New York State Women's Political Caucus.

The National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC) was established in 1971 as a multipartisan, multicultural, intergenerational grassroots organization dedicated to furthering women's political participation at all levels of government. To that end, NWPC actively recruits, trains, and financially supports pro-choice women candidates running for political office, regardless of their party affiliation. The overarching goal of the organization is to guarantee women a powerful voice in the political process thereby ensuring equality for all women. From the start, NWPC focused on three fundamental issues: reproductive freedom, affordable childcare, and the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). To this day, all three issues are central to the concerns of the NWPC and candidates who wish to be endorsed by the organization must be pro-choice as well as support the ERA. In order to better address the varied concerns of individual communites, counties and states, the NWCP has helped organize hundreds of county and state chapters across the United States. These local caucuses are crucial in recruiting potential candidates and in providing women with the training, mentorship and support they need to run for political office. They also help in identifying the key issues facing their communities and provide factsheets and information on upcoming relevant legislation. Finally, the local caucuses help potential voters to make informed choices by publishing endsorsement guides for local and state election. The New York State Women's Political Caucus is a thriving branch of the national organization. Adele Cohen, the creator of this collection, was highly involved with the organization on the state and national level and served as the president of the New York State caucus from 1992-1994. She began her association with NWPC in the 1980s and remained actively involved after her presidency. Given her staunch commitment to the principals of the NWPC, she ran for political office and won a seat to the New York State Assembly in 1998, eventually serving three terms.