The constant assault on our Black community must stop. At IGNITE, we support the #BlackLivesMatter movement. We will do what it takes to amplify the voices of Black women and men of all ages, and especially our IGNITE program participants and alumni who are leading protests and making concrete recommendations for systemic change in response to the deep racism in this country. We stand in solidarity with our youth leaders and their solutions.
In these moments, we return to a statement Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley made after she won her race for Congress: "The people who are closest to the pain should be closest to the power."
IGNITE's solution has always been to put young women from marginalized communities into power: as elected leaders, as campaign staffers, as policy advisors, as public board members and commissioners, as activists and as voters. And while training women from disenfranchised communities to run for public office has always been the centerpiece of our work, we also know it is not happening fast enough. We must accelerate our mission and our impact.
To do so, we are turning to our community of young women and asking: How can we get you into civic and political leadership now, so that we can ensure that every one of you can fight for racial justice, for economic justice and against the disenfranchisement of our communities? How can we help you realize your political power?
Program participants and alumni, please join our Community Roundtable on Thursday, June 11, 2020, at 3 PM – 4 PM PT to share your feedback. If you can’t join us but have ideas, please reach out to us at any time.
We also want our community to know that in the days and months to follow, IGNITE will look for ways to more intentionally address race, power and privilege internally with our staff and board and externally in our curriculum and training models.
This is hard work and we're in it for the long haul. We know we must consistently do the work to lift up our young women to create a more just and equitable world.
In solidarity,
Anne Moses, President and Founder and Sara Guillermo, Executive Director