ADVOCACY DAY

Friday, March 14TH

10:30AM-2:00pm

CIVIC HALL, 124 EAST 14th STREET

 
 

EVENT OVERVIEW

At this pivotal moment, the need to safeguard gender equity is more urgent than ever before. Recent legislation threatens women's and girls' fundamental rights, while insufficiently accounting for their unique needs, experiences and perspectives. Schools fail to provide girls with crucial professional development, while women encounter workplace discrimination and lack essential resources for advancement. To protect women and girls’ rights and opportunity, New York City must embrace community-driven policy reform through strategic advocacy.

As part of that effort and in honor of Women’s History Month, Amplify Her® Foundation presents Advocacy Day, an event designed to forge powerful partnerships with stakeholders across New York City to drive change and create lasting support for women and girls. This event is curated to support the capacity-building of our grantee partners by providing them with the necessary tools and resources to participate in gender equity advocacy at hyperlocal levels. We invite grantee partners to RSVP for this free event by February 5th.

The event will be shaped by Amplify Her® Foundation’s Unified Policy Platform which, guided by research and focus groups with Amplify Her® Foundation’s inaugural grantee partners, identifies the most significant barriers for women and girls on their leadership journeys and proposes actionable roadmaps to address them through public policy.

MEET THE SPEAKERS

Na’ilah Amaru

Vice President of Policy, Advocacy, and Government Relations, Women Creating Change

Na’ilah Amaru is a nationally recognized advocacy and policy strategist with over 20 years of social impact experience in government and non-profit sectors. She is a fierce advocate for building grassroots governing power among underserved populations, women, and BIPoC communities. As the inaugural Vice President of Policy, Advocacy, and Government Relations at Women Creating Change, Na’ilah leads efforts to influence policy decisions advancing racial equity and gender justice. From local neighborhoods to the State House and Capitol Hill, she is a disciplined tactician who has worked tirelessly to transform ideas into action and policy. She uses her platform to strengthen engagement between communities and their government officials, ensuring constituents remain at the forefront of legislative conversations. Previously, Na’ilah held key roles in advocacy and government, including serving as policy advisor to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, legislative aide to U.S. Congressman John Lewis, and executive director of the NYC Council’s Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus. Her career reflects a deep commitment to addressing the needs of diverse communities through transformative public policy. A U.S. Army veteran and recipient of the Army Commendation Medal for exemplary service in Iraq, Na’ilah holds three master’s degrees in public administration, policy, and urban planning. She is currently pursuing a PhD in political science at the CUNY Graduate Center, with a research focus on political participation, coalitions, and agenda-setting.

SASHA AHUJA

Campaign Director, New Yorkers for Equal Rights

Sasha Ahuja currently serves as Campaign Director at New Yorkers for Equal Rights. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the Columbia School of Social Work, the Graduate School of Social Work at Touro College and the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College. Previously, she served as the National Director for Strategic Partnerships at Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the former Chair of New York City's Equal Employment Practices Commission. Sasha is a community organizer who has worked to lead advocacy efforts and campaigns rooted in racial and gender equity. She got her start in the movement for social justice almost 15 years ago at the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Since then, Sasha has built her career facilitating community-driven policy change in government, in the labor movement and at local and national progressive organizations. Sasha served as Deputy Director of the Policy Division at the New York City Council under former New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito where she helped New York City respond to a national call to action to invest in cis and Trans girls of color. At the Speaker's office, she designed and executed the New York City Young Women's Initiative (YWI), a participatory policymaking process to lift up young women and girls of color, engaging +200 advocates, senior officials across City agencies and the Mayor's Office. She holds a BA from the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College and a MS in Social Work from Columbia University.

Beverly Neufeld

President and Founder, PowHer® New York 

Beverly Cooper Neufeld’s lifework has been dedicated to expanding opportunities for women and girls. Frustrated by the slow progress, in 2015 she launched PowHer®New York: a community working across sectors and issues to energize a movement and accelerate economic equality for women. PowHer®NY, now a Network of over 100 organizations plus dedicated individuals, is a unique model of collaboration pushing a multi-issue, pro-women, anti-racist agenda. A driving force behind New York’s policy reform on key issues including equal pay, reproductive justice, paid family leave, childcare and sexual harassment, the Network played a pivotal role in passage of the 2024 NYS Equal Rights Amendment. Neufeld leads PowHerNY's almost twenty-year Equal Pay Campaign which is influencing business policies and legislative successes like the NYC and NYS Salary History Bans and Pay Transparency Laws. She is currently a member of the NYC Commission on Gender Equity, Equal Pay Today! and the United Nations/ILO Equal Pay Initiative Coalition. As President of BCN Consulting LLC, she works with nonprofits to create change through advocacy, programming, and organizational development. Previously, as Executive Director of The White House Project, she oversaw research on women’s political leadership and helped develop SheSource and Vote, Run, Lead. Prior work for Congresswoman Nita Lowey influenced her passion for finding creative and political solutions to intransient issues.

Diana Franco

Vice President - Initiatives, Women.NYC

Diana Franco is Vice President of Women.NYC at the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Diana is a long-standing advocate for women's economic empowerment. A serial entrepreneur by nature, she started her career on the founding team of three successful startups: Latinred, CycleLogic, and Kactoos. Diana also is the founder of Grenout, an agency focused on helping foreign entrepreneurs launch their products and services in the U.S., and co-founder of CoreWoman, a foundation aiming to empower women professionally and economically. Diana served as the Executive Director of Women Entrepreneurs (WE NYC) at the NYC Department of Small Business Services. The City of New York has publicly recognized Ms. Franco's work with two awards, in 2019 for Excellence in Public Service and 2020 for Advancing Diversity and Inclusion.  Like many New Yorkers, Diana is an immigrant, originally from Medellín, Colombia.

Zunera Ahmed

Board Member - IGNITE National

Zunera Ahmed is a local political organizer and staffer in Brooklyn, NY. Her passion for politics was sparked while serving as a student leader and organizer at Brooklyn College, CUNY after the 2016 election. Her time on campus involved years as a leader in student government, and a member of IGNITE’s New York college council. In 2018, Zunera joined her first campaign as a field manager in the effort to win and flip New York’s 11th Congressional District. Since that successful win, Zunera has gone to manage two campaigns, City Council in 2021 and State Senate in 2022, and won both. As campaign manager, Zunera has always worked successfully to engage with voters and get out the vote in parts of southern Brooklyn that are tough purple areas. Zunera has worked as a staffer in the offices of US House of Representatives, New York State Senate; and currently serves as Deputy Chief of Staff at NYC Council. Her work in government at different levels has always serviced the residents of southern Brooklyn. She serves on the Board of IGNITE National, training young women to be more civically engaged.

EVENT SCHEDULE

10:30AM-12:00PM

INTRODUCTION TO ADVOCACY & RELATIONSHIP BUILDING

This training session by the Advocacy Institute will expand participants’ confidence and knowledge of the NYC legislative advocacy and budget process; as well as relationship-building with local elected officials. The goal is to learn how to leverage public sector policies and programs for social impact.

The session will support participants’ efforts to:

  • Identify key decision-makers in their communities

  • Collaborate with elected officials to address issues affecting their communities 

  • Demonstrate collective power during pivotal periods in legislative and budget processes

12:00PM-1:00PM

Lunch

Networking opportunity to connect Amplify Her Foundation’s grantee partners with NYC's broader advocacy community, fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing

1:00PM-2:00pm

POWER TALKS

Power talks with public sector leaders and experienced advocates will share insights on effective community engagement and policy reform on the following topics:

  • Girls’ Education & Workforce Readiness

  • Economic Mobility

  • Workplace Equality

  • Support for Working Caregivers