Dear John,

This week marks the one-year anniversary of my time as President of Emerge. And as I look back on the last year — the things we’ve accomplished and the progress we’ve made — I couldn’t be more proud of this organization and all we have accomplished.

2020 was full of challenges, from the COVID-19 pandemic to escalating racial injustice, and a chaotic administration. But this organization and our amazing team rose to the occasion, continued to expand our work and we grew stronger everyday. Less than two months into my tenure, Emerge moved quickly to pivot its training programs to a virtual setting. Because of our fast transition work, we were on the leading edge of candidate training innovation last year, from shifting our state-based programs online to offering specialty training courses to helping candidates adjust their campaigns to a socially distant environment.

In November, we celebrated so many trailblazing wins. More than 400 women won their races at every level of government, from school board to state legislature and Congress, giving us a 59% win-rate. These wins include notable firsts, women moving up the pipeline to higher office, and women flipping seats from red to blue. To date, Emerge has trained more than 4,100 women to run, currently has 962 alums in elected office across the country and we have 27 state affiliates, including our two newest, Emerge Texas and Emerge Georgia.

We also celebrated our 15-year anniversary in 2020 and recommitted to our mission to change the face of politics and build a more reflective and equitable democracy. As our organization moves onto the next chapter and we build on our incredible successes, we have set big goals and a clear vision. In the next 15 years, we will train 100,000 New American Majority women — Black, Brown and Indigenous women and women of color, as well as LGBTQ+, young, and unmarried women — from all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and the U.S. territories. We will expand our network and continue to nurture a lift as you climb strategy and culture so that women are pulling each other up to higher office. And we will expand our recruitment strategy from state legislatures and key state and local offices to include influential appointed positions.

I want to thank all of our incredible supporters who have helped us get to this moment. I hope you will join me, and the full Emerge Network, as we continue to reimagine what our leaders, government, and policies can look like. Please help us start our next 15 years strong by making a special contribution today.

As I head into my second year as president of this organization, I am more confident than ever that we can accomplish anything we set our sights on. Join us for this incredible journey.

Onward, A'shanti F. Gholar