EMILYs List Launches Ignite Change Fellowship for Spring 2022

For Immediate Release
January 31, 2022
 

EMILYs List Launches Ignite Change Fellowship for Spring 2022

EMILYs List is now accepting applications for the Spring 2022 cohort of Ignite Change fellows.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, launched the application for the spring 2022 Ignite Change Fellowship, a nine-week virtual initiative to train deeply engaged community leaders and advocates on developing their political skills, leadership, and confidence in potentially running for office. 

Applications can be submitted now through March 4, 2022. The program will be capped at 30 fellows. 

“EMILYs List is proud to support rising political stars from the very beginning of their career. We are also committed to recruiting and training women from a variety of backgrounds in doing our part to diversify government at all levels,” said Johanna Silva Waki, vice president of training and community engagement at EMILYs List. “The Ignite Change Fellowship is one of the ways we connect with activists from all over the country and prepare them to turn their lived experience into a plan to run for office.”

“As abortion rights and voting rights are increasingly under attack, it is more important than ever to equip and empower women to run for office. The participating fellows know how legislation impacts their communities on a personal level. Women of color, LGBTQ+ women and non-binary people, women from rural areas, and women with disabilities are distinctly impacted by barriers to voting and reproductive health care, yet they are still underrepresented in government.

“So far, EMILYs List has trained 90 fellows — including activists, educators, artists, and students — on the nuts and bolts of running for office. Through the fellowship, we help put together the pieces of running a campaign and create a community of changemakers that inspire us to continue this work.”

Applicants for the Ignite Change Fellowship should exhibit the following attributes:

• Experience serving as an organizational leader or advocate in their community
• An eagerness to run for office in the future
• No prior or current history of being a candidate or running for office

Interested candidates can apply here. Applications are due on March 4, 2022. The program will run virtually from April to June 2022. For more information, read the fellowship FAQ here. Additionally, you can join two informational sessions on February 9 at 1PM ET and February 24 at 4PM ET.

EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $700 million to elect Democratic pro-choice women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY's List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running nearly $50 million in independent expenditures in the last cycle alone, and turning out women voters and voters of color to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country's first woman as vice president, 159 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and more than 1,300 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. After the 2016 election, more than 60,000 women reached out to EMILY's List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state, and national offices. In our effort to elect more women in offices across the country, we have created our Run to Win program, expanded our training program, including a Training Center online, and trained thousands of women.