Past Work
New Hampshire Progress Alliance
In the wake of the 2016 elections, where progressives lost the New Hampshire Governor’s office for the first time in 12 years, Paula and other grasstops leaders saw an opportunity to shift funding behaviors for sustained, state level social change. In her role as the State Director of America Votes New Hampshire, she engaged existing and new funders around the concept of a progressive donor alliance affiliated with Committee on States. New Hampshire Progress Alliance became the 32nd state based donor alliance in the country and the first pooled fund donor’s alliance in New England.
She worked to recruit the founding board, connected existing and new donors and visionaries around the mission of the Alliance, provided project management support, development research and senior advising to catalyze NH Progress Alliance from concept to organization. She helped raise nearly $1 Million from over 40 New England households in less than18 months and identified their full time, permanent staff to ensure the organization would be sustainable for many years to come.
Mission
We are a donor collaborative committed to building and funding a durable, statewide progressive infrastructure and ultimately ensuring a sustainable progressive majority in New Hampshire. We maximize our impact by making aligned investments in high performing progressive organizations and efforts.
Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence
In the wake of the Parkland tragedy in Spring 2018, Paula worked with the founding, working board to re-think their year round advocacy tactics and to shape a youth engagement campaign around gun violence prevention. She provided coaching to their young staff and project managed a process whereby the coalition re-granted to four youth organizations in the state to work from one plan to move the needle on gun violence issues in the state. She facilitated multiple strategic planning sessions and provided hands on coaching for to launch both the youth campaign and coalition’s first independent expenditure.
Mission
Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence is dedicated to changing the narrative of common-sense gun safety legislation. We focus on reducing death and injury from gun violence through common sense means and methods.
Engage New Hampshire
Paula worked with Dyn entrepreneurs, Jeremy and Liz Hitchcock and Gray and Tara Chynoweth, to catalyze their concept for localized civic engagement. As a group, they supported Democratic, Republican and Independent candidates and remain focused on supporting and incubating emerging entrepreneurs and leaders across the city and region. For years the group hoped to engage and invest in young workforce and talent to encourage workforce retention and investment by young people to stay in New Hampshire. Paula worked with the founders to develop their mission, scalable budgets and kept the project on task. Engage NH remains focused on supporting new voices running for board of alderman in Manchester by providing field and campaign coaching to newcomer candidates outside institutional political forces.
Mission
Engage New Hampshire is dedicated to building a culture of civic engagement and encourages emerging civic leaders throughout New Hampshire to take up the mantle of local and state leadership. Engage NH embraces healthy democracy which means encouraging people from diverse backgrounds to give back to their communities through appointed and elected office: starting at the municipal and town level. The organization values debate and conversation and believes that promoting informed citizen action will build more accessible communities, quality public schools, financial sustainability, strong public infrastructure and design thinking for the economic, social and civic future of the Granite State.
New Leaders Council New Hampshire
After serving on the New Leaders Council (NLC) Rhode Island board, Paula saw an opportunity to grow the footprint of the organization in New Hampshire. While building a staffing and advocate pipeline for America Votes coalition partners who were often too busy to coach and grow new leaders, Paula partnered with NLC nationally. Granite Staters commonly opine about a “brain drain” where young residents leave the state for lack of jobs and culture. As a transplant and progressive leader, Paula felt there was potential to connect new and native born progressives from all walks and geographies together through New Leaders Council New Hampshire.
Out of that vision an unconventional partnership between America Votes partners and New Leaders Council was born to accelerate chapter growth. In just three years, New Leaders Council New Hampshire graduated over 50 fellows. 36 of these fellows identified as women, seven identified as people of color, and two identified as queer. Eight fellows have run for state or local office, four are currently elected in the State House and one was elected to the Franklin City Council and at least five more are mounting runs for public office by 2018. By 2020, NLC-NH plans to train and graduate over 100 future leaders from the newly formed chapter. NLC-NH was awarded chapter of the year by the national leadership at their annual conference in 2017.
Mission
New Leaders Council targets rising young professionals for critical leadership development. NLC Fellows engage in five intensive weekends of training over a five-month period to learn cutting-edge entrepreneurship, management, advocacy, and political management skills from about more than 100 industry-leading volunteer faculty and mentors.