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Announcing our new Director of Strategic Communications & Marketing, Victor Suarez

Victor Suarez

Our newest staff member, Victor Suarez (he/him) joined our team in September as our Director, Strategic Communications & Marketing! Victor is based in Pasadena, CA and for the past 7 years, has worked at the intersection of electoral campaigns, narrative strategy, and digital organizing. Before joining the re:power team, Victor was the Strategic Communications Director at California Calls, a progressive statewide alliance of community-based organizations. There he led communications campaigns in support of statewide ballot initiatives, public education campaigns, and year-round power building.

Victor began his career in communications working in the political tech space. He served as an Account Executive at NationBuilder where he worked with political campaigns and non-profits in the U.S and Latin America. And he is an alumnus of re:power’s Digital Organizing School! Victor is a proud Angeleno and the son of immigrants from Mexico. He is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He lives in Pasadena with his incredible partner and their two cats, Simba and Mochi.

August 2022 Newsletter

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July Newsletter

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Welcome Heidi Gerbracht, our new PGA Director!

Heidi Gerbracht

re:power Fund, along with our partners at Local Progress and State Innovation Exchange (SiX), are thrilled to announce our newest staff member—Heidi Gerbracht (she/they) as the Director of the Progressive Governance Academy (PGA). 

The PGA is a shared venture of three values-aligned organizations committed to training, supporting and enhancing the capacity of elected officials to govern, all while building the larger progressive movement. re:power Fund, Local Progress and SiX jointly launched the PGA in 2019 after seeing the significant and unique opportunity for the progressive movement to build infrastructure it has long been lacking: a national hub for training legislators. The program  supports newly elected leaders to successfully transition into governance and deepens the expertise of incumbents to build and strengthen the bench of leaders our country needs to ensure a thriving multiracial Democracy. 

The PGA strengthens elected officials’ capacity to govern by providing them with critical skills, training, and a supportive community of practice. Our curriculum emphasizes an organizing approach to governance, including training on skills like power mapping, relational organizing, and coalition building. We also focus significantly on models for collaborative and inclusive governance, working towards a new vision for progressives to hold and exercise governing power.  

In her new role as Director, Heidi will be leading the PGA as the project enters a new era with solidified support and infrastructure. The PGA will continue to offer meaningful training to local and state elected officials across the country and will also seek to strengthen the networks of local and state officials to work together in meaningful ways. 

“We are excited to welcome Heidi to our incredible team and know she is exactly the right leader to further cohere our shared vision and leverage our collective resources to  create the most powerful iteration of the PGA,” says Karundi Williams, Executive Director of re:power and re:power Fund. 

Welcome Heidi! We’re so excited you’re here!

“We are excited to welcome Heidi to our incredible team and know she is exactly the right leader to further cohere our shared vision and leverage our collective resources to  create the most powerful iteration of the PGA.”

Karundi Williams, re:power Executive Director

About Heidi

Heidi Gerbracht is a policy and local government expert and strategist with nearly two decades experience working on equity and justice using an intersectional approach.  Her career has involved the full spectrum of democracy, from recruitment to training to elections to policy and programs.

She founded and directed the nonprofit consultancy Equity Agenda, which works with city governments and mission-aligned nonprofits across the country using an intersectional approach to assess gender equity in their communities and to develop and implement policy and programs to achieve equity for all. Equity Agenda partnered with Mayors Innovation Project in January 2020 to launch the Women Mayors Network, which provides resources and support to nearly 200 diverse women mayors from cities of every size across the country. Previously, she developed, launched, and managed a successful national environmental health program called Bright Cities and was a public servant at the City of Austin in various capacities for nearly a decade where she spearheaded successful passage of several progressive policies that were the first of their kind nationally.

She is a past Board Chair of Annie’s List, an organization that recruits, trains, and elects progressive women who support abortion rights at the state and local level in Texas. Her leadership as Board Chair resulted in the organization’s Board of Directors surpassing fifty percent representation for women of color for the first time in the organization’s history, better reflecting the Texas population. Annie’s List also hired its first Black woman Executive Director during her Board Chair tenure, and their partnership created the space for Annie’s List to be the powerful multiracial coalition that it now is. Heidi is also the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, a state-driven national organization that builds power and sustains a young people’s movement for reproductive justice by centering the leadership of young people of color who are women, queer, trans, nonbinary, and people of low-income.   

Heidi has trained candidates for local office as well as current local officeholders, and regularly serves as a campaign consultant for city-level candidates who are part of the New American Majority: women, people of color, young people, and LGBT candidates in particular.

Heidi holds a Masters in Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs and a B.A. in International Relations from American University’s School of International Service.  She lives in Austin Texas.

Statement on the overturning of Roe v. Wade

Today, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) overturned the 1973 decision of Roe v. Wade, the decision which protected the right to abortion in this country. Justice Alito makes it clear what he hopes to do with this decision—to reset our country, back to a time that is aligned with the “history and traditions” of our nation. In fact, in multiple places throughout his opinion, Justice Alito refers to this notion. He says that in determining today’s ruling, the Court asked itself “whether the right [to abortion] is ‘deeply rooted in [our] history and tradition’ and whether it is essential to our Nation’s ‘scheme of ordered liberty.’” 

Why am I focused on Justice Alito’s insistence that we adhere to the traditions and history of our nation? Because what Justice Alito is really saying is that he, and many others who want to deny our bodily autonomy, are seeking a country in which white supremacy and patriarchy remain intact. A country in which control of our bodies is not our own. The same country that supported the enslavement and torture of Black bodies.

What we know is that the history and traditions of this country are racist and sexist. We know that the history and traditions of this country limited the liberties and freedom of anyone who was not a white cis-male. And we know that this country and its “democracy” were built to give order to the systems of white supremacy and patriarchy—it is this same “scheme of ordered liberty” which Alito argues does not protect the right to abortion. 

Today’s decision was not a surprise—we knew this was the goal. It feels scary and bad. So, so bad—especially for women of color, non-binary and gender non-conforming people of color, poor people, and anyone who lives at the intersections of marginalization based on race, gender, sexuality, and class. The impact of losing the right to abortion is directly related to losing our rights to bodily autonomy and losing access to so many supports, like compassionate healthcare, that allow us to live full and free lives. 

But I also know that for people like me who live at the intersections of race and gender—Black women and other women of color, Indigenous and Native women, trans and non-binary people of color—our rights have never felt secure in this country. Even when we see progress, we immediately hear the distant roar of those who are coming to take it away. And I’m certain that more attacks on our rights are on their way, as illustrated by Justice Thomas’ reference to the Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell decisions. 

I started my morning not thinking about SCOTUS, but instead reflecting on an incredible thing that happened this week: our first Women of Color Leadership cohort in-person kick-off in Baltimore, MD. 32 incredible women of color leaders came together to begin a journey in which they will deepen their leadership, their understanding of themselves and of each other. All of these women work daily in service of their communities. They are our future leaders. They are my seeds of hope.

Women of Color Leadership Cohort, Baltimore, MD

Today’s decision placed an ominous gray cloud over all of us. We must seek out the rays of sunshine that break through the clouds and stand in that warmth whenever we can. 

I won’t deny that the fight ahead of us will be hard, but we’ve been in this fight for longer than we think. Our ancestors were fighting this fight and our descendants may have to continue it. And in that timeline, there is still so much that we can accomplish together.

Statement on Leaked SCOTUS Opinion

Like many of you, we were up late reading and reacting to the leaked draft Supreme Court majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization which appears to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. 

If true, it appears the court is prepared to make one of our biggest fears a reality: an end to the constitutional right to choose. 

We are filled with frustration, anger, and sadness at what this leaked document could mean for the future. But let’s make one thing clear: this is a leaked draft opinion, not a final order of the Court. As of today, our right to choose is still legal. 

And, if this does go on to become the Court’s decision, know this: the fight is not over.

If the leaked document is to be believed, this issue will be kicked back to the states. State and local organizing and elections will become more important than ever.

Our partners in the reproductive justice space have been preparing for this moment, and we are here to support them, state by state, by training and supporting them and their leaders on the ground working to protect our right to choose.  

From our rights to protest and vote, to our right to love and live how we choose, we are seeing our basic human rights methodically stripped away. 

Now is not the time to give up. Instead, we must band together, build power in the states and at the federal level, and do all we can to build a true democracy that serves us all. 

Ways to join this fight:

  • Get acquainted with the rights you have in your state constitution and how they can be strengthened. This is where the fight is going. 
  • Get engaged in state elections for legislators and governors and weigh in. This is where the power will be. 
  • Get to know your state supreme courts and the laws that protect them from being taken over by the opponents of democracy. This is where the buck stops.  
  • State courts are the umpires in this high stakes game. We need qualified justices who reflect the people they serve. If you’re from a state that elects judges, vote!