Thrive & SIAG Social Impact Series Building a Better Pipeline: Supporting Diverse Political Candidates for a Stronger Democracy
San Mateo County’s elected officials, in all layers of government, are overwhelmingly white and male, not representative of the diversity of our County. We need leaders from communities of color and women to bring their knowledge and lived experience to policymaking. How do we build a pipeline of BIPOC and women candidates and support their journey to elected office? We held a panel discussion with leaders and advocates who are breaking down the barriers to create a more diverse slate of candidates to represent our local population.
Speakers each shared their own stories and experiences and gave some great advice. Some highlights include: understanding how important your voice is as a minority and running for office as a minority; having a good network of women/women of color supporters; inviting powerful people and people of privilege to pull up underrepresented people and communities; and talking about the value of voting.
Thank you to our presenters:
Valerie T. McGinty, President and Founder of Fund Her
Mairin Macaluso, Director of Member Impact and Engagement at Leadership Now Project
Rose Jacobs Gibson, President/CEO of Hagar Services Coalition, Inc
Nicole Fernandez, Chairwoman of the San Mateo County Democratic Party
Presented by Thrive Alliance and Social Impact Advisory Group (SIAG)
