Mira Weinstein, Founder and Organizer-in-Chief
The first time I knocked on a door was 1988 when I might have been the only person in America who thought Michael Dukakis could win the presidential election. I also thought that if we could elect all the right people, we could solve all our problems.
When none of those things happened, my theory of change evolved. A lifelong organizer, I define organizing as bringing people together to build power.
My experience includes electoral and organizing campaigns with union members, feminists, gun violence prevention advocates, environmental justice organizers and countless political candidates. In my first full-time campaign role, I joined members of the National Organization for Women (NOW) to triple the number of women in the Louisiana state legislature.
Another highlight was a campaign to transform a struggling Colorado state employees’ association into a union. We doubled membership, identified hundreds of new leaders and won improvements to state employment and services for the first time in five years. That campaign led to an executive order establishing the first statewide negotiating system. (Click here to see the signing ceremony when the EO became permanent law!)
I’ve guided political campaigns from Virginia to California, including statewide ballot measures and candidates up and down the ballot.
I’ve also developed and facilitated campaign and organizing education for many organizations. I created a six-session campaign simulation for the first class of a fellowship program for Black and Latiné women in St. Louis and an in-depth organizing strategy education series for climate justice organizers in Virginia. Stand alone sessions include “Disrupting White Supremacy Culture in Nonprofits” and “Q&A Is Not Interaction.”
I’m a volunteer member of the board of the Truth Pregnancy Resource Center in Dallas, TX. We provide accurate, comprehensive reproductive health resources, counseling and support to people in north Texas, informed by a reproductive justice framework.
I started Organizing to Win in 2020 when I realized that what I really want to do is help bring people together to build power.
I plan campaigns to disrupt white supremacy culture, recognizing the wide variety of experiences that organizers and activists bring to the work. My guiding principle is that we learn oppression and must actively work to unlearn and dismantle it.
When I’m not coaching organizers or planning strategy, I watch Law and Order reruns, hike, bake and cook. Ask me about my spicy popcorn!