Who We Are
Together, we’re building what Oregon needs most right now: a movement of leaders rooted in collaboration, empathy, and courage.
Our Story
Founded by Governor Barbara Roberts (first woman Governor of Oregon), Dr. Melody Rose, and a tenacious group of multisector women supporters, The Center for Women’s Leadership started offering programming in 2003.
Through the last 23 years, thousands of women and gender-expansive Oregonians have benefited from CWL programs such as NEW Leadership Oregon (NLO), the Rural Leaders Initiative (Turn Up Your Voice: Taking Action for Community Change), Girls Oregon Action Leadership Summit (GOALS), and the Gender, Leadership, and Policy Cohort. As well as a wide range of learning series, convenings and events. Together, we’ve built an ecosystem of leaders strengthening communities, influencing policy, and redefining what substantive leadership looks like in every corner of our state.
Today, CWL is flowing into its next evolution. After deep analysis, partnership conversations, and community reflection, CWL has transitioned our home from our origin organization Portland State University into an independent, community-based organization Fiscally Sponsored by For All Families Oregon. This change positions the Center to meet the evolving leadership needs of Oregon with greater flexibility, statewide grounding, and sustainable growth opportunities.
We invite you into our work with us by prioritizing joy, connection, accountability, and community-building. We understand that learning and unlearning are ongoing processes, and that the work is never finished. We recognize that our intersecting identities affect how we experience our work and our lives.
We approach our work with empathy and seek to understand the ways that the identities of others impact the way they navigate the world. We believe that gender is not a binary and embrace a dynamic approach to experiencing and naming our gender identities. We practice nonhierarchical and circular leadership, striving to ensure that all aspects of our work reflect our values.
Vision
The Center for Women’s Leadership works in collaboration with seasoned and emerging women and gender-expansive leaders to advance the individual and collective practice of courageous leadership in Oregon and beyond.
We engage with a wide range of community partners to co-create spaces in which we examine the practice of leadership at the intersections of race, gender, and other categories of difference, in order to enact systems-level change.
Approach
Our learning communities cultivate growth around leadership practices that are explicitly anti-racist; grounded in intersectional feminist and queer ways of thinking, feeling, and doing; embracing of radical imagination; and dedicated to creating a culture of relationality and care among participants and in our communities.
Our programming portfolio is fluid to meet the needs of leaders throughout our region. We remain committed to reducing financial barriers for our participants by offering low and no-cost programs to diverse communities of participants across Oregon.
Our Team
CWL’s organization structure is under co-creation with the communities we strive to serve. Our Executive Director, Jessica Mole Heilman has transitioned with us and is stewarding this new chapter in collaboration with a strong transitions team, financial supports, and alumni who are supporting CWL in this season of transition. Stay tuned for ways to be involved as our momentum and community engagement grows across the state.
Thank you to all of our supporters for holding us and this work in such meaningful ways.
Community Partners
We stand on their shoulders and continue to build the momentum of gender justice for Oregon’s future. Thank you to our community advisors and partners for their ongoing partnership.
Court Morse
Murph Murphy
Saba Saleem
STEERING COUNCIL
TRANSITION TEAM
Candice Williams
Kim Duncan
Jane Cease
Governor Barbara Roberts
Maggie Gilman-Holm
CM Hall
March Strategies
Rowanna Carpenter
Toni Plato
Della Rae
Cyreena Boston Ashby
Lisa Watson
Kimberlee Salmond
Kaysha Duffy
Samantha Swaim
Roberta Hunte
Andi Walsh
CWL's impact is measurable and far-reaching
Over the last 23 years we have engaged 1,000s of program participants, mentors, boards, and supporters. We work with rising community leaders who reflect the diversity of our state at the intersections of race, gender, and other categories of difference by centering them in co-designed programming.
23
Year of Service
24 of 36
Counties Served
1,000+
Program Alumni
Grow with Us
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Invest in women and gender-expansive leaders shaping Oregon’s future
Your support fuels accessible, relationship-centered leadership programs that strengthen communities.
What Your Gift Supports
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Access
We reduce financial barriers so leaders can participate fully — covering lodging, meals, childcare, transportation, and access needs like ASL and Spanish interpretation.
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Reciprocity
We believe in non-extractive leadership development. Facilitators and partners are compensated, acknowledged, and amplified.
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Community Impact
Our program alumni apply their lived experience to real challenges. From policy change to rural economic development.