Meet Our New Vice President of Capacity Building, Rudy Garrett!

We are thrilled to announce that Rudy Garrett, former Co-Executive Director of Chicago Votes, has joined the Alliance for Youth Action as the Vice President of Capacity Building!

A Hoosier native, Rudy graduated from Denison University with a B.A. in Political Science and International Studies. She moved to Chicago in August 2013 to attend culinary school, but found her inner organizer instead. After working at a law firm, Rudy joined Chicago Votes, an Alliance for Youth Action affiliate, as a Field Organizer to build a more inclusive democracy by putting power in the hands of young Chicagoans.?

Here are some of Rudy’s accomplishments during her tenure at Chicago Votes:

• Founded the get-out-the-vote program, Parade to the Polls?, which has turned out over 10,000 first-time voters between the ages of 17 and 25 in Illinois;
• Graduated over 250 young leaders from Chicago Votes leadership development programs, including the Chicago Votes DemocracyCorps Fellowship, Legislative Internship, One Summer Chicago Internship, DemocracyCup Fellowship, and independent internship programs;
• Facilitated the Just Democracy Illinois Coalition, Illinois’ most successful collective of 120 grassroots organizations and advocates dedicated to building a more equitable democracy. Just Democracy is responsible for passing landmark voter modernization policies, including online voter registration, same-day voter registration, extended grace period voting, and automatic voter registration.?

As Vice President of Capacity Building at the Alliance, Rudy will support the advocacy, data, organizing, and field programs of our network and help us implement our strategic plan. For the last ten years, the Alliance Network has led some of the most innovative and exciting electoral and issue advocacy work across the country (learn more in our annual reports). As we re-envision what capacity building looks like at the Alliance, we are honored to have the opportunity to grow with and learn from an incredible organizer from within the Alliance Network.

The Alliance is able to uplift, share, and train on effective practices across a variety of disciplines in youth-led organizing to help increase the impact of local organizations and elevate peer-to-peer learning. Rudy’s transition to VP of Capacity Building is essential to the Alliance’s ability to foster independent, healthy youth-led organizations.

With Rudy leading the way, the Alliance’s capacity building efforts will further our ability to support young people as they build political power in their communities across the country. Rudy’s leadership at Chicago Votes and her tenure serving in the Network ED Council, an integral piece of the Alliance Network’s leadership, gives her a unique insight into what is needed to support all network organizations through deep capacity building that enables organizational growth and sustainability.?

We look forward to the amazing impact Rudy will have on the Alliance Network and our ability to expand youth civic engagement across the country.

Please join us in welcoming Rudy to the Alliance for Youth Action team!