• Presidential Candidates
• Rep. Loretta Sanchez
• Rep. Jan Schakowsky
• Rebecca Walker
• Elayne Boosler
• Rep. Barbara Lee
• Rep. Chris Van Hollen
• Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton
• Sandy Rapp
• Speakers at the Leadership in the 21st Century forum

Rep. Loretta Sanchez

Rep. Loretta Sanchez of California was elected to Congress in 1996 by defeating "B-1 Bob" Dornan in an upset victory, and re-elected to her current fourth term in November 2002 with 60 percent of the vote. In 2002 her sister Linda Sanchez also won a seat in the U.S. House, making them the first "Sister Act" in Congress.

Sanchez is a strong supporter of women's rights and civil rights and has distinguished herself as a fighter by battling to restore reproductive rights to military women serving their country overseas and working to save our national gender equity in education programs.

Among her many affiliations, Sanchez is a member of the Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, the Women's Congressional Caucus and the Older Americans Caucus. Sanchez is the ranking woman of the House Armed Services Committee and was selected by Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to serve as the third ranking Democrat of the Select Committee for Homeland Security.

As a businesswoman, Sanchez started her own financial consulting business and was a president of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs. She attended Chapman University, in Orange, California, where she was selected in January 2002 to serve as the university's first Latina member of the Board of Trustees.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky

Jan Schakowsky was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives after serving for eight years in the Illinois State Assembly. Schakowsky, who serves on the House Democratic Leadership team as Chief Deputy Whip, is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, where she works to accomplish her top priority in Congress—providing universal healthcare coverage for all.

A citizen advocate, grassroots organizer and elected public official, Schakowsky has fought throughout her career for women's reproductive freedom; for economic and social justice and improved quality of life for all; for an end to violence against women; and for a national investment in healthcare, public education and housing needs. Schakowsky is an active member of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and is a champion of expanding our nation's hate crime laws.

Prior to her election to Congress, Schakowsky served in the Illinois General Assembly for eight years, where she was a Democratic Floor Leader and Secretary of the Conference of Women Legislators. As Director of the Illinois State Council of Senior Citizens from 1985-1990, she organized across the state for lower cost prescription drugs for seniors, financial protection for the spouses of nursing home residents and other benefits for the elderly.

Rebecca Walker

An author and activist, Rebecca Walker publishes widely and is the co-founder of the Third Wave Foundation, the only national, activist, philanthropic organization for young women aged 15-30.

Walker was born in 1969 in Jackson, Mississippi, to parents deeply committed to the civil rights movement. Her mother, Alice Walker, would become a Pulitzer Prize winning writer, and her father, Mel Leventhal, would continue his work as a civil rights lawyer seeking equal protection for all people.

In her most recent book, Black White and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self, Walker writes poignantly about the challenges and blessings of growing up biracial. She attended Yale University and graduated Cum Laude in May 1992.

After college, she founded Third Wave Direct Action Corporation, a national non-profit organization devoted to cultivating young women's leadership and activism. In their first summer, Third Wave initiated an historic emergency youth drive that registered over 20,000 new voters in inner cities across the United States.

In 1998, this organization became the Third Wave Foundation. Walker's message of positive activism is delivered through her speaking, organizing, and writing. Her work is a declaration of the power of young women to create their own lives and shape their own vision for the future.

Rep. Barbara Lee

NOW is presenting its annual Woman of Courage Award to U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee for her fearless support of women's rights, civil liberties and peace. In 2001, Lee cast the lone vote against authorizing George W. Bush to unilaterally use "all necessary and appropriate force" against accused terrorists post-Sept. 11. After her powerful speech on the House floor, Lee received threats against her life, leading the Capitol Police to guard her round the clock.

Lee was first elected to the House of Representatives for the Ninth District of California in 1998. She is currently the Co-Chair of the Progressive Caucus, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Task Force on Global HIV/AIDS, Whip for the CBC and a member of the CBC Minority Business Task Force. Lee came to Washington after serving in the California State Assembly from 1990-1996 and the California State Senate from 1996-1998.

Throughout her political career, Barbara Lee has sought to bring her training as a social worker to bear on the problems and challenges that confront her district and the nation. She has worked to build bipartisan coalitions to provide for the basic and inter-related needs of Americans: health care, housing, education, jobs, and the quest to create livable communities in a peaceful world. Lee has been a leading advocate on such issues as HIV/AIDS and universal health care.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen

A longtime NOW member, Chris Van Hollen was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 8th District in November 2002. Van Hollen serves on the Committee for Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Government Reform. He is also the vice chair of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus.

Prior to his election to Congress, Van Hollen served in the Maryland General Assembly from 1991 to 2002, four years in the House of Delegates and eight years in the State Senate where he was vice chair of the Budget and Taxation Committee and chair of the Health and Human Services Subcommittee. During his service in the Maryland legislature, he fought for the full range of women's rights in the state and always paid special attention to the plight of low-income women. Van Hollen authored landmark education funding legislation, the Patient Protection Act, the Clean Energy Incentives Act, the Chesapeake Bay Protection Act and was a key leader in the passage of Maryland's gun safety law. He played a pivotal role in expanding the Maryland Purchase of Care program, which provided much needed childcare subsidies. Van Hollen was a co-sponsor and floor leader for Maryland's Anti-Discrimination Act, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton

Eleanor Holmes Norton is now in her seventh term as the Congresswoman for the District of Columbia. Named by President Jimmy Carter as the first woman to chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Norton came to Congress as a national figure who had been a civil rights and feminist leader, tenured professor of law and board member of three Fortune 500 companies.

Norton's work on behalf of full congressional voting representation for the people of the District of Columbia continues her lifelong struggle for universal human rights. She has served in the Democratic House leadership group and as the Democratic chair of the Women's Caucus.

Norton continues as a tenured professor of law at Georgetown University. After receiving her bachelor degree from Antioch College in Ohio, she simultaneously earned her law degree as well as a masters degree in American Studies from Yale. Yale Law School has awarded her the Citation of Merit as an Outstanding Alumna, and Yale Graduate School has awarded her the Yale Wilbur Cross Medal as an Outstanding Alumna. She is the recipient of more than 50 honorary degrees.

Norton has served on the board of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Board of Governors of the D.C. Bar Association, as well as the boards of civil rights, and other national organizations.

Sandy Rapp

Saturday 10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Leadership in the 21st Century

Rebecca Walker will kick off this plenary session on the challenges facing us as feminist leaders in this new century, and will be joined by a diverse panel of NOW leaders from across the country to discuss opportunities, insights and obstacles to leading this grassroots movement for change.

Panelists:

Tobi Hale, Colorado NOW President, NOW Disability Rights Committee member, former National NOW Board member

Latifa Lyles, DC NOW Co-President (Washington, DC), National NOW Board member, former NOW Action Center staff

Eleanor Smeal, President and Founder, Feminist Majority Foundation, Co-Chair of the NOW Advisory Committee, past NOW President, past Pennsylvania NOW President

Matthew Stafford, Tennessee NOW Board member, former Vice President of Knoxville NOW

Olga E. Vives, NOW Action Vice-President, former Chair of NOW's Lesbian Rights Committee, past Action VP of Illinois NOW, past Great Lakes Regional Director

Nitche Ward, President of North Carolina Central University NOW in Durham.

Kathleen Watanabe, Administrative Vice-President, California NOW

Moderator: Megan Seely, California NOW President, Co-Chair National Board Inter-generational Partnership Committee