We love to celebrate the accomplishments of our LSPP team members--especially when that includes graduating from a higher education program! This semester, we had three team members graduate from their respective programs. Help us in conGRADulating them as they enter their next chapter of life.
Olivia Alvarado Olivia graduated with a Bachelors in Urban & Regional Planning from Texas A&M University. She is moving to Fort Worth to pursue a position that works with local government development in the area. Olivia is a Research Assistant for Lone Star Parity Project. Rachel Herrera Rachel Herrera graduate with a Bachelors of Science in Communication Studies from Texas Christian University. She is currently working full-time at a brain injury rehabilitation center in Fort Worth. Rachel is the Feature Editor for Lone Star Parity Project. Katie Hicken Katie Hicken graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Political Science from the University of Texas at Tyler. She recently started a job at a law firm in Dallas. Katie also has plans to one day receive a Master in Public Administration and attend law school. Katie is a Contributor, covering East Texas and North Texas, for Lone Star Parity Project.  Lone Star Parity Project is pleased to announce our partnership with Moms Running, a champion of redefining motherhood in politics.
What is Moms Running? Moms Running is a champion of redefining motherhood in politics. We foster an educational and empowering community of moms seeking entry into the political arena. We are dedicated to increasing the political engagement of moms at every level of the political landscape, from campaign staff to Congressional candidate. Moms Running is reframing the conversation surrounding motherhood and constructing a variety of resources for moms to both internalize and externalize their own motherhood as an asset when running for office. We pull from the heroes of the past to help lift up the everyday heroes who will lead us in the future. Founded by two former mom-candidates, Danielle Davies and Rielly Karsh, Moms Running provides free resources as well as multiple skill level trainings both online and in person, and one-on-one coaching opportunities. The trainings offered by Moms Running differ from and enhance other well-known political trainings. While other trainings focus on the nuts and bolts of a campaign, ours focuses first on translating motherhood-oriented skills to the political playing field, giving you the confidence and skills to hit the ground running, even if you're pushing a stroller. Learn more about Moms Running below: Website: https://www.moms-running.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MomsRunningforOffice/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/moms_running Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/momsrunningforoffice/ We are proud to announce that we have partnered with the Jindal OutREACH program at the University of Texas at Dallas through their Jindal School of Management. Jindal OutREACH is a volunteer program that places current students at UT Dallas with local non-profits in North Texas to provide services as a requirement of their degree. Meet our JindalOutREACH volunteers for Spring 2019:
 Lone Star Parity Project is pleased to announce our partnership with Chicas de Chuco, a local organization that works to provide El Paso women with resources/opportunities to help them become effective leaders.
What is Chicas de Chuco? Chicas De Chuco is an online, social media based organization that is committed to providing resources for El Paso women interested in careers in politics. We strive to uplift El Paso women with the intention of helping them become effective agents of change in the community, state, and in the nation. It is through our platform that we hope to shed light on volunteer opportunities, job opportunities, internships, and other experiences available for women in the community to partake in. Learn more about Chicas de Chuco below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChicasDeChuco/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chicasdechuco/ Lone Star Parity Project is officially on AmazonSmile. If you have an Amazon account, select Lone Star Parity Project as your chosen charity. With your help, .5% of your transactions will be donated to our organization at no cost to you! Signing up for AmazonSmile does not increase the cost of your items - it simply adds to the amount you donate annually.
How to Select "Lone Star Parity Project" as your charity for AmazonSmile 1. Sign into Amazon 2. Visit your settings and select "Amazon Smile" 3. Search for "Lone Star Parity Project" in the Select Your Charity box Or follow this link: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/83-1288107  One of our Founders, Brooke López, was featured on How She Got Here podcast where she discussed her passion for Texas politics and the importance of active representation in elected office. Check out the podcast here.
How She Got Here is a podcast sharing conversations with everyday extraordinary women, hosted by Susan Byrnes Long. We featured Susan this past year for her dedication to women in leadership. Read her feature here.
 Picture courtesy of Make Muse One of our Founders, Brooke López, was featured by Make Muse. In this publication, Brooke shared never-before-heard insight regarding her path into politics - beginning with her aspirations of dentistry. From her personal outlook, Brooke provides readers with inspirational anecdotes and powerful details of her life, leading to the founding of the Lone Star Parity Project.
Read Brooke's feature with Make Muse here: https://www.makemuse.online/content/read/after-my-friend-was-murdered-i-decided-to-ditch-dentistry-plans-in-exchange-for-a-career-in-politics?rq=brooke  Picture courtesy of On the Dot Woman Our Founders, Brooke López and Adrianna Maberry, were featured by On the Dot Woman. The article discusses Brooke's journey into politics, beginning at age 15 and catapulting into full-swing by age 18 when she ran for public office. The article also dived into Adrianna's unique ability to extract important political data points, particularly when she worked with the City of Dallas.
Check out this article and SHARE with your networks! https://onthedotwoman.com/woman/brooke-lopez-and-adrianna-maberry  Nearly two decades after the first-coined “Year of the Woman” in 1992, 2018 brought the largest surge of women and femme candidates than ever before. 2018 marked the dawn of a new era for women in politics - particularly in Texas. The Lone Star state was among many states to reach an insurmountable level of “firsts” during the most recent election cycle. The 2018 midterm election was guided by a new, non-partisan approach from voters in Texas that promoted the growth of democracy. Over fifteen million Texans were registered to vote for the election this past November 6th - the most registered voters that the state has ever seen. Texans elected their first Latinas to Congress: Congresswomen Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia. The first same-spouse couple entered the Texas Legislative Ladies club after the election of State Representative Julie Johnson. The Texas Legislature formed its first LGBT Caucus, dedicated to active representation of the LGBT community in the policy making process. There were nine state- and federal-level seats that witnessed head-to-head women campaigns, giving each seat a 100% chance of a woman being elected. Harris County received national attention after the election of nineteen African-American women judges, creating a phenomenal, history-making bench. Finally, Texas became the new unofficial swing state of the country, bringing Texas politics into a new, nationwide scope.
As 2018 progressed, so did the growth of the Lone Star Parity Project. We built our own database from the ground up, capturing data points that have never been aggregated before. We launched our first voting campaign for the midterms that introduced a non-partisan voter education headquarters, including tools to find polling locations, voting rights resources, and up-to-date news streams from the Secretary of State. And we’re continuing this momentum into 2019 by releasing our first in-house research report on the 2018 general election cycle. We interviewed over fifty incredible women and femmes, sharing the stories of student activists, elected officials, campaign gurus, and political icons alike. We shared the story of Amy Sharp, one of only five women to serve as Student Body President for Texas A&M University within its 72-year history. We wrote about Judge Jennifer Edgeworth, the woman who recently tipped the scales of parity in favor of women for Collin County’s District Court bench. We heard from Honorable Jess Herbst, one of the first openly-transgender women to serve as a mayor in Texas. We detailed the journeys of Texan women who analyze politics through blog outlets like Terri Broussard Williams, founder of #TheMovementMakerTribe; Susan Byrnes Long, founder of the How She Got Here podcast; and Emily Jackson, founder of the She’s Running Podcast. And we would be remiss to say we did it alone. We have built an Affiliate Network of fourteen incredibly talented organizations (and counting!) who are dedicated to building political parity in Texas. Our team of almost twenty members have worked diligently to bring you accurate research and compelling stories. We cheered on our team members as they reached incredibly milestones like beginning law school, graduating from undergraduate & graduate school, successfully defending research theses, and securing key stakeholder roles, all while driving this movement forward. The state of the Texas woman is far from perfect - but we are making great strides towards equity in the political sphere. As 2019 enters, we prepare ourselves for the marathon that is activism. We will continue to answer the call for political parity in Texas. |
