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The women who lead democracy reform

Sara Bonk, Jackie Salit, Justine Williams

While women remain significantly underrepresented in government, there is at least one adjacent field in which they have achieved gender parity in leadership: the universe of democracy reform and bridge-building organizations.

In its 2021 Diversity Report, the Bridge Alliance found that half of the executives leading its 100 member organizations are women. (Disclosure: The Fulcrum is a program within the Bridge Alliance, which brings together organizations working toward a healthy democracy.)


To mark Women’s History Month, The Fulcrum is spotlighting just some of the women leading these organizations.

Susan Muller

Executive Producer, MainStream Nation

"I co-founded MainStream Nation to lessen the political divide that’s tearing the United States apart. MainStream Nation will help mend our great country with technology and entertaining civic programming to empower, excite and unite Americans.

I have great respect for MainStream Nation co-founder Marinda Ragsdale, Erb Institute’s Elizabeth Doty and movement leader Katherine Gehl."


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The People Who Built Chicago Deserve to Breathe

Marcelina Pedraza at a UAW strike in 2025 (Oscar Sanchez, SETF)

Photo provided

The People Who Built Chicago Deserve to Breathe

As union electricians, we wire this city. My siblings in the trades pour the concrete, hoist the steel, lay the pipe and keep the lights on. We build Chicago block by block, shift after shift. We go home to the neighborhoods we help create.

I live on the Southeast Side with my family. My great-grandparents immigrated from Mexico and taught me to work hard, be loyal and kind and show up for my neighbors. I’m proud of those roots. I want my child to inherit a home that’s safe, not a ZIP code that shortens their lives, like most Latino communities in Chicago.

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Why Greenland and ICE Could Spell the End of U.S. Empire
world map chart
Photo by Morgan Lane on Unsplash

Why Greenland and ICE Could Spell the End of U.S. Empire

Since the late 15th century, the Americas have been colonized by the Spanish, French, British, Portuguese, and the United States, among others. This begs the question: how do we determine the right to citizenship over land that has been stolen or seized? Should we, as United States citizens today, condone the use of violence and force to remove, deport, and detain Indigenous Peoples from the Americas, including Native American and Indigenous Peoples with origins in Latin America? I argue that Greenland and ICE represent the tipping point for the legitimacy of the U.S. as a weakening world power that is losing credibility at home and abroad.

On January 9th, the BBC reported that President Trump, during a press briefing about his desire to “own” Greenland, stated that, “Countries have to have ownership and you defend ownership, you don't defend leases. And we'll have to defend Greenland," Trump told reporters on Friday, in response to a question from the BBC. The US will do it "the easy way" or "the hard way", he said. During this same press briefing, Trump stated, “The fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn't mean that they own the land.”

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