Some Knew Each Other on Screen. Then They Met in New York City.

In June, 58 women from across the country gathered for the first Local Leader Lab National Summit.

They came with a job to do. Design strategies to increase voter participation ahead of the midterms. These are women who get things done, and they got to work.

What they built in that room went past the plans they came to build. They built relationships, trust, and accountability. The things that hold a democracy together, and the things that hold us together.

We have been trying to describe it ever since. It turns out it is easier to show you.

Aleria felt it right away. As she put it: “Being with so many powerful, kind women who are like me, who care like me. The summit helped me to see that there are others like me, that I am not alone and that I have a community.”

The plans were real, and the work was serious. Raven walked in wondering whether she was putting her energy in the right place, and left certain she was. In her words: “I’m right where I should be, with the right people working on exactly what I need to be working on. And realizing I can take it to another level.”

Maura took home a single line from New York City Council Member Crystal Hudson that she has not stopped thinking about. Resilience is often inherited, which means what we model for the next generation is on us.

But the thing nobody planned for was each other. Women who had known each other as names in a grid, or not at all, spent a day in the same room and became a group that does not want to let go.

The country just marked 250 years. A room full of women already in motion, ready to bring others with them, is a good way to meet a moment like this one.