiting professor. Eastin left the National Institute for School Leadership in 2005 and in 2008 left Mills College to found Delaine Eastin Consulting.
Senator Connie Leyva
Reelected to represent the 20th State Senate District in 2018, Senator Connie M. Leyva is serving her second term in the California State Senate.
Senator Leyva serves as Chair of the Senate Education Committee and the Senate Democratic Caucus, as well as on the Appropriations, Budget and Fiscal Review, Business, Professions and Economic Development, Elections and Constitutional Amendments and Health committees and the Budget Subcommittee #1 on Education. She also currently serves on the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls and the Senate Select Committees on California-Mexico Cooperation, Manufactured Home Communities, Ports & Goods Movement and Women and Inequality: Strategies to Promote Opportunity.
A lifelong activist standing up for working people and families, Senator Leyva started working at her local Alpha Beta market as a senior in high school. She served as both Union Representative and President of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1428, helping grocery workers gain a stronger voice for fair wages and benefits. Following in that tradition of community service and action to improve the lives of others, she was elected in 2004 as the first woman President of the California Labor Federation, representing more than 2.1 million workers throughout the state.
Monterey County Supervisor, Dist. 4 Wendy Root Askew
Prior to her election in 2020, Wendy served as Policy Analyst to retired Supervisor Jane Parker (2008 -2020). She also owned a small agriculture business. From 2016-2020, Wendy served on the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District as a Board Trustee, championing for safe, healthy school, access to technology, and quality teachers.
Wendy is a fourth generation Monterey County resident, daughter of an educator, and rooted from three generations of military veterans. Wendy currently resides in Marina with her young son and husband.
May 22:
The Campaign Plan & The Campaign Team: In this course, we will review and explain the importance of all the basic components of a campaign plan. We will also cover the basic elements of effective campaign structure, emphasizing that part of establishing a good team, is utilizing previous knowledge of what worked. We will cover descriptions of the different jobs on a typical campaign.
Course Facilitators:
Angelica Ramos-Allen
Angelica Ramos-Allen is one of NWPC’s bright stars, an NWPC certified from the tech capital of the world: Silicon Valley, CA. As a political consultant with a 95% winning average, she has a reputation for taking on campaigns that became the upset of the year. (Silicon Valley has been a tough place for women’s equality efforts). Her career includes helping women wherever they need assistance: being a CA-certified mediator and rape crisis counselor, a court appointed special advocate (CASA) with Child Advocates of Silicon Valley, Law Facilitator for at risk youth with Fresh Lifelines for Youth, and a Fellow with the Children's Defense Fund.
She is also President of the National Women's Political Caucus of Silicon Valley and services on the NWPC CA State Board as the Communications Chair. Angelica is dedicated to gender parity at all levels of leadership. She now serves as Santa Clara Supervisor Susan Ellenberg's Policy Director (a candidate she helped overcome a 5 to 1 spending difference from her opponent).
Chelsea Byers
Chelsea Byers is a social impact strategist, community builder, creative consultant, and a certified advocacy and grassroots campaign trainer towards a world where creativity and human dignity can flourish.
Chelsea is a core member of Beautiful Trouble, a global-network of activists and trainers steeped in the discipline of creative activism and an expert campaign trainer with National Women’s Political Caucus. An expert facilitator, Chelsea has led hundreds of hours of trainings and curated countless professional and leadership development programs. She is certified as a professional trainer in grassroots advocacy, creative direct action, nonviolence, and campaign development and has trained alongside some of the most innovative and strategic nonviolent activists working in social movements.
Chelsea has organized dozens of public demonstrations for social justice, held vigil for political prisoners and whistleblowers, and earned media at the 2016 Republican National Convention for gun violence prevention advocacy. After she disrupted and ended his hateful speech during a campaign stop in Las Vegas on January 20th, 2016, Donald Trump said of Chelsea, “That’s a young woman that doesn’t know... She’s Lost... To hell with her.” See Chelsea's full bio here.
May 29: - No Training due to Memorial Weekend
June 5:
Targeting & Research: In this course, we will cover the various areas of research a candidate must do in order to know what their constituents are concerned about. We will also cover what voters the candidate will want to target and how to reach them.
Course Facilitator:
Angelica Ramos-Allen
Angelica Ramos-Allen is one of NWPC’s bright stars, an NWPC certified from the tech capital of the world: Silicon Valley, CA. As a political consultant with a 95% winning average, she has a reputation for taking on campaigns that became the upset of the year. (Silicon Valley has been a tough place for women’s equality efforts). Her career includes helping women wherever they need assistance: being a CA-certified mediator and rape crisis counselor, a court appointed special advocate (CASA) with Child Advocates of Silicon Valley, Law Facilitator for at risk youth with Fresh Lifelines for Youth, and a Fellow with the Children's Defense Fund.
She is also President of the National Women's Political Caucus of Silicon Valley and services on the NWPC CA State Board as the Communications Chair. Angelica is dedicated to gender parity at all levels of leadership. She now serves as Santa Clara Supervisor Susan Ellenberg's Policy Director (a candidate she helped overcome a 5 to 1 spending difference from her opponent).
June 12: – 3 hour session
Fundraising: This training will begin with a general overview of what you need to know to fundraise for your campaign. The overview will be followed by a panel discussion comprised of women of color, who will talk about the challenges of fundraising as a woman of color, and how they overcame those challenges.
Guest Speakers:
Tustin Mayor Letitia ClarkMayor Clark was first elected to the Tustin City Council in 2016 and selected to serve as Mayor by her City Council peers for the 2021 calendar year.
Mayor Clark currently represents the City of Tustin as a Board Member on the Orange County Fire Authority. In 2021, she was selected to represent District 17 (Tustin, Orange, and Villa Park) on the Orange County Council of Governments (OCCOG) and the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG). .
Mayor Clark earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Xavier University of Louisiana, a Master of Arts degree in Public Policy from New England College and a Certificate in Non-Profit Management from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
Senator Connie Leyva
Reelected to represent the 20th State Senate District in 2018, Senator Connie M. Leyva is serving her second term in the California State Senate.
Senator Leyva serves as Chair of the Senate Education Committee and the Senate Democratic Caucus, as well as on the Appropriations, Budget and Fiscal Review, Business, Professions and Economic Development, Elections and Constitutional Amendments and Health committees and the Budget Subcommittee #1 on Education. She also currently serves on the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls and the Senate Select Committees on California-Mexico Cooperation, Manufactured Home Communities, Ports & Goods Movement and Women and Inequality: Strategies to Promote Opportunity.
A lifelong activist standing up for working people and families, Senator Leyva started working at her local Alpha Beta market as a senior in high school. She served as both Union Representative and President of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1428, helping grocery workers gain a stronger voice for fair wages and benefits. Following in that tradition of community service and action to improve the lives of others, she was elected in 2004 as the first woman President of the California Labor Federation, representing more than 2.1 million workers throughout the state.
Theresa Cruz
Political Fundraiser, Progressive Solutions Coaching
Theresa Cruz serves as the Client Services/Fundraising Director at PSC Campaigns, a full-service consulting firm in Southern California. As one of the few young women of color in the political fundraising world, Theresa has solidified herself as a dynamic fundraiser, up-and-coming political strategist, and creative extraordinaire.
Recently, she has played a critical role in raising over $3 million dollars in campaign contributions on several
groundbreaking campaigns. As the lead Southern California fundraiser for Senator Lena Gonzalez, she helped to usher in the first Latina majority of the CA State Senate. She also served as the fundraising lead for West Hollywood Councilwoman Sepi Shyne who through increased fundraising beat out two 20 year incumbents to become the highest vote-getter, the first woman of color on the West Hollywood City Council, and the first openly LGBTQ Iranian elected to public office in the world. Other races include Long Beach Councilwoman Mary Zendejas, the first Latina in a wheelchair elected in Long Beach, and helping to elect more women of color in Orange County than any other time in recent history.
Personally, Theresa is a graduate of California State University, Los Angeles with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and lives with her partner Derrick and their cat Smokey, who often makes cameos on Zoom.
June 19:
Volunteer Recruitment/Management & Scheduling: This session will cover the basics of where to find good volunteers and how to manage them, along with the Scheduler’s responsibilities and scheduling the candidate’s activities and best time-management skills.
Chelsea Byers
Chelsea Byers is a social impact strategist, community builder, creative consultant, and a certified advocacy and grassroots campaign trainer towards a world where creativity and human dignity can flourish.
Facilitator: Chelsea Byers, NWPC CA Certified Trainer
Chelsea is a core member of Beautiful Trouble, a global-network of activists and trainers steeped in the discipline of creative activism and an expert campaign trainer with National Women’s Political Caucus. An expert facilitator, Chelsea has led hundreds of hours of trainings and curated countless professional and leadership development programs. She is certified as a professional trainer in grassroots advocacy, creative direct action, nonviolence, and campaign development and has trained alongside some of the most innovative and strategic nonviolent activists working in social movements.
Chelsea has organized dozens of public demonstrations for social justice, held vigil for political prisoners and whistleblowers, and earned media at the 2016 Republican National Convention for gun violence prevention advocacy. After she disrupted and ended his hateful speech during a campaign stop in Las Vegas on January 20th, 2016, Donald Trump said of Chelsea, “That’s a young woman that doesn’t know... She’s Lost... To hell with her.” See Chelsea's full bio here.
This event is followed by NWPC CA's Public Policy Forum: The Price and Value of Motherhood: Visible at Last. Tickets here: https://www.memberplanet.com/events/nwpcca/priceofmotherhood
June 26: - 3 hour session
Technology: This session will cover demonstrations of both the PDI and NGPVAN voter contact platforms.NGP VAN
Drew Davis
Drew has been with NGPVAN since the 2018 election cycle and since then has been working to empower State Legislative and Local campaigns to build a technology infrastructure they will use for the rest of their political careers. Prior to coming to NGPVAN, Drew spent several years working in the New York State Assembly and on other State Legislative campaigns in Upstate New York. Drew is originally from Baltimore, Maryland, and when he isn’t nerding out about local politics he spends most of his time on his other passion: The Baltimore Ravens.
Kelly Lanford
Kelly joined the team at NGP VAN as a National Account Executive after spending six years on Democratic campaigns, starting as a Field Organizer for the Virginia Coordinated campaign in 2015 and then as a Regional Field Director in Ohio for Hillary for America in 2016. In 2018 she worked as the Email Director for Tim Kaine’s Senate re-election and then launched Joe Biden’s campaign for President in April 2019 as the Deputy Director for Online Fundraising, serving in that role through the successful General Election.
Ashley Wilson
Ashley Wilson is the Director of State and Local campaigns at NGP VAN. In this role, she assists Democratic organizations such as the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, EMILY’s LIST, Democratic Municipal Officials, and political campaigns with the digital tools needed to organize, fundraise and get out the vote. Ashley has spent several years working on political and issue campaigns from the local to the federal level. She started her political campaign experience working with the Obama for American campaign in 2008. Prior to joining NGP VAN, Ashley was a field organizer for Hillary For America in NY.
PDI
Gary Brown
Gary Brown is the President of Political Data Inc. Joining the company in 1995, Gary has guided PDI through numerous data and software innovations to meet the growing needs of today's progressive community. Gary has worked with thousands of campaigns on how to effectively use voter data and political technology.
Prior to his work at PDI, Gary worked as a field organizer and campaign manager for various campaigns throughout California.
Other Digital Tools
Linda May
Linda has her Master in Public Administration from the Bloch School of Business and Public Administration at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Her independent research project was on Implementation of Innovation. She has three decades of experience creating new programs to meet the underserved need of women and children. She has been a change-maker in the world of LGBTQ rights for two decades, which is where she got her first introduction to political campaigns.
She is the founder of GrassRoots Organizing, DPOC, and has held paid and volunteer positions with state, local, and federal campaigns. She has served on governmental commissions, nonprofit boards, and foundations boards. She is currently the State Administrator and Voter File Manager for Orange County’s DNC VoteBuilder and is happily exploring the world of political tech with DNC DigiDems.
She can be reached at LindaMay@Cox.net or call or text to 714-381-7924.
July 3: No Training Due to Independence Day Holiday
July 10:
Voter Contact & Field Operations: This session will cover different ways in which to contact voters, such as phone banking, text banking, social media, and door-to-door canvassing, to name a few.
Guest Speaker
Linda May
Linda has her Master in Public Administration from the Bloch School of Business and Public Administration at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Her independent research project was on Implementation of Innovation. She has three decades of experience creating new programs to meet the underserved need of women and children. She has been a change-maker in the world of LGBTQ rights for two decades, which is where she got her first introduction to political campaigns.
She is the founder of GrassRoots Organizing, DPOC, and has held paid and volunteer positions with state, local, and federal campaigns. She has served on governmental commissions, nonprofit boards, and foundations boards. She is currently the State Administrator and Voter File Manager for Orange County’s DNC VoteBuilder and is happily exploring the world of political tech with DNC DigiDems.
July 17:
Social Media: Peter Allen of www.peterallenmedia.com, will cover the basics of a good social media campaign, along with the dos and don’ts of engaging in social media.
Peter Allen
Peter Allen (he/him/his) is a third-generation San José native with deep roots in his community. During the workday, Peter currently serves as Communications Coordinator for the San José Public Library Foundation. Prior to joining SJPLF, Peter served as Public Information Officer for San José Unified School District, where he directed internal and external communications for 41 schools, 4,000 employees, and 25,000 families. A former Chair of the City of San José Arts Commission as well as the Planning Commission, he has spent the past decade as a Board Member and/or Managing Director of Teatro Visión, a Latinx/Chicanx theater company nurturing arts and opportunity in underserved San José communities.
Peter is a founding member of San José Arts Advocates and can occasionally be found playing bass and singing vocals with an original rock band. He graduated from Bellarmine College Preparatory and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Filmic Writing from the University of Southern California. Peter’s amazing wife, Angelica Ramos, serves as policy lead and strategic advisor for Santa Clara County Supervisor Susan Ellenberg, as well as President of the National Women's Political Caucus of Silicon Valley. They live in San José with their rescue dog, Josie.
July 24:
Speech & Image: You know the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words”? The same principle applies to a candidate’s image and message. Before she opens her mouth, the public has already judged her. Like it or not, a candidate must look the part. Next, we will cover the five components of a good three-minute speech.
July 31:
Addressing the Negatives and Wrap up & Winning: The trainer will cover the major dangers and advantages of going negative in a campaign to aid the candidates in a more comprehensive decision-making process. Candidates, especially new candidates, need guidance not only with the campaign process but also after they are elected. There are a lot of steps involved in properly wrapping up a campaign that the trainer will cover.
NWPC California is committed to being more intentional in our work supporting womxn of all backgrounds to serve in elected and appointed office who are committed to protecting reproductive freedom absolutely as well as the passage and implementation of laws and policies that prioritize achieving gender equality.
In order to do that work, we will begin respectfully inviting members of our community to provide demographic information to help us plan programming and services during the registration process. Responses are optional.
If you have any additional questions about this effort, please feel free to contact Karriann Farrell Hinds, president@nwpcca.org. Thank you in advance for your support!