From Zoom webinars to marches, the Northern Nevada Marches Forward Reno-based non-profit organization wants to make sure our society progresses through elections, shared awareness and discussions, rather than veer backwards.
Their mission is to support, spotlight, and uplift the voices and power of diverse people and communities to create transformative social change. By hosting activist marches and monthly educational webinars on a diverse range of topics, Northern Nevada Marches Forward seeks to educate and inform people on how to take individual action and advocate for one another.
The organization began by helping coordinate an annual Reno Women’s March. There have been six editions of the March so far, with the first one having taken place in 2015. Chair of the organization, Jackie Shelton, explains that the Marches were “already being held nationally. Mylen Hawkins, who was a big activist in Reno for decades, brought the Women’s March to Reno, recruiting all of us, which is how we got involved. The beginnings were very much a grassroots effort.”
The first event in 2015 had thousands and thousands of attendees, marching through the streets of Reno with homemade signs.
“It was really a national movement, and we were a part of that. Our March was just especially large. Especially for Reno, we don’t think anyone was expecting that kind of a turnout,” Vice Chair (and soon to be Chair come January), Jane Grossman (in Zoom screen shot below), says of those beginnings.
“We are not trying to be a be-all end-all,” Jane Grossman says. “We are trying to uplift other groups that are doing great work and bring attention to them by using our growing platform to network and promote.”
The last two Reno Women’s Marches were held virtually, due to COVID-19 lockdowns and stay-at-home restrictions. The most recent event, the 2022 Reno Women’s March, happened in January 2022 through Zoom. The theme was “More Unites Us Than Divides Us”, and many prominent Nevada women attended as speakers, including U.S. Senator now running in a tight reelection race, Catherine Cortez Masto, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen, and Nevada First Lady Kathy Sisolak among others.
“We had people submit photos of themselves from past events which we used to hold a virtual march with music,” Shelton says.
The first five years of the Reno Women’s March was run solely by volunteers, before they became an official and registered non-profit: Northern Nevada Marches Forward. “We realized that the subjects we were talking about were so important that the events needed to be more than just once a year. So we became a non-profit as a way to be more inclusive, since we aren’t just focused on women,” Shelton said.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are the cornerstones of Northern Nevada Marches Forward’s beliefs and advocacy work.
“Every month or so, we host a webinar,” Jackie Shelton explained. “We bring in people from other organizations to talk about a specific issue. We aren’t experts on everything, so we bring in people to talk about particular topics, and we just provide a platform for them.”
Previous webinar recordings can be found on NNMF’s website. Past topics have included LGBTQIA+ ally training, intersections of gender-based violence, the illusion of inclusion, among others.
The first webinar NNMF hosted as part of their Education & Action Series Recordings was titled “Antisemitism is on the rise” and was led by Grossman. She was joined by other Jewish local residents to discuss the rising incidents of antisemitism and how it is impacting the local community and beyond.
“Our Board is quite well connected, but we could always use more people and more diversity,” Grossman said of future events they are planning. “We would love people to recommend issues and speakers to cover them.” If you would like to suggest a future webinar topic or speaker, you can do so through this form.
The next Reno Women’s March – the 2023 edition of the event – will be held in March next year, instead of the usual January, due to more pleasant weather and March being Women’s History Month. March 25th 2023 is the confirmed date for the event, and the processions and speeches will begin at the Believe Plaza in Downtown Reno.
NNMF is also planning on hosting a mixer for any Reno-based local non-profit organizations at the start of December. It will be a way to make new connections and learn about other resources and groups in the community.