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More than 70 women leaders convened in Portland, Maine, at the end
of July to collaborate and move forward an agenda that capitalizes on the
economic potential of women and ensures America’s future economic growth.
The Grassroots Leadership Retreat, co-sponsored by CPA, the Maine Women’s
Lobby & Women’s Development Institute, and the Rockefeller Family Fund, will
generate action in Maine and across the U.S. in the areas of economic
self-sufficiency, entrepreneurship, health care and security, and family and work.
Laura Fortman, Executive Director of the Maine Women’s Lobby
& Women’s Development Institute, led a discussion of welfare reform in
Maine, a hot issue in many states. Maine’s "Parents as Scholars" legislation,
introduced by Maine Senate Majority Leader and 1996 Flemming Fellow
Chellie Pingree, has been a highly successful model for leveraging state money to finance post-secondary education
for recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds.
The Maine Women’s Lobby was instrumental in building critical coalitions
among various supporters of the "Parents as Scholars" bill that resulted in the
bill’s passage in 1997. The need for
collaboration across party aisles and among
advocacy groups on issues mutually important was a
key lesson taken to heart by
conference participants.
Ryan Alexander, Program Officer with the Rockefeller Family Fund, led
a discussion of how technology can be used to organize women for change.
This was the second annual Women’s Grassroots Leadership
Retreat; the first was held last summer in Colorado.
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ALTERNATIVES
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Alternatives is a publication of the Center for Policy Alternatives – a nonpartisan progressive public policy and leadership development center serving state legislators, state policy organizations, and state grassroots leaders. Alternatives is indexed in Urban Affairs Abstracts. ISSN #1070-3047
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