Credit: OC Register

The National Women’s Political Caucus, a grassroots organization focused on increasing the presence of women in politics, will be hosting a local event at the home of Sherri and Gary Loveland in Tustin Ranch on November 15th.

“Even though women make up more than 50 percent of our state’s population, the number of women in elected office is on the decline…”. The first step to reversing this trend, according to the NWPC, is to honor and celebrate women who have already broken the glass ceiling.

On November 15th, the local chapter of NWPC plans to do just that by honoring, among others, Tustin’s first woman mayor, Ursula Kennedy. Ursula served on the Tustin City Council for 12 years, from 1978 to 1990 and was the very first woman mayor of the city. She chose not to run again saying,”This last year has been the most exciting year of my life, I had to keep the council from blowing up, and I think I did a commendable job. It was like having five sticks of dynamite at every meeting.”

Ursula, who has commented often to me that things haven’t changed a lot since those days, has remained active in local politics. She has been on several forums and committees and actively supported another former councilwoman, Tracey Worley-Hagen, in her bid for election last year.

Along with Urusla Kennedy, the NWPC will also honor the Honorable Ellen Corbett, Senate Majority Leader, the former Senator, Marth Escutia, Karen Cebreros and Allyson Sonenshine. Cebreros is President and founder of Elan Organic Coffees and Sonenshine is the founding director of Orange County Women’s Health Project.

Registration and sponsorship details can be found here. The evening runs from 6-9 PM and promises to be interesting and fun as these women of California are honored by the community.