CAWP's 25th annual 'Ready to Run' event brings women together to discuss political engagement

From March 17 to March 18, the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at the Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics hosted its annual Ready to Run event, a nonpartisan training program for women interested in learning about running for office, holding appointed positions and working on political campaigns. 

Jean Sinzdak, associate director of the Center for American Women and Politics and one of the lead organizers for Ready to Run, said that more than 100 women from all across New Jersey attended the event. Created in 1998, the program has trained a total of more than 5,000 women for careers in public service, she said.

"Women bring different priorities and experiences to public life, including perspectives that have been largely absent in public policymaking," she said. "Women change the way government works, and their voices are needed around the country."

Sinzdak said that the program's curriculum has remained mostly the same since its inception, but there have been updates to reflect the changing nature of political campaigning over the past several years, including the incorporation of online and digital campaigning strategies.

Additionally, she said the program has been making efforts to have an increased number of women of color run for public office, having established the Diversity Initiative in 2007.

The initiative has developed three programs committed to helping Black, Asian American and Latina women pursue public service, respectively: Run Sister Run, Rising Stars and the Elections & Leadership Latina Academy (ELLA Wins).

"Since the creation of the Diversity Initiative, fully half of participants in the New Jersey Ready to Run program have been women of color," Sinzdak said.

She said that Ready to Run's overall goal is to inspire women to run for office and ensure they have the proper resources to build a winning campaign or successful political career.

Kathryn McLamb, a second-year law student at Rutgers Law School in Newark and an attendee at this year's event, said the program fed into her interest in becoming more engaged in both governmental affairs and political campaigns.

She said her favorite aspect of the event was a luncheon keynote panel with three New Jersey Assemblywomen, Shavonda Sumter (D-35), Shama Haider (D-37) and Sadaf Jaffer (D-16).

"Hearing the three women discuss why it is critical to have diverse voices in policymaking and their own reasons for choosing to run for public office was incredibly inspiring," McLamb said.

Tina Shah, principal of TNT Health Enterprises and an attendee of the event, said her experience as a physician informed her decision to learn more about public office.

As a doctor working in an intensive care unit during the emergence of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), she observed how the pandemic made it more difficult for her patients to access insurance or schedule appointments, she said.

Shah said that she attended Ready to Run to learn more about running for office so she could improve the healthcare system at the legislative level. She said that the program helped provide resources to better understand New Jersey politics and other levels of government.

Shah also said that the energy brought into the room by the other attendees was exciting and inspiring.

"All of these women have come together to make a difference for our day-to-day lives in NJ, whether running, considering to run or raising their hands in another way," she said. "There is nothing women can't do when activated together."