In the Mile High City of Denver, nearly 40 incredible local leaders gathered from all across the country for our second annual caucus leadership retreat. This week brought together local officials and Local Progress alumni from our identity caucuses to learn, grow, and build ties together. Leaders from the Women’s, Black, Nuestro, and, for the first time, Pride Caucuses came together to discuss threats to our democracy, learn how to stay safe as a local official, and begin to plan the important work of each caucus for the coming years.
We kicked off our sessions together with a review of the various threats our democracy faces right now. As so many members of the Black Caucus articulated, voting rights are under attack in this country, and local leaders need to be prepared to protect the vote. We shared stories from different communities about what we’re seeing on the ground, and what actions local leaders are taking to make sure our voices are heard in November. We also welcomed our partners at the Women’s Democracy Lab to share personal stories of safety and security during the critical work of leading. We held space for the recounting of some of the real fear our members have faced, held one another, and we made plans to stay safe in the future.
From left to right, the Black, Women’s, Nuestro, and Pride Caucus Leadership Committees
Throughout our retreat, we created ample space for each caucus to get to know one another more and plan for the future. The Women’s Caucus spent their time planning for the next two years — thinking through emerging issue areas, and imagining what our work can look like when we tap into the full extent of both our partner organizations and our caucus network. Their biggest priority coming out of these discussions was launching the Governing While Femme module, with topics grounded in the experiences of LP WC members throughout the network who know firsthand the opportunities and challenges we face as women in local elected office.
For the Nuestro Caucus, this year’s All Caucus Leadership Retreat in Denver gave them a much-needed opportunity to reconnect in person. Their breakout sessions focused on three central priorities: immigrant justice, solidarity with Puerto Rico, and internal caucus business and culture. One of the most exciting outcomes was seeing Leadership Committee members step up to take ownership of initial actions within each larger priority. The Nuestro Caucus co-leads will work with each of these groups to turn those commitments into action and keep their broader caucus priorities moving.
This retreat was also the first time the Pride Caucus leadership committee had ever been together in a dedicated caucus space! Eight Leadership Committee members joined the amazing cross-caucus space to build with one another, learn from other caucuses, and lay the groundwork for our caucus priorities over the next two years. Staff-planned sessions began with a lesson in Queer history, tracing the story of not just our movement but of the trailblazing LGBTQIA* leaders who came before us. Learning more about our shared place in history grounded us as we began thinking about where we want Pride’s work to focus in the years to come, aligning on bringing newer members into our work and creating shared spaces for Queer officials to learn, grow, and lean on one another.
The Black Caucus made the most of our time together at this year’s All-Caucus Leadership Retreat, creating space to deepen relationships, reflect on our work, and strengthen our collective vision for the years ahead. Grounded in joy, healing justice, and a shared commitment to racial justice, members explored how to strengthen the caucus’s role in confronting anti-Blackness and building collective power. Through thoughtful conversations and strategic planning, leaders worked to identify priorities through 2028, assess their capacity, and explore how to share leadership and responsibility across the caucus.
With the upcoming elections approaching, members also participated in voter protection scenario discussions, working through challenges involving voter eligibility, ballot access, and rejected mail ballots. These conversations created opportunities to share strategies, identify gaps in preparedness, and explore how Black elected officials can leverage their relationships, resources, and collective leadership to protect their communities. Together, these sessions reinforced the importance of building a caucus that is not only prepared to respond to the challenges of this political moment, but also connected, organized, and equipped to advance a shared agenda for racial and economic justice.
We ended our time together focusing on relationship building, healing justice, and discussing how we can turn our caucus priorities into real-life campaigns. Our facilitators planned an extensive cross-caucus learning session where caucus leaders were mixed with one another for deep learning. Caucus leaders shared best practices, stories of what motivates them in this work, and came away with solid next steps on how to improve our work. We then gathered for an incredible session of healing justice with our new facilitator, Yaqui Rodriguez, bringing healing center practice into our work to help us leave restored and renewed.
