Achieving Gender Equity Benefits Everyone
Local government impacts nearly every aspect of people's daily lives, and working at the local level presents an extraordinary opportunity to achieve equity. It also represents a risk- local government remains mostly detached from existing intersectional gender equity work, and local government leaders may not know how much they can do to create gender equity.
Equity Agenda is working to change that, because equity creates a better life for everyone. We collaborate with and support local governments and mission-aligned organizations to create more equitable communities for women, transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary people, using an approach that prioritizes, values, and incorporates intersecting identities, to ensure that no one gets left behind. We know the liberation of one of us is bound to the liberation of all of us.
We believe transforming the world is possible—one community at a time.
WHAT WE DO
In its first two years, Equity Agenda has:
- secured more than $320,000 in new city government funds for mission-aligned local nonprofits
- created and nurtured new, vital community partnerships resulting in additional community services for marginalized communities
- assisted in accessing and distributing $1,000,000 in equitable pandemic relief through partnerships with local government and community nonprofits
- co-led a small cohort on police reform in women-led cities resulting in policy changes in participating communities
- created and grew the Women Mayors Network providing leadership and policy resources to over 200 participants and
- partnered with academics to understand and address increasing threats and violence against local elected officials, especially gendered and racialized threats.
Public Policy Research & Development
We research and develop equity policy resources. We know where to find the best data on a wide range of topics related to equity. Nearly every aspect of city government benefits from review using an intersectional gender lens.
Collaboration & Networking for Local Leaders
In all our work, we ensure that city leaders make the connections with their peers and allies that are necessary to support their work, access best practices, and help them achieve success. One of our most active programs is the Women Mayors Network.
Consulting & Strategic Resources
We provide gender equity landscape analyses for cities and provide policy and technical support to city leaders. We also provide consulting assistance to mission-aligned organizations who may need help working with city governments.
ABOUT OUR FOUNDER
Heidi Gerbracht
Heidi is a city expert and strategist with more than two decades’ experience working to develop and implement policies that improve equity. She has worked in and with local governments around the country and is responsible for successful local policy reform efforts ranging from paid family leave, increasing firefighter diversity, and limiting toxic chemical exposures for pregnant people and children in cities as diverse as Columbia, SC; Salt Lake City, UT; Burlington, VT; and Anchorage, AK. Heidi taught at the LBJ School of Public Affairs on the intersection of municipal government and gender equity. She is based in Austin Texas, where she lives with her wife.
Advisory Board
Equity Agenda is proud to receive strategic advice from these extraordinary experts.
A lifelong resident of Durham, North Carolina, Danielle Adams served three terms as a member of the Durham County Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors, including one term as Vice Chair. She was first elected in 2008 at the age of 24, and during her first term she received the 2012 Supervisor of the Year Award for the State of North Carolina. Danielle works as the Southern Coordinator for Local Progress, a national non-profit that provides networking and policy support to local elected officials across the country housed in the Center for Popular Democracy.
For the past 25+ years, Diana Bruce (she/her/hers) has dedicated her career towards advancing access and equity through child and adolescent health, reproductive health, HIV/STI prevention, sexuality education and LGBTQ advocacy. Diana is Principal at Collaborate with Diana Bruce (www.dianabruce.com) where she advises organizations on advancing gender equity and diversity. Prior to starting her own firm, Diana served as Director of Health and Wellness of the District of Columbia Public Schools for a decade, as well as Co-Interim Executive Director and Director of Policy and Government Affairs for AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families before that.
Jenny Dodson Mistry is the Senior Manager of Special Initiatives at the National Institute for Reproductive Health, where she supports organizations engaged in local-level, proactive policy work and leads NIRH’s Local Reproductive Freedom Index initiative. She also oversees NIRH’s LARC Access Project, which works to expand access to contraception using a patient-centered framework. Jenny is an active volunteer with NJ SEEDS, an organization that increases access to quality educational opportunities for low-income students. Jenny holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan, and a MPH from Columbia University.
Chasity Wells-Armstrong was born and raised in her hometown of Kankakee, Illinois. On April 4, 2017, she was elected Mayor of the City of Kankakee, becoming the city’s first African-American mayor and only the second woman elected to serve the city of Kankakee in the Mayor’s office. As Mayor, Chasity initiated the Kankakee Forward agenda which consisted of a comprehensive plan to foster transformational change by creating operational efficiencies to improve services, enhancing public safety, fostering a business-friendly environment and addressing racial inequity. Given her commitment to service and improving the lives of Kankakee’s residents, Chasity was named by the National Association of Social Workers, IL Chapter as the 2016 Social Worker of the Year.
Born and raised in East Austin, Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison shares the strengths and struggles of her community. She overcame the challenges of childhood poverty to become a successful owner of her own business. The lessons she learned about the obstacles facing her and her fellow entrepreneurs pushed her towards advocacy. She served as president of the East 12th Street Merchants Association and founded East Austin Advocates, a nonprofit that connected under-represented residents with the resources they need to succeed. That community-level activism sparked Natasha’s interest in seeking public office, a mission she fulfilled with her successful campaign for Austin City Council’s District 1 seat in 2018.
Ceri Jenkins previously served as the Co-Managing Director of the Mayors Innovation Project (MIP), a national learning network of mayors based at COWS, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At MIP, Ceri produced bi-annual meetings and policy research on progressive local policies, including city governance innovation, food and health. She also worked with networks that connect higher education to city government: UW’s UniverCity Alliance, EPIC-N and MetroLab. Prior to this role, Ceri coordinated the Working Poor Families Project, the Evidence-Based Health Policy Project at UW’s Population Health Institute and served as a Program Officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Vice Mayor Lauren Kuby was elected to the Tempe City Council in 2014 and re-elected on March 13, 2018. As a Tempe Councilmember, she has led Tempe’s efforts for social, economic and environmental sustainability, including: equal pay, earned sick days, green building, animal protection, urban forestry, government transparency, and campaign-finance reform. As manager of community engagement for Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability, Lauren champions urban sustainability practices and solutions and brings together the ASU community, local small businesses, nonprofits, and neighborhood organizations to address the three Es: economy, equity, and the environment.
Candice Quarles was elected to the DeSoto City Council in May 2016. One of the guiding reasons that compelled Candice to run for City Council was to ensure that the next generation continued to have a real voice in helping to shape the future of the city. Candice, a native of St. Louis, MO, received her Bachelor’s degree in Personnel Psychology from Missouri Western State University, and thereafter completed a Master’s Degree in Managerial Leadership with an emphasis in Human Resource (HR) Management from Webster University. She’s a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. For her civic and corporate contributions, she was named to the 2014 Dallas Business Journal’s 40 under 40 distinction, which recognizes the top up-and-comers in the DFW area.
Satya Rhodes-Conway is the 58th Mayor of Madison. She has extensive experience in local policy and practice, having worked with mayors across the country for over a decade, and serving three terms on the Madison Common Council. Elected in 2019, she is the city’s second female mayor and the first out LGBTQ person to serve as Mayor of Madison.
The Women Mayors Network (WMN) launched in early 2020 and has grown to include women mayors from across the country. WMN connects gender-diverse mayors with tangible support, resources, and assistance, including vital peer connection. WMN provides participants with opportunities to:
- Collaborate with each other and with allies to help interrupt sexism and racism, address equity concerns, and support their colleagues’ leadership.
- Raise the public profile of successful women mayors to challenge the conventional wisdom about who leads and what leadership looks like.
- Find vetted, intersectional policy resources on gender equity.
- Prioritize equity and representation, and understand and address how gender, race, and other identities intersect in policy and outcomes.
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