In this very moment, we are in the largest civil rights movement the United States has ever seen. Everyone must play their role in advancing the rights for marginalized communities, including UW-Madison. Systemic oppression has consistently left non-white people and women to be harmed by societal structures. The non-profit organization, The Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN), has created a way for women, with an emphasis on Black and brown women, to access these leadership positions in an attempt to have more diversity and justice within various systems. I am asking UW-Madison’s DDEEA to help support this mission through annual funding to become partnered with PLEN.

UW-Madison’s DDEEA has an important role on campus in supporting students of color. Through this funding, PLEN’s seminars will become more affordable and provide mainly women of color with the ability to visit Washington D.C. (once the pandemic is over) and network with women who hold powerful policy positions. Students who participate in PLEN have the ability to access resume workshops, networking with women who work in office in D.C., skill building workshops, and then having professional conferences accessible to them after their PLEN seminar ends, with entry into PLEN’s professional networking page on LinkedIn.

Overall, through UW-Madison’s DDEEA annual funding of PLEN, they will have created the ability for numerous women of color to enter policy roles. The timing of this opportunity is critical to the advancement of social justice in this country.