Female Elected Officials Gather:
Mia Ackerman, Cumberland Town Council; Denise Arsenault, Bristol/ Warren School Committee; Linda Beaulieu, Cumberland School Committee; Elizabeth Burns Brunero, West Warwick School Committee; Anna Cano-Morales, Central Falls School Board; Kim Casci, East Providence City Clerk; Elizabeth Dennigan, Representative; Kristine Donabedian, Lincoln School Committee; Anne Ejnes, Glocester School Committee; Laura Flanagan, Coventry Town Council; Virginia Hanois, Smithifeld School Committee; Joy Hearn, Representative; Kelley Nickson Morris, Cumberland Town Council; Allison Nugent, Scituate Director of Public Welfare; Lindagay Palazzo, West Warwick School Committee; Mary Parella, Bristol Town Council; Katherine Patenaude, Coventry School Committee; Valerie Perry, East Providence City Council; Elizabeth Roberts, Lt. Governor; Deborah Ruggiero, Representative; Mary Anne Shallcross Smith, Representative; Loren Spears, Narragansett Tribal Council; Nancy Sprengelmeyer, Coventry School Committee; Helen Taylor, Warwick City Council; Donna Travis, Warwick City Council; Mary Varr, Lincoln School Committee; and Amy Breault Zolt, Pawtucket School Committee.
Twenty-seven of Rhode Island’s WHO (Women Holding Office) attended YWCA’s 2009 celebration honoring women’s achievements in politics, see list on left. The keynote speaker was Victoria Budson, founding executive director of The Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard’s Kennedy School, center left.
Without women in politics and government, someone else will always be speaking for us, if anyone speaks up at all. Thank you for your voice, courage, vision and leadership,” Deborah L. Perry, executive director of YWCA Northern Rhode Island said.
Journalist Reza Clifton was the event emcee. The Honorable Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts gave opening remarks. Spoken word and rap artist Hannah Claire Resseger performed her original piece “Matriarch.” Community activist Sandy Riojas assisted with roll call. Program partners were League of Women Voters of Rhode Island, Center for Women & Enterprise, and RI Commission on Women.
Brunero, Dennigan, group photos by Agapao Productions; others courtesy of Nugent, Rice, Ruggiero.
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