Running Start

The Congressional Fellowship includes a semester-long internship with a Member of Congress and a week of intense training and networking in Washington DC. Congressional Fellows practice real-world campaign skills through a campaign simulation and get weekly training on how to run for office from mentors and alums. Since 2009 185+ Congressional Fellows have interned in the offices of 95+ Members of Congress. Walmart is the founding partner of the Congressional Fellowship and has provided $2,500,000+ of funding.

Elect Her is a daylong training for college women on how to run for student government and beyond. Each year 50 Elect Her trainings are held around the country. Since 2009 500+ Elect Her trainings have been held in 43 states and 10 countries with 180+ partners for 20,000+ participants.

The HBCU Women Leaders Summit brings together politically ambitious women for a two day training each fall. Each year 50-75 emerging leaders from 25+ different HBCUs attend the training in Washington DC. The HBCU Women Leaders Summit has been hosted since 2020 in partnership with Xceleader an organization cofounded by Running Start alum Jade Agudosi.

Next Step was a Running Start program for young professional women in 2010. This year Running Start has revamped Next Step as a pilot program for 20 Running Start alums to give them additional training and leadership opportunities. Next Step pilot participants received monthly training on how to run for office served as leaders and mentors in other programs and attended international conferences.