IGNITE's Blog

Lianne Aratea is IGNITE's Bay Area Campus Organizer. Lianne is a professional that centers equity and community care at their core. In previous roles, she has worked...

Happy International Women's Day! Throughout Women's History month, IGNITE will be highlighting some of today's young changemakers. These IGNITE leaders are making an impact on their communities through advocacy, policymaking, organizing and much more. Keep reading to learn more about their work! 

When it came to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election, there was a lot to talk about. From think pieces about her emails to op-eds on whether she would deliver on more progressive campaign promises, the conversation surrounding her was almost unending.

But out of everything being said about Hillary Clinton during the election, one word kept popping up again and again: pantsuit.

It's Black History month and our IGNITE community continues to push for racial justice in America. 

Black History Month was first recognized at the Federal level in 1976 to push back against years of denial of Black history in America. It is sad to say that almost half a century later, efforts to prevent the teaching of Black history continue. The U.S. Supreme Court's imminent affirmative action ruling will likely also undermine representative democracy.

In the few weeks since 2023 began, over 100 pieces of legislation have been introduced in state legislatures that target and discriminate against members of the LGBTQ+ community. Transgender students are being barred from participating in sports. Drag shows are being banned. Restrictions on gender-affirming care have tightened even further.

Much of this discriminatory legislation effectively strips individuals of their bodily autonomy, a worrying trend we continue to see. With the overturning of Roe v Wade, many state legislatures have passed laws that infringe on our privacy and bodily autonomy rights. These laws tend to disproportionately impact cis and trans BIPOC women, transgender men, and nonbinary people.

And yet, through it all, activists in the LGBTQ+ community and their allies continue to push for change.

The excerpt below was originally published in Ms. Magazine. Click here to view the full piece. 

I’m an Asian American woman who serves on the city council in Eastvale, Calif. I’ve served as mayor there. I’m also a survivor of intimate partner violence, and it’s time for me to talk about it. Here’s why.

Yesenia Baldivia-Zarate is the IGNITE Detroit Fellow. She is a movement politics organizer with Michigan United and Michigan People's Campaign. Yesenia is also a DACA...

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.

Courtney brings extensive political communications experience as well as in-depth knowledge of digital marketing platforms, strategies, and innovations. She has worked...