NEWPORT BEACH – National Women’s Political Caucus of California (www.nwpcca.org) President Teray Stephens of Newport Beach and Vice President of Education Val Muchowski of Philo, Mendocino County, will represent the state at the Women’s Appointment Project training in Cambridge, Mass., on May 21 and 22.
The goal is to get gubernatorial candidates across the country to pledge to appoint women to 50 percent of high-level state government positions and to appoint a high-level liaison from their administrations to work with the Women’s Appointments Project on an ongoing basis after the election.
“With the upcoming reapportionment of elected seats, California’s governor, elected Nov. 2, will make over 3,000 appointments,” said NWPC-CA President Teray Stephens. “Fifty percent of those appointments should go to qualified women.”
“NWPC-CA will partner with organizations representing political, business, professional, academic, government and non-profit groups,” said Val Muchowski, vice president of education. “We will communicate with group members, many of whom are highly qualified women who can begin to think about applying for positions and submitting their resumes to the Women’s Appointments Project.”
Women’s Appointment Project is funded by the Political Parity Project of the Hunt Alternatives Fund at the behest of former Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey. Lt. Gov. Healey worked closely with the successful Women’s Appointment Project (MassGAP) conducted in Massachusetts in 2002 and 2006
Lt. Gov. Healey recognized the project’s value in increasing the number of women in high-level appointed positions in state government and shared her experience with Ambassador Swanee Hunt whose foundation is covering the expansion to ten states during the 2010 election cycle.
NWPC-CA President Stephens is committed to women and progressive causes. She sits on the national and state board of the National Women’s Political Caucus, and previously chaired Southern California Women for Kerry, was a founding member of the SoCal Grassroots organization where she chaired the women’s group, and was a board member, fundraiser, and organizer for the Young Women’s Leadership Conference.
She also provided financial and outreach support for numerous campaigns including those for Hillary Clinton, Debra Bowen, Julia Brownley and other leading progressive female leaders.
NWPC-CA Vice President Muchowski has been involved in politics since 1980 and is dedicated to seeing women serve in public office regardless of political party.
She is NWPC Mendocino chapter president and state education and training vice president. She previously served as Northern California regional director and political action vice president.
Muchowski conducts Women’s Leadership and Low-Budget Campaign trainings and works to elect Mendocino County women to local positions including board of supervisors, district attorney and treasurer-tax collector.
NWPC-CA is a multi-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to increasing women’s participation in the political process and creating a political power base designed to achieve equality for all women.
For more information, see www.nwpcca.org. Following NWPC-CA on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/susanne.lafaver?ref=profile#!/group.php?gid=30681682507&ref=ts and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/nwpcca.