Established. Elite. Entrenched.
There are many ways to describe the politicians still running things at every level of U.S. government. There are also many things we can do about changing this stale paradigm. (One of them is to vote on May 17.)
On Monday, May 9, 5:30 to 7pm, The Philadelphia Citizen will gather four agents of political change to talk about inspiring, building, supporting — and becoming — a new generation of elected leaders. Meet us at the Fitler Club ballroom for an inspiring exchange of ideas.
Join us for this free event, Citizen executive editor Roxanne Patel Shepalavy will lead a conversation between the audience and:
- Amanda Litman, co-founder and co-executive director of Run for Something, a nonprofit that recruits young, diverse candidates for office. Litman has also worked for Hillary Clinton, Charlie Crist and Barack Obama. She is the author of Run for Something, a Real-Talk Guide to Fixing the System Yourself, the host of both the podcast by the same name and the podcast Battleground.
- Isaiah Thomas, Philadelphia City Council Member At-Large, graduate of the News Leaders Council, champion of civic education, proponent of rent stabilization, opponent of policing by racial profiling and a longtime youth basketball coach.
- State Representative Joanna McClinton, Democratic leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the highest-ranking African American and woman and Black woman to serve in the General Assembly’s 244-year history. Representative McClinton is a former public defender and current champion of people wrongly accused of crimes, proponent of universal pre-K, advocate for state participation in indigent defense, and a staunch supporter of job opportunities for all.
- Scranton’s Mayor Paige Cognetti, is an Independent who ran for and won her office with the unofficial campaign slogan “Paige Against the Machine” and, like McClinton, is the first woman to serve in her role. Cognetti was a staffer in Obama’s Treasury Department, earned an MBA from Harvard, graduated from Philly’s New Leaders Council, and is committed to pragmatic reform, education, infrastructure and local businesses investment.
This event is free — and essential to anyone ready for leadership change that starts right here, right now.
