Dear Legislators and Partners,
Together, we’ve worked side-by-side with you and thousands of allies to meet one of the great challenges of our generation: to find and nurture progressive leaders who can make America all that our Founding Fathers imagined, all that it can be, and all that our children deserve.
We’ve made long strides on our shared journey, from Progressive States Network’s (PSN) launch in 2006 to the debut of the American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange (ALICE) nearly two years ago. Yet, the movement has lacked a unified strategic approach to supporting legislators and advancing issues of importance to progressives in the states.
Today, with the support of organized labor, issue advocacy groups, legislators and others across the spectrum of the progressive movement we are announcing a merger between ALICE and PSN. This merger will consolidate the collective resources, relationships and intellectual power of both organizations towards building a more cohesive, efficient and vibrant support system for progressive legislators and partner organizations across the country.
For nearly a generation, conservatives have outpaced us at the business of movement-building in states. They have focused hard on it, poured resources into it, and have been ruthlessly efficient at it. Starting now, we will do the same.
ALICE’s Executive Director, Nick Rathod, will lead this new effort. His deep political and policy experience leading groundbreaking campaigns to pass gun safety legislation in the states, and his service in senior roles in the Obama White House, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and at the Center for American Progress have given him the perfect tools to succeed in this new role.
Over the course of the next several months, Nick and members of the PSN board plan to engage in conversations with legislators, stakeholder organizations, donors and others to make sure that the new organization is built to be responsive to the needs of state legislators. They will also work to build a political infrastructure across the country to support a proactive progressive state legislative strategy.
Our official launch will likely be in the fall, so stay tuned for more details. We’ll also keep you up-to-date about plans for a legislative retreat this fall.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Nick at
[email protected].
Onward,
Nick Rathod
Executive Director, ALICE
Sen. Joe Bolkcom
Board Chair, Progressive States Network
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