Rural Go Run is a weekend-long training to inspire, equip, and inform women from all walks of life to lead more effectively in your work, community, and politics. The training will focus on communications, fundraising, organizing and other leadership skills.
Take advantage of this unique opportunity to build your skills and network with other women leaders from rural communities!
You do not need to be running for office to attend.
This is a national training program that engages local experts, public officials, current and former elected officials, and speakers to help train and share their experiences and stories of success.
The training starts at 7pm on Friday evening, May 1, and goes through 2pm Sunday, May 3. The training is being held at Fortune Bay Resort and Casino.
We make this training affordable for women from all income levels.
Scholarships are available.
Featured Speakers and Trainers
An advocate of women's issues for more than 30 years, Marie Wilson is founder and President of The White House Project, co-creator of national Take Our Daughters to Work Day and author of Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World (Viking 2004). Wilson founded The White House Project in 1998 in recognition of the need to build a truly representative democracy – one in which women lead alongside men in all spheres. Wilson started The White House Project while she was still president of the Ms. Foundation for Women. On June 30, 2004 Wilson announced she would step down as president of the Ms. Foundation to devote her full energy to The White House Project. In honor of her work, the Ms. Foundation has created The Marie C. Wilson Leadership Fund, which will be under her sole advisement. Since its inception, The White House Project has been a leading voice in advocating for women's leadership. Under Wilson's stewardship, The White House Project has distinguished itself through innovative research and its women's mobilization initiatives.
In early February, 2007, UMD alumna Karen Diver was elected the first woman chair of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. In her new position she heads a tribal government that employs between 1,600 - 1,800 people and has assets totaling over $300 million. She also serves on the governing body of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, made up of the White Earth, Mille Lacs, Fond du Lac, Bois Forte, Leech Lake and Grand Portage bands. Most recently she served as the director of special projects for the Fond du Lac Reservation. Diver participated as a Bush Foundation Leadership Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She received her Masters in Public Administration in 2003. She was previously the Board Chair for the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota and is a current member for the Blandin Foundation Board of Trustees.
Nevada Littlewolf is the White House Project’s Rural Leadership Field Organizer. She is a Go Run and Debate Boot Camp Alumna. In 2005 she was elected to the Virginia City Council in Northern Minnesota. She is a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and a proud Iron Ranger. Nevada has worked in youth services for many years and has studied and practiced the visual arts. She also works as an advocate for children in the Northern St. Louis County 6th Judicial District Courts. Nevada is a parent of two children, ages 7 and 5. From her parenting experience, and through a daughter with Down Syndrome, Nevada has been a strong volunteer proponent of early childhood education and services in her community.
Catherine Gray is the Associate Director of the Midwest Region for The White House Project. Gray works to support our regional expansion, while continuing in her role as a communications and public speaking trainer. A screenwriter and filmmaker, Gray is the recipient of several awards, including The Barry Morrow Screenwriting Fellowship in 2000 and Jerome Media Arts Grant in 2004. She is an active member of the Screenwriters' Workshop, Independent Feature Project, Women in Film and Television and serves on the board of TVbyGIRLS. Currently she is in post-production on her short film, “Grace on a Stick.” Most of her adult life, Gray lived in Houston, Texas where she founded two companies – Artemis Enterprises, a construction services firm, and OneTV, an innovative video-magazine for nationwide GLBT audiences. She attended Scripps College and earned a Bachelor in Fine Arts from Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
Eveleth City Councilor Elizabeth Kuoppala is the Interim Director for the Minnesota Coaltion for the Homeless and founding member of the NE MN Rural Women's Leadership Project.. She combines her passion for organizing with her interest in public policy and works with social service providers and low-income people to influence federal, state and local policies. Previous work experience includes a stint with Senator Wellstone’s Washington, D.C. office and three years as a train operator in the mines. She has a BS in chemistry from St. Cloud State and is working on her Masters in Advocacy and Political Leadership at UMD.
Peggy Flanagan is the Deputy National Field Director and a Senior Trainer with Wellstone Action. An experienced organizer and advocate, Flanagan is also a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota. She was elected to the Minneapolis School Board in 2004 and is the first Native American to serve on that body. She has worked as Director of Community Outreach for the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (2004-2006), as coordinator of Urban Immersion Service Retreats for the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches (2003-2004) and as Project Manager of Parents Plus (2002-2003), a school readiness program at the Division of Indian Work in Minneapolis. She is a state director for INDN’s List, the only grassroots political organization devoted to recruiting and electing Native American candidates, and was the Native American Community Coordinator for the Kerry-Edwards Campaign in Minnesota in 2004. Flanagan received her B.A. in child psychology and American Indian Studies from the University of Minnesota in 2002.
Beth Peterson is a founding member of the NE MN Rural Women's Leadership Project and last fall completed a bid for the Eveleth City Counncil. Although she did not win, she was pleased with her outcomes and is planning to run again. Beth has also been a steering committee member of Eveleth Horizons, a volunteer organization working to eradicate poverty in Eveleth. Through volunteering and employment at the Northeast Higher Education District she has organized numerous events in the Virginia/Eveleth area to help raise awareness of issues facing low-income and under-represented groups. She holds an A.A.S in Information Management Specialist from Mesabi Range Community & Technical College and is currently working on a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Minnesota Duluth.
