Bringing together a community of bipartisan women policymakers and trusted partners to advance issues of importance to women, develop the next generation of women leaders, and foster a more effective and representative democracy. |
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Dear Friends of WCPI:
As the world grapples with the impact of COVID-19 and social movements around the globe, Women’s Congressional Policy Institute (WCPI) hopes you are all staying safe and healthy. At WCPI, we continue to take steps to prevent the virus’ spread while continuing our work. We also remain dedicated to addressing racial, social, and economic disparities and injustice by recognizing and including the voices of those who are underrepresented in public policy dialogues. We are fortunate to have your continued support, critical to our mission of bringing together a community of bipartisan women policymakers and trusted partners to advance issues of importance to women, develop the next generation of women leaders, and foster a more effective and representative democracy. To learn more about WCPI's response to these critical issues, please visit us online.
WCPI began the year by welcoming our seventh class of congressional fellows and celebrating our 25th anniversary at our Annual Congressional Gala. Shortly after this special milestone, due to the impact of COVID-19 and in accordance with local and national guidelines, several plans were altered for upcoming events. Unfortunately, this meant canceling our annual Take Our Daughters to Congress Day. Nonetheless, WCPI continued to work tirelessly to bridge the partisan divide and create new opportunities for women leaders at all stages of their careers by moving other events to virtual platforms and postponing several briefings and receptions for later in the year.
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WCPI Advancing Women’s Bipartisanship on Capitol Hill |
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The 2020 Congressional Gala celebrated WCPI’s 25th Anniversary alongside current and former women Members of Congress, senior federal agency officials, corporate and labor supporters, senior congressional staff, and representatives of women’s organizations. We were honored our speakers included Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi; Women’s Caucus Co-Chairs, Congresswomen Brenda Lawrence (D-MI) and Debbie Lesko (R-AZ); Women's Caucus Vice-Chair Congresswoman Madeleine Dean (D-PA), and a number of women Members of Congress.
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It was a special pleasure to recognize Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), the first woman to chair the Appropriations Committee and a founding WCPI board member. WCPI Vice Chair Ambassador and former Rep. Connie Morella, also a founding WCPI board member who co-chaired the Women’s Caucus with Rep. Lowey, celebrated Rep. Lowey’s work and legacy as she retires at the end of the 116th Congress.
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WCPI Secretary-Treasurer Kenny D. Thompson, Jr. also celebrated the 2020 Class of Fellows and the 40th anniversary of the Fellowship program.
We thank all of the attendees and sponsors for their continued support and dedication in helping bring our mission to life and make this evening such a success. Please enjoy these photos from the 2020 annual gala.
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The seventh class of WCPI’s Congressional Fellowships on Women and Public Policy kicked off this January. This year’s Fellows, Sarah Kington, Adriianna Lagorio, and Suhasini Ravi, are working as legislative assistants in the congressional offices of Congresswomen Gwen Moore (D-WI), Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA), and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), respectively. To learn more about these remarkable women, please visit our Meet the Fellows page online.
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We are looking forward to our upcoming fellowship reception in September to celebrate their achievements, at which Members of Congress, congressional staff, former fellows, family, friends, and fellowship sponsors will congratulate the fellows as they near completion of the program.
Special thanks to WCPI’s sponsors for their support! Stay tuned for our announcement of the 2021 Class of Fellows.
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WCPI’s mission is rooted in supporting a bipartisan community of women leaders at all stages of their careers. To empower the next generation of women leaders in public policy, WCPI hosts two interns each fall, spring, and summer. WCPI's Communications/Development and General Internship programs allow students to contribute to our Weekly Legislative Update, provide critical support to our development efforts, and strengthen our social media outreach and engagement, while also ensuring that they learn the legislative process.
We are grateful to our intern, Libra Dolce, for her hard work and collaboration earlier this year. Due to COVID-19, we were unable to host a class of summer interns, but we look forward to welcoming Kailyn Smith, who we will be hosting remotely this fall.
Click here for more information about our internship program!
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WCPI hosted several virtual meetings as part of its Women Chiefs of Staff “Joint Session” program. Administered in partnership with Democracy Fund, the program fosters bicameral personal relationships across party lines, builds a support network for women chiefs of staff, committee staff directors, and senior leadership staff, and develops bipartisan women’s leadership.
We are looking forward to upcoming programs to support these women leaders in Congress.
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WCPI Advancing Issues of Importance to Women and Girls |
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In July, WCPI, in cooperation with Congresswomen Brenda Lawrence (D-MI) and Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), Co-Chairs of the Women’s Caucus, and Congresswomen Madeleine Dean (D-PA) and Jenniffer González-Colón (R-PR), Vice-Chairs of the Women’s Caucus, held the first virtual discussion in a new series on global maternal health.
Dr. Mary-Ann Etiebet, Lead and Executive Director, Merck for Mothers, moderated a discussion with Kerry Pelzman, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Global Health, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), focused on U.S. foreign assistance for global maternal health. Thank you to the Women’s Caucus leadership for its work and efforts to raise awareness for global maternal health, and a special thank you to Congresswomen Dean and González-Colón, for their thoughtful and inspiring opening remarks.
Thank you to our special guests who were in attendance, including several organization partners who provided important input: Jhpiego, which contributed a video played during the briefing; Save the Children and World Vision, co-chairs of the Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Roundtable; and CARE, one of our longtime partners.
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For the first time, the annual WCPI STEAM Fair virtually brought together exciting private and public sector efforts to encourage women and girls to choose careers in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics (STEAM) fields. We were proud to welcome attendees of all ages from across the globe, including Members of Congress, congressional staff, federal agency officials, young professionals, and school-aged girls.
Congresswomen Brenda Lawrence (D-MI) and Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), Co-Chairs of the Women’s Caucus, and Susie Armstrong, Senior Vice-President of Engineering at Qualcomm, spoke to the girls and attendees, showing their continued support for this event. Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) also spoke to young girls at this year’s virtual exhibits about the importance of STEAM.
We are grateful to our corporate, labor, nonprofit, and federal partners for their continued support.
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This year marks the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote! WCPI put together a webpage to recognize this historic milestone. We have provided videos, resources, events, and an interactive map for the WCPI community to learn more about women’s suffrage. We encourage you to check it out and reflect on the achievements of women since this historic day 100 years ago.
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Thank you to our sponsors! |
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WCPI is grateful for the longtime support of our foundation partners: Democracy Fund, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Kahn Education Foundation, Qualcomm Foundation, and the PG&E Foundation.
We also appreciate our corporate, labor, federal, and individual sponsors for supporting this year’s Fellowship Program, Annual Gala, and STEAM Fair. We look forward to working with these partners to bridge the partisan divide and bring together women policymakers!
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