Women Innovating Labor Leadership (WILL) Empower is a bold and ambitious new initiative to identify, nurture, train, and convene a new generation of women labor leaders. WILL Empower employs a broad, multi-pronged approach that interfaces with women on multiple levels and through interwoven programs.
WILL Empower is a national program, jointly housed at Rutgers University’s Center for Innovation in Worker Organization in the School of Management and Labor Relations in New Jersey and Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor in Washington, DC. It is the legacy project of the Berger-Marks Foundation. We proudly introduce WILL Empower's Advisory Council. View our council members. Read more about the WILL Empower initiative via The American Prospect and visit the WILL Empower website.
Our programs include:
- Innovative Women Fellowships
- Cohorts of Collective Learning and Mentoring
- Apprenticeship Program
The Future is Now: WE Executive Leadership Cohort 2023-24
On June 5th, CIWO closed out the WILL Empower Executive Leaders Cohort Program for 2023-24. These leaders, who gathered from unions and worker justice organizations from across the nation and especially representing the South, now join the full WE network of emerging leaders, apprentices, mentors, awardees and many other friends of WILL Empower. They gathered in-person for two retreats and participated in numerous activities including exclusive webinars, coaching, and other network wide events. They join a growing network of women, nonbinary, trans and gender-expansive leaders who promote relationship-building and transformative visionary leadership practices for new and non-traditional leaders. A participant remarked, "I was struck by how many of us are grappling with the same issues. It was both comforting and troubling to know I am not alone." Leadership is a practice, and we believe that with a WILL Empower crew, you never have to be alone in your leadership. Special thank you to the brilliant folks at Workshop, Robin Katcher, and Chalene Jones.
Learn more here: https://www.willempower.org/
2023 – 2024
Executive Leaders Profiles
Our new executive cohort for the 2023-2024 year is HERE!!!
Check out our website to learn more about these leaders that will be coming together to drive labor leadership forward in innovative and unique ways.
> View the Executive Leaders Profiles
2021 Womxn's Labor Leadership Symposium
The inaugural WILL Empower Womxn's Labor Leadership Symposium was held virtually on September 30 and October 1. The symposium amplified the groundbreaking work that womxn leaders in the WILL Empower network and across worker justice movements are engaged in. Participants had the opportunity to connect with others around key questions that we are all grappling with in this moment, and discussed important topics such as transformational leadership; leading in complex times; innovative organizing strategies, and much more!
Latest Updates
- CIWO Partners with CAWP for Womxn Political Directors Convening May 2022
From May 22nd – May 24th, 2022, past and current Political Directors and labor activists gathered at Rutgers University. CIWO partnered with the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at the Rutgers University Eagleton Institute. Leaders from the following worker justice organizations were in attendance: SEIU 503, United Working Families, Chicago Teachers Union, Washington State Labor Council, The Workers Institute at Cornell University, SEIU 2015, SEIU International, Detroit Action, the Institute for Policy Studies, the NYC Central Labor Council, and AFSCME. > Click Here to Read More
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Black Womxn Demands: A Dialogue Series - January 27th - Black Political Power featuring Angela Lang (Executive Director, BLOC) and Dr. Melanye Price (Endowed Professor, Prairie View A&M). REGISTER HERE: http://bit.ly/BlackWomxnDemands4
For more on BlackWomxnDemands and watch past dialogues, click here.
- WATCH: Black Women's Equal Pay Day on WUSA9 News with Sheri Davis, Hazel-Anne Johnson-Marcus, and Tami Lee: 'If it's not uncomfortable, you're not doing diversity, equity or inclusion."
- READ: Sheri Davis quoted in Vanity Fair about police unions: “A union is supposed to protect the rights, and the labor movement is supposed to protect the rights, of all working people..."
- READ: An interview with Sheri Davis on "5 steps that each of us can take to proactively help heal our country."
- READ: Black Women Demand Reparations & the Right to Live Free by WILL Empower Co-Director Sheri Davis
- The inaugural Executive Leaders Cohort convened for a closing two-day virtual retreat in September 2020. The retreat kicked off with grounding and resilience practices and capped off with a virtual reception commemorating the Executive Leaders' transition to the greater WILL Empower network of change-making leaders. Sessions focused on the future of work in the time of COVID, current racial uprising, election scenario planning, and experimental & innovative leadership practices.
- Executive Leadership Virtual Learning Sessions:
- Session 1: Leading in Complex, Unprecedented Times (April 28, 2020) featured how movement leaders can adapt to meet the opportunities presented by this moment. Facilitated by Robin Katcher & Sheri Davis.
- Session 2: Financial Planning (May 28, 2020) featured a panel of current and former WILL Empower Advisory Council members: Aleyamma Mathew, Executive Director Collective Future Fund, Princess Moss, NEA Secretary-Treasurer, Laine Romero-Alston, Senior Program Officer Open Society Fund, Sara Steffens, CWA Secretary-Treasurer.
- Session 3: Moving Big Policy (July 14, 2020) featured a panel of former Obama Administration labor leaders: Mary Beth Maxwell (Strategist and Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Dept. of Labor), Sarita Gupta (Director of Ford Foundation's Future of Work(ers) Program & WILL Empower Advisory Council Member), Ai Jen Poo (Director of National Domestic Workers Alliance and co-founder of Caring Across Generations), Jocelyn Frye (Senior Fellow with Center for American Progress), and Shilpa Phadke (Vice Present of the Women's Initative with the Center for American Progress).
- READ: COVID-19 is a Perfect Storm for Women Workers by WILL Empower Co-Director Lane Windham
- The WILL Empower communities of learning and practice came together in March 2020 to share strategies about leading during the stressful COVID-19 pandemic. Apprentices, Emerging Leaders, and Executive Leaders joined video conferences with their respective communities of learning & practice to share solidarity and insight into the balance of leading at their organizations and as caregivers in their families. Leaders were eager to share their organization's resources for communication and policy in this time of upheaval, as well as personal, grounding sources for keeping mentally & emotionally well when there is so much out of our control. Participants expressed gratitude and relief at connecting with other leaders who are persevering in a similar professional role. CIWO is glad to be able to create these spaces for leaders to connect and thrive, even in uncertainty.
Programs
Innovative Women Fellowships
The fellowship program invites applications from activists who need time and support to develop new ideas for advancing social and economic justice in today’s transforming economy, especially on issues that impact women workers and organizing. The program will leverage university resources to enrich the fellowships, and includes a stipend and robust mentoring support. The fellowships will run from three to four months.
Cohorts of Collective Learning and Mentoring
WILL Empower will build new cohorts of learning among two groups of women involved in labor and economic justice organizations: next-generation leaders in early stages of their work life and experienced women ready to advance. The experienced cohort is designed to build a pipeline for senior leadership roles in unions and other worker justice organizations. Both groups will benefit from individualized leadership plans, cohort gatherings, a dynamic mentorship program, and curated trainings. There will be multiple cohort classes taking place throughout the program. For more information on joining our WILL Empower cohorts, contact willempower.labor[at]gmail.com.
Apprenticeship Program
The apprenticeship program is a recruitment and on-ramp platform for staff positions; it is designed to seed the movement by steering promising candidates toward labor work at an early career stage. Though there are a number of internship programs available to college students, recent graduates or people who did not go to college often have difficulty entering staff positions. The early-job programs that do exist tend to focus only on organizing.
We are accepting applications for the Apprenticeship program until May 15, 2020. Click here to apply!
WILL Empower will recruit recent college graduates and rank-and-file activists and place them in staff apprenticeships with unions and worker organizations in a range of capacities, such as in policy, research, communications, organizing, politics and civil and human rights. The apprentices will receive strong mentoring and support, and will participate in the learning cohort. The apprenticeship will run from three to twelve months. To become or host a WILL Empower apprentice at your organization, contact willempower.labor@gmail.com.
