The Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy is committed to promoting women's leadership and empowerment through education, information, and research. Another equally important activity of the Center is to offer opportunities for women to connect with each other and for the Center to collaborate with other women's organizations on projects that will further our mission.

A COMMITMENT TO COLLABORATION

The Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy is committed to promoting women's leadership and empowerment through education, information and research, and sustaining many opportunities for collaboration. Center staff work closely with many women's organizations and public officials, including:

• The Massachusetts Caucus of Women State Legislators
• The Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women
• Women's commissions in Boston, Cambridge, and other cities and towns
• Statewide and local groups such as the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus; the Women's Educational and Industrial Union; the YWCA Boston; the League of Women Voters, and many others
• National organizations such as the National Council for Research on Women; the Center for the American Woman in Politics; the White House Project; and the Institute for Women's Policy Research
• The Women's Center for UMass Boston students and women student leaders on campus. Another equally important activity of the Center is to offer opportunities for women to connect with each other and for the Center to collaborate with policymakers and women's organizations on projects that will further our mission

Center staff work closely with a many women's organizations and public officials, including, for example:

• The Caucus of Women State Legislators
• The Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women
• Women's commissions in Boston, Cambridge, and other cities and towns
• Statewide groups such as the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus, the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Mass Action for Women, the YWCA of Greater Boston, and many others

NEW ENGLAND WOMEN'S POLITICAL SUMMIT

Without a doubt, the New England Women's Political Summit was this year's "signature event" for the Center. The summit took place Sunday and Monday, October 26 and 27, at the Kennedy Library. On Sunday, a standing-room-only audience of 500 listened to nationally prominent women such as Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and former Governor Jane Swift discuss the challenges of women trying to break the glass ceiling of politics. We acknowledged the summit sponsors and honorary committee members (a veritable "who's who" of women leaders, including our illustrious board members) at a special reception.

We kicked off Monday's full-day program by releasing the 284-page volume, Women in New England Politics, followed by a "state of the states" panel on how women are doing politically in each of the six New England states. The bipartisan panel featured the Connecticut state treasurer, an executive councilor from New Hampshire, the former mayor of Portland, Maine, and a Rhode Island state senator as well as leading academics and activists from Massachusetts. Participants then used the information to develop targets and strategies for increasing women's political representation in each of their states.

The afternoon session opened with a panel, moderated by political reporter Janet Wu, on the challenges women face in balancing a political career and personal life. Panelists included former governors Madeleine Kunin and Jane Swift; Dale Rodgers-Marshall, President of Wheaton College; and Melba DePeña, President of the Rhode Island Latino Civic Fund. Summit participants then worked in groups to develop individual "action steps" they would take over the next six months to increase women's representation. The energy was terrific-and women committed to a wide range of actions, from running for office themselves, to taking a campaign training class, to registering women to vote. We followed up the Summit with an "I Did It!" survey to encourage women to carry out their action plans. Marie Wilson, president of the Ms Foundation for Women and the White House Project, wrapped up the event citing research showing women need to be invited to run for office. Carol Hardy-Fanta closed the first-ever regional women's political summit by telling the participants: "Consider yourselves invited!"

The New England Women's Political Summit was an important event for the Center for a number of reasons. First, it was substantive and action-oriented: women left with concrete action steps. Second, it was based on high-quality research carried out by our researchers working with students in our graduate program. Third, the summit-planning process built on existing connections- and forged new ones. Our partners included the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women, the New England Coalition of Women's Commissions, and the New England Regional Council of YWCAs. Board members Linda Brantley, Marie Turley, Nancy Ryan, and Marti Wilson- Taylor provided invaluable time and brain power in making this such a successful event. Carol Hardy-Fanta traveled to Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont to meet with constitutional officers, legislators, women's organizations, and activists. Many more women now know what we do and have a connection to our activities and graduate program. Finally, the Center received considerable publicity for the Summit, including articles in, for example, the Boston Globe; the event was also aired on WBUR.

MASSACHUSETTS FOCUS-NATIONAL REPUTATION

• On March 24, 2004, we followed up on the regional Women's Political Summit with Election 2004: What Will You Do? focusing exclusively on Massachusetts women in politics. More than 100 women were linked by videoconference across three sites: the UMass President's Office in Boston, UMass Amherst, and a UMass site in Westborough. The event was co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women, the Caucus of Women State Legislators, the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus, the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, and others. This event was a great example of women using technology for political change!
• While the Center is committed to its nonpartisan mission, the Democratic National Convention presented a "don't miss" opportunity. July 26-29 was a whirlwind of activity. We made a strong showing at former-Ambassador Swanee Hunt's "Unconventional Women" event in Cambridge and numerous receptions hosted by NOW and the National Women's Political Caucus on Monday. On Tuesday, the Center had a booth at the Revolutionary Women rally-an inspiring occasion with speeches by Sen. Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Carol Mosely-Braun and others. We were able to distribute materials about the Center and graduate program as well as connect with many women of diverse backgrounds and ages.
• Young women are an important constituent group for us. The Center played a significant role at the Young Women's Leadership Conference held at Lesley College during convention week. A remarkably diverse group of young women, including program alumnae (Katie Quinn '04), staff (Cheri Selby), and summer interns (Rubeena Lama, Tanya Powers, Mina Kim, Elana Needle, and Carly Hardy-Fanta), planned and conducted a workshop at the conference called "Creating an Effective Women's Agenda."
• Although the Center focuses primarily on Massachusetts and is increasingly extending its reputation throughout New England, we have also begun to achieve a national reputation among women's centers. We were the first university-based women's center for politics in the nation to receive a grant from the Ms Foundation to develop a national model for regional women's political summits. We hosted its founder and president, Marie Wilson, at a lunch on March 30 (Closing the Leadership Gap) that was well attended by women leaders from Greater Boston, Massachusetts, Maine, and Connecticut.
• The Center also hosted a regional meeting of the National Council for Research on Women, and Center director Carol Hardy-Fanta has been asked to serve on their national board of directors. In her capacity of co-principal investigator of the Gender and Multicultural Leadership Project (see Research), she and the other members of the research team held a meeting of executive directors of national advocacy organizations, "think tanks," and women's organizations at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, on June 10th. Participating organizations included, for example, the Center for American Women and Politics, Center for Women's Policy Studies, League of Women Voters, National Congress of Black Women, NAACP, National Asian Pacific Women's Forum, National Council for Research on Women, National Council for Negro Women, Institute for Women's Policy Research, National Women's Political Caucus, and others.

HIGH VISIBILITY: AN ACADEMIC & MEDIA PRESENCE

Aware of the importance of sustaining high visibility for the Center, Carol Hardy-Fanta provides regular political and issue commentary on television and radio, as well as in the print media. She also maintains a scholarly reputation through regular presentations at academic conferences such as the American Political Science Association. A paper coauthored with UMass professor J. Shoshanna Ehrlich on minors' reproductive rights received the Best Paper Award from the Women's Research Section of the APSA at the 2003 annual meeting.