April 14, 2009 Contact: Lara Cassell
lFor Immediate Release 212-261-4497 / lcassell@thewhitehouseproject.org
AN INVITATION UNLIKE ANY OTHER
Elected Officials Throughout Michigan Invite Women to Run for PoliticalOffice at The White House Project’s Invite a Woman to Run Event
Lansing, MI – On Tuesday, May 12th, elected officials and community leaders throughout Michigan will come together to invite women across the state to run for political office. A program of The White House Project - a national nonpartisan nonprofit which aims to advance women’s leadership - Invite a Woman to Run will take place on Tuesday, May 12, from 7:30 a.m. until 9 a.m. in Dykema’s Capitol Room, 201 Townsend, Lansing.
“We know that the number one reason women run for office is because someone invites them,” explained Shannon Garrett, Great Lakes Regional Director for The White House Project. “All of these women are already active within their communities; they just never see themselves as a person who should put their name of the ballot. With Invite a Woman to Run, we are urging them to make that jump from being a woman leader to being a woman leader who runs for office.”
The most powerful part of this unique program is the invitation itself which states: “The White House Project believes in you, your ideas, your passion and your capability…Don't wait any longer - consider this your official invitation.”
Women currently make up a record 25% of the policymakers sitting under the dome in Lansing – but women’s leadership is woefully absent from county and municipal governments across the state. Prominent research groups have long noted that women leaders tend to include diverse viewpoints in decision-making, have a broader conception of public policy, and offer new solutions – all characteristics which are urgently needed across Michigan, in every level of government.
Joining The White House Project in this effort are Senator Patricia Birkholz, Senator Martha Scott, Representative Pam Byrnes and Representative Tonya Schuitmaker.
Since opening in 2008, The White House Project’s Michigan office has trained over 1,000 women to lead a political life. Applications for Michigan-based trainings – including Debate Boot Camp on May 16th and Michigan Go Run from July 10th – 12th are now open at http://thewhitehouseproject.org/voterunlead/trainings.
