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My Turn by Elisa Dozono

America is seen by many parts of the world as the land of opportunity. Yet over the course of our history, the doors of opportunity have frequently remained closed to half the population: women. Even harder to jar open have been windows of opportunity for minority women.

No longer. Not for these women I want to introduce to you. They are the first class of a new generation of political leaders participating in Emerge Oregon, the state’s premier training program for Democratic women interested in running for office.

Why do we need such a program? Because women, despite making up half our population, still comprise only 17 percent of Congress. The U.S. ranks 84th in the world for representation by women in elected office, behind Mexico, China, and Pakistan. In Oregon, only 26 out of 90 state legislators are women.

In 2008, Oregon ranked eighth in the country for its proportion of women holding elected office. Women in Oregon have held not only local seats, but state and Congressional seats as well. Oregon’s challenge, however, is to increase the number of women running for office. Emerge therefore focuses on recruiting Democratic women and providing them with the training and support they need to win.

From a competitive application process, the following 22 women have been selected to complete a six-month intense training, and will hopefully appear on a ballot near you.

Saba Ahmed: a patent analyst for Intel who dreams of being "the first Pakistani-American Asian Muslim woman patent attorney in the United States Congress." Saba earned her degree in electrical engineering and physics at age 19, will graduate from law school in May, and hopes to work on improving education, immigration, and foreign policies.

Deborah Barnes: a Milwaukie city councilwoman currently running for mayor. An award-winning journalist, Deborah teaches broadcasting and digital media in the North Clackamas School District and hopes to provide leadership on both economic development and education issues.

Kris Bledsoe: a clinically trained chaplain, award-winning photographer, and former bank executive. Kris ran for Yamhill County commissioner in 2008 and, despite her loss, is committed to running again in hopes of focusing on environmental issues.

Katy Brooks: a former councilwoman for the City of Sandy and experienced public affairs professional. Through her work for local governments, and via her own company, EchoTech, LLC, she has focused on transportation solutions and environmental policies and wants to create alliances to reduce our carbon footprint.

Linda Castillo: a mental health consultant and diversity trainer who has been involved in numerous community organizations, including the Latino Network, Portland Schools Foundation, and the Miracle/Milagro Theatre Group. She hopes to focus on issues from health and wellness to education and immigration reform.

Joelle Davis: a labor and human resources professional recently elected to the Tualatin city council. Joelle serves as co-executive director of the Association of Engineering Employees of Oregon and owns her own small business. She wants to improve and sustain the education system to serve children more effectively.

Shemia Fagan: a law school student who will graduate in May and whose work has varied from new car salesperson, to direct care for persons with disabilities, to tutoring at the Salvation Army. Her family’s experience with lack of healthcare coverage and drug addiction inspires her to seek a seat developing policies on healthcare and rehabilitation services.

Dana Fischer: a career foreign service officer whose work took her from Haiti to West Africa, Egypt, and India before her recent retirement in Portland. Dana hopes to use her experience with "bad" public policies abroad to address issues from inequities in access to healthcare to schools and infrastructure in need of strengthening and trade imbalances.

Katherine Heekin: an attorney and certified fraud examiner who helped found Portland’s Relief Nursery, which uses early intervention to prevent child abuse and neglect. A self-admitted political junkie, Katherine hopes her skills distilling complicated information and advocacy will make her an effective political leader.

Val Hoyle: a perennial campaigner since the age of eight who worked as a domestic and international sales manager in the bicycle industry for 15 years before going to work for Oregon Senator Floyd Prozanski. A former chair of the Democratic Party of Lane County, Val hopes to bridge the gap among rural, suburban, and urban districts.

Elizabeth Kennedy-Wong: a former neighborhood executive director and public policy manager for Portland Mayor Tom Potter who now manages public involvement for Portland Parks & Recreation. A trained facilitator and fundraiser, Elizabeth is driven to build a more inclusive community and ensure children grow up well-loved and cared for.

Ann Lininger: an attorney who worked as director of program-related investing for the Meyer Memorial Trust until her recent appointment to the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners. A fourth-generation Oregonian, she has rural roots, a strong business background, and community ties through her work in affordable housing.

Kedma Ough: founder of the first Chamber for Persons with Disabilities in Oregon and nationally, and winner of the Small Business Administration’s Woman of the Year Award for Oregon. Kedma wants to improve the small business climate, lessen financial barriers faced by disabled-owned businesses, and foster innovation.

Martha Perez: a former teenage single parent who overcame a history of family violence to earn a full college scholarship and become a healthcare researcher. A former candidate for Portland City Council, Martha expects her next race to focus on healthcare, K-20 education, affordable housing, and the economy.

Sunny Petit: the assistant director of the National Education for Women’s Leadership Oregon, Oregon’s only non-partisan women’s leadership training program. Having worked on issues from human trafficking in Bangladesh to gang outreach in Portland, Sunny hopes to turn her passion for healthcare and education into a county commission seat.

Huma Pierce: a former maritime surface warfare officer for Her Majesty’s Royal Canadian Navy who now owns and operates her own chiropractic clinic. She would like to keep Oregon fiscally viable with room for growth in a framework of responsible stewardship.

Miranda Plummer: an attorney, volunteer for the St. Andrew Legal clinic, and former director of the University of Oregon GLBT law student group. Miranda enjoys networking with diverse people and striving to find common ground.

Laura Rost: an environmental advocate for the Oregon Environmental Council and WaterWatch of Oregon whose grassroots efforts have included the Healthy Climate Partnership and leading a student referendum to add a new fee to purchase Green Tags at Southern Oregon University.

Maria Rubio: a government veteran with experience in workforce training and senior services who spent more than 20 years in public safety, including service in President Clinton’s and Portland Mayor Tom Potter’s administrations. As an elected official, Maria would focus on achieving economic equity, preservation of a rainy day fund, and public safety.

Sandy Webb-Robinson: the CEO of a consulting company providing analysis and research for legislative, environmental, energy, water, engineering, and planning projects. A former attorney for the mayor of Frederick, Maryland, Sandy would fight for fully-funded healthcare and education, equal pay for women, and environmental stewardship.

Rose Wilde: a community resource coordinator for the Oregon Department of Human Services and former Lane County Steering Board chair of the Oregon Bus Project. Rose wants to work on fairness in taxation, justice in health and safety, and public participation in civic matters.

Jennifer Williamson: an assistant vice president for communications and public affairs at Portland State University. She believes passionately that government pro- vides an essential safety net for people in our society and would provide access to education and treatment programs.

Elisa Dozono is an attorney with the business litigation team at the law firm of Miller Nash LLP and board president of Emerge Oregon. She serves as Multnomah County’s appointment to MERC (the Metropolitan Exposition Recreation Commission), which oversees the region’s convention and performing arts facilities; sits on the Japan-America Society of Oregon’s board of directors and the Oregon Business Association’s Transportation Committee; and is a member of the Oregon Minority Lawyers Association, Oregon Women Lawyers, and several other civic organizations.