IGNITE's Blog

As an organization dedicated to empowering young women to pursue political office, IGNITE is deeply concerned about the recent expulsion of Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson, two young Black state reps, from the Tennessee legislature, after they participated in a protest over gun control. The move sets a dangerous anti-democratic precedent for removing young people of color from political office and deterring others from aspiring to hold these seats of power. It is unacceptable for lawmakers to silence the voices of their constituents, especially those who are marginalized and underrepresented in our political system.

Whichever way you voted, there’s some good news for women in American politics. In a year when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against women’s control over their own bodies, overturning Roe v. Wade, voters in the 2022 midterm elections sent a record number of women to the next Congress. It happened on both sides of the aisle. American voters also elected a record number of women Governors.

Kevin McCarthy survived a 15-round ordeal of repeated votes to win the speaker's seat. All I can think about is there's no way we'd give him such grace to lose so often if he were a woman-identifying or non-binary person. And that has big implications for how we raise the next generation and how gender continues to influence how we view leadership.

Yesterday was July 14, which means everyone on both sides of the pond should be thinking about Emmeline Pankhurst.  For my fellow Americans, I would be pleasantly...

It’s hard to believe that it has been just over a year since I first started as IGNITE’s CEO. I feel incredibly lucky to have marked this milestone alongside hundreds of passionate young women in Washington, D.C. for our first 3-day, in-person Young Women Run national conference since 2019. For so many reasons, this conference looked and felt different than its predecessors, from the daily Covid-19 testing and masking, to the barricades around the Supreme Court and U.S. Capitol as a result of protests erupting across the city.

19 students and two teachers were murdered in Uvalde, Texas yesterday. The deadliest school shooting in Texas history and the third deadliest in U.S. history. The layers of devastation our country is witnessing and experiencing each day feel insurmountable. Limiting our response to coded and politicized language to describe these attacks does a disservice to the individuals and communities continually harmed.

The mass shooting this weekend in Buffalo, New York, was a horrific public lynching that once again exposes the pervasive hatred against and dehumanization of our Black communities.

For decades, Roe v. Wade has stood as one of the most powerful symbols of progress towards reproductive justice for cis-women, queer, non-binary people with uteruses, trans men, Black, Indigenous and People of Color. It has also tangibly protected lives. The draft Supreme Court opinion released last night sent a monumental shock wave to any and all who have fought for reproductive justice in this country, particularly Black women, who have been and are leaders in the frontlines.

On March 28th, Governor Ron DeSantis signed the “Parental Rights in Education” law, better known as the “Dont Say Gay Bill,” into law in Florida. The bill prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in primary schools, starting July 1. We are devastated by this news.