Vermont Business Magazine Emerge Vermont, the state’s premier organization for recruiting and training Democratic women to run for office, announced a new, one-day training program for Democratic women interested in running for local office.
Emerge Vermont’s Municipal Bootcamp is a full-day, online training that will provide skills and tools to enable Democratic women to run successful campaigns for school boards, selectboards, city councils, and village trustee boards on Town Meeting Day.
“This is our fourth year providing a training program specifically for women who want to run for local office on Town Meeting Day. Fewer than a third of selectboard members in Vermont are women. This training will help improve women’s representation in local government,” said Elaine Haney, executive director of Emerge Vermont. “Our selectboards and school boards are the connection between our communities and the decision making that affects our daily lives,” Haney said. “But with so few women serving on these boards, it’s clear we need better representation at the tables of local government.”
The training will be offered online on Saturday, January 4th, 2025 from 9 AM – 4:30 PM and will focus specifically on campaigning locally. Participants will develop practical knowledge in areas such as voter contact, messaging, fundraising, campaign strategy, and others.
Emerge Vermont’s Municipal Bootcamp is different from the organization’s more comprehensive candidate training program. “Local elections typically involve fewer registered voters and smaller geographic areas than legislative campaigns. They generally occur on Town Meeting Day each spring, and so the campaign season is also relatively short and requires less fundraising,” Haney explained. “Our Municipal
Bootcamp will offer campaign training suited to the comparatively smaller local election cycle.”
Emerge Vermont’s deeper focus on local elections is intended to address not just representation of women in local government, but also the issues that are discussed at the table. “Women—moms, young women, women of color, and LGBTQ+ women—are not participating nearly enough in the decisions that affect our communities and our lives,” said Haney. “It’s not just representation. Important issues like spending, our school curriculums, homelessness, addiction, public safety, and so much more are topics of discussion for both selectboards and school boards. It’s essential that Democratic women are at the local government table.”
Registration is open and the cost of participation is $100 per person. Those interested can learn more at https://vt.emergeamerica.org/emerge-vermont-local/.
About Emerge Vermont
Emerge Vermont has a proven track record for getting Democratic women elected. Since the organization launched in 2013, the program has trained over 200 women in their Signature Training Program and dozens more in shorter trainings. Fifty-two percent of alums have gone on to run for political office or been appointed to local boards or commissions, and of those who have gone on to run for an elected legislative or statewide position, 39% have won including Congresswoman Becca Balint, Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas, Attorney General Charity Clark, and Speaker of the House Jill Krowinski. In the August primary 96% of alums running won their races and 81% of alums running won in November.
Nationally, Emerge has trained more than 6,000 alums since 2002—including Vice President Kamala Harris, the organization’s original alum—and currently has more than 1,200 alums in elected office across the country. The organization is committed to reaching 100,000 women of the New American Majority over the next 15 years, fostering a lift as you climb culture for women in politics, and repowering political structures.
For more information, please visit www.emergevt.org
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