Sen. Gillibrand taps Chicago to launch 'Off the
Sidelines' movement http://trib.in/1FF2arg
Sen. Gillibrand taps Chicago to launch 'Off the Sidelines' movement
HEIDI STEVENS
12 HOURS AGO
As luck would have it, I shared a dinner table Saturday
night with the actor Mark Ruffalo, "Avengers: Age of Ultron" star,
vocal feminist and climate change activist.
He was receiving an award from the Gene Siskel Film
Center, and my husband, the Tribune's film critic, was leading the post-dinner,
onstage discussion.
The dinner crowd was geeked. Many selfies were snapped
with the extremely amiable (and photogenic) star.
The day before, I spent the morning with more than 300
women and a handful of men who gathered at 1871, the Merchandise Mart's
entrepreneurial hub, to hear U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand announce the kickoff
of her national Off the Sidelines campaign.
It's no exaggeration to say the electricity Friday
morning — at 8 a.m., over coffee and scones — was as palpable and contagious as
the vibe at the Ruffalo event.
The object of many a woman crush, Gillibrand is widely
revered for her work on equal pay, campus sexual assault, military justice and
LGBT rights. She's a star in her own right.
So when she teamed up with Cook County Commissioner
Bridget Gainer to launch Off the Sidelines Chicago, women of all ages and
backgrounds jumped at the chance to join the cause.
"This is about you," Gillibrand told the
wall-to-wall crowd, which included Gainer's 11-year-old daughter and
13-year-old son, as well as U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, YWCA Metropolitan Chicago
CEO Dorri McWhorter and Kristie Paskvan, CFO of Mesirow Financial and founder
of Chicago Says No More, which fights domestic violence.
"This is about your vision of what you want Chicago
to be and what you want this nation to be," she said to cheers and
applause.
Off the Sidelines aims to connect women and their allies
with opportunities to agitate for change on the issues they're most passionate
about.
"Every month you'll receive one email from Off the
Sidelines Chicago," Gainer told the attendees. "It's pay equity,
domestic violence, female entrepreneurs, supporting global women's issues. Each
one will have five different ways to take action right now, whether it's a
pre-drafted tweet supporting the local champions of issues in our city or the
amazing work of local organizations that you can support. It's the bridge
between one woman's passion and a coalition."
The first month's email mentions women and groups worth
following on Twitter, women's organizations looking for new members, and
upcoming networking and fundraising events for the Women's Business Development
Center, Emily's List and the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation,
among others.
Gillibrand penned The New York Times best-seller
"Off the Sidelines: Raise Your Voice, Change the World" (Ballantine
Books) in 2014. Gainer met Gillibrand when Gillibrand was running for Senate in
2010, after being appointed by New York Gov. David Paterson in 2008 to fill the
seat Hillary Rodham Clinton left vacant when she became secretary of state.
"We immediately built up a rapport," Gainer
told me over coffee the week before the kickoff event. "When she wrote the
book and I heard her talk about it, I really connected with the idea of taking
your ideas and actually doing something about it.
"I feel like there's something broken," Gainer
continued. "There are clearly women who want to be engaged and want to get
involved, and there are clearly organizations that need people to be involved,
and issues around which they need to put their action and energy, but that
ability to connect the two — it's like it's broken."
That's where Off the Sidelines comes in, she hopes.
"So next year when we get back together — and we're
going to need a much bigger room," Gainer told Friday's crowd, "we'll
be able to tell the stories and point to the allies and show the impact of what
we have been able to do together."
Gillibrand told a story about hearing Clinton speak when
she was first lady and feeling called to action by her words.
"She looks out on the room, and she says, 'Decisions
are being made every day in Washington, and if you are not part of those
decisions and you don't like what they decide, you have no one to blame but
yourself,'" Gillibrand recalled. "And I'm standing in the back of the
room — the youngest woman by about 20 years — and I'm starting to sweat. And
I'm like, 'Oh, my God. She's talking to me!'"
I'm certain many of the women in attendance Friday knew
the feeling.
To start receiving Off the Sidelines emails and updates,
sign up at OTSChicago.org.