FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 2016
CONTACT: Allison Abney
allison@emergeamerica.org;
(202) 670-7994
Moms Demand Action Founder Shannon Watts Joins Emerge America National Board
San Francisco, Calif.—Emerge America, the nation’s leading organization for recruiting and training women to run for office, announced today that it has appointed Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action on Gun Sense in America, to its national board of directors. Watts brings with her years of experience managing her nationally-known organization and vast knowledge in communications, marketing and social media. In her new role, she will work with existing board members to advise on strategic planning, expand the organization’s major partnerships and enhance its fundraising capacity.
“My organization’s work to demand reasonable gun reforms from legislators and Emerge America’s mission to get more Democratic women elected to office are a match made in heaven,” said Watts. “Emerge’s training program already includes the Democratic Party platform, which includes common-sense firearm policies. It’s also proven that women are more likely than men to support the kinds of legislation that Moms Demand Action promotes, such as stricter laws governing gun sales. It’s easy to see why this is a perfect pairing. I’m thrilled to lend my skills and abilities to Emerge and am committed to helping the organization reach its greatest heights.”
Watts is a renowned gun issues activist, grassroots organizer and communications expert who played an integral part in bringing practical firearms reform to the forefront of our national conversation. The day after the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings in 2012, Watts sparked a revolution when she started a Facebook page for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. That online conversation turned into a movement of American mothers fighting for public safety measures that respect the Second Amendment and protect people from gun violence. Today, Moms Demand Action has established a chapter in every state of the country and is part of Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country with more than 2 million members and more than 38,000 donors.
“Shannon’s expertise in online and community organizing, as well as her experience cultivating and running a leading organization are a great addition to the Emerge America team,” said Andrea Dew Steele, president and founder of Emerge America. “Shannon shares our organization’s commitment to amplifying the voices of women and helping them get to a place where they can affect real change on issues. And her work building Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America into a force in the gun issues movement is an amazing feat that required tremendous perseverance and remarkable skill. We’re incredibly happy to add her to our board, and can’t wait to put all of her talents to use.”
Since it was founded in 2002, Emerge America has trained more than 2,000 Democratic women to run for office across 16 states. To date, more than half of the organization’s alumnae have run for political office or been appointed to local boards or commissions, and 70 percent of those who have run for office have won. What’s more, the organization is committed to seeing diversity in our decision-making bodies—39 percent of the organization’s graduates are women of color.
To learn more about Emerge America, please visit http://www.emergeamerica.org.