When Jasmine Sessoms observed the political landscape, she was disheartened to see that practically no Black women worked in public policy. After successfully training Black women to run for political office in her home state of Pennsylvania through her “She Can Run” program—resulting in graduates like Cherelle Parker, who went on to be elected Philadelphia’s first female mayor—Sessoms decided she needed to go a step further.
“Without training us, investing in us, and connecting us, we really are struggling,” said Sessoms, a longtime political fundraiser who has served in various roles in government relations and higher education. “I was like, ‘You know what? I want to do something bigger than just training women to run for office because there are so many other facets.”
That’s where Center 1968 comes in. The center, named after the year Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to Congress, builds on the work of “She Can Run,” expanding beyond getting Black women to run for office to include training in policy to become staffers in political offices. The center even honors iconic Black women in politics with a fellowship named after former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan and a staffer program named after Valerie Jarrett, the former senior advisor to President Barack Obama. To date, 13 women have graduated from the center, and a handful of them have been placed in jobs as policy experts.
Sessoms told theGrio that the center primarily seeks out women who are not necessarily politically connected. “We look for the community leader, the single mom that just is a block captain or a ward leader or a committee person…we put them into the system that was not designed for them.” She continued, “There’s a lot of nervousness and trepidation because everything they know about politics is just scary, bad…we make it more friendly.”
For those who are politically connected, Center 1968 provides a needed…
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