New American Leaders brought together over 100 elected officials, NAL alumni, partners, and allies for our annual Power & Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. Virginia House of Delegates Member Elizabeth Guzman talked about her journey into politics and why representation matters. Vanita Gupta, CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, spoke about the intersection of politics, elections, and policy, and its impact on the power of #PeopleLikeUs. Nse Ufot, who serves as Executive Director of the New Georgia Project and worked on Stacey Abrams’ campaign, told attendees to “Write the future that you imagine for yourself.”
There were panels on voter restoration, expanding democracy, how campaigns were won, immigrant integration, and more. Women’s March founder and civil rights activist Linda Sarsour closed out the summit with these poignant words, “We are the leaders we have been waiting for, and we need to put everyone else in front of us, not behind us.”
The day before, NAL held its New American Hero Awards hosted by Funny or Die’s Brad Jenkins. In addition to celebrating New American victories up and down the ballot this year, and NAL’s tremendous work preparing first and second generation immigrants to run for office, we honored three amazing women fighting for immigrant rights and fairer representation: U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal, Philadelphia City Councilmember Helen Gym, and Rhode Island Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea.
Thanks to our sponsor, Southwest Airlines, for making these events possible. We look forward to seeing you next year!