About the Alice Paul Institute
Our Vision
We envision a world in which people are allied in pursuit of liberation and justice under the law and in everyday practice.
Our Mission
Alice Paul Institute builds contemporary action and intergenerational movement for gender justice through the lens of history and of place.
organizational history
In 1984, a group of advocates for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) decided to ensure that the 1985 centennial of the birth of Alice Paul, the author of the ERA, would be appropriately commemorated. They founded the Alice Paul Centennial Foundation, then created a slate of leadership programs for girls and purchased an important collection of Paul’s papers and artifacts. Eventually, they were also offered the opportunity to acquire Paul’s childhood home, Paulsdale, saving the house and property from development.
Today, as the Alice Paul Institute, the organization continues to educate and empower girls and young women to view themselves as leaders, encourage civic engagement, preserve Paulsdale, and advocate for the passage of the ERA which, when enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, will give legal and lasting equal protections to people of all genders.
Acknowledgements
To meet our mission today and in the future, we must acknowledge our own history. These acknowledgments commit us to learning how to be better stewards of the land that we inhabit, of the multiple truths that make up the past, and of the rights of all people:
- We continually reckon with understanding the flawed and nuanced life of Alice Paul as she at once fought for gender equality and excluded Black suffragists in that journey. We affirm that no oppressed group is truly fighting for emancipation if it liberates itself while leaving others in their chains.
- We acknowledge that intersectionality – the convergence of race, gender, and class that can put particular groups at a disadvantage or lead to discrimination – adds important dimension to our work.
- We acknowledge that trans, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming people have the right to self-identify their gender freely and without anxiety. We affirm that everyone has the right to feel at home within themselves. We continue to center female-identifying individuals because we have been treated as inferior to men in every sphere of life, throughout human history.
- We acknowledge that the site of API’s offices and programs occupies the traditional and ancestral homeland of the Lenape People, past and present. We honor with gratitude the land itself and the Indigenous Peoples and Nations who have stewarded it throughout the generations, for more than 10,000 years.
- We acknowledge the many immigrants who came to Mt. Laurel seeking to make a home and life for themselves, to raise families, and to build communities. We acknowledge the agricultural and domestic workers who labored at Paulsdale generation after generation.
Strategic goals
- Dynamic Advocacy- Equipping women and girls with the knowledge, tools, and connections to effect change; movement building that unites generations, engages all races, and ignites collective action.
- Impassioned Stewardship- Telling stories that illuminate multiple truths of women’s history; passionately assuming responsibility for preserving, spotlighting, and sustaining historic artifacts and places; planning for long-term financial health.
- Untethered Capacity- Crystalizing an organizational identity that positions API as a collaborative resource and thought leader; energizing new audiences and partners; recalibrating board-staff relationships for a cohesive partnership.
Staff and Directors
For general inquiries, write to info@alicepaul.org or call the office at (856) 231-1885.
rachael glashan rupisan
Executive director
Over the past fifteen years, Rachael has established fundraising strategies for organizations across the Philadelphia region including Koresh Dance Company, Philadelphia Ballet (formerly Pennsylvania Ballet), and most recently the Alice Paul Institute. In addition to her development work, Rachael is a highly accomplished strategy and thought leader with a proven track record of high growth for organizations in the non-profit sector. Rachael holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Temple University and was a 2010 Dance USA Institute of Leadership Training awardee. Rachael lives in Cherry Hill with her children and husband.
Kyla spencer
operations manager
Kyla Spencer is the Operations Manager for the Alice Paul Institute. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Kenyon College in Theatre with a concentration in American Studies. During her time at Kenyon, she lived in and managed the Crozier Center for Women, an organization that provided funding, space, and support to other women-centered student groups. Prior to her role at API, she held a variety of positions in Arts Administration, Social Media, Development, and Arts Education. She is an artist with a love for objects and place as vehicles for meaning-making, and she has a special place in her heart for museums and historical sites. When she’s not at API, she’s usually spending time with her loved ones and/or cat, or she’s making books, zines and other precious objects. Kyla was born and raised in Lancaster, PA and lives in Philadelphia.
Molly Gonzales
advocacy manager
Molly Gonzales is the Advocacy Manager for the Alice Paul Institute. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies and Political Science with a certificate in Nonprofit Management. While at Pitt, she was the editor-in-chief of The Fourth Wave, the campus’ only intersectional feminist publication, and a founding board member of Leading Women of Tomorrow where she worked to organize period product drives, feminist moving screenings, and consciousness-raising workshops. She received her Master of Arts at American University in Ethics, Peace, and Human Rights with a concentration in Feminist Philosophy. While at AU, she worked as a student archivist cataloging and digitizing materials related to queer women’s activism during the HIV/AIDs crisis and completed archival research for her master’s thesis. She is excited to bring her passions for feminist advocacy, archival research, and women’s history to API.
Olivia Errico
Public programs manager
Olivia holds a bachelor’s degree from Bennington College in Liberal Arts and a master’s degree in Public History from Rutgers University-Camden. As a graduate student, Olivia researched 20th century women’s political movements with a particular focus in grassroots activism and feminist movements. Prior to coming to API, Olivia worked at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia and the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Humanities. She is excited to bring her passion for feminist organizing, historical and contemporary, to API.
Monica Cole
Development Coordinator
Prior to coming to API, Monica Cole served as Box Office Associate & House Manager for Act II Playhouse in Ambler, PA where, in addition to selling tickets in the box office and house managing during performances, they were tasked with processing incoming donations and managing donor acknowledgement within PatronManager, Salesforce’s ticketing CRM. Additionally, as House Manager at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, Monica catered directly to donors and VIPs when they came in person to the Annenberg, which further strengthened their relationship-building and networking skills around one-on-one donor outreach. Monica is excited to bring their front-facing customer service experience and strong person-to-person skills in outreach and donor solicitation to the team at API. Monica holds a bachelors in theatre from Northeastern University and currently resides in Philadelphia, PA.
Quincy Wansel
Youth Program Coordinator
she/they
Quincy Wansel began her tenure at API in 2021 as a Social Media Intern before moving into the Program Assistant role. Quincy graduated from Rutgers-Camden in 2023 with a major in Africana Studies and a double minor in English and Museum Studies. She has a fiery passion for gender studies, social justice, and racial issues. Before API, Quincy worked for equality with fellow college students through the Black Student Union at her school, participating in Black Lives Matter marches, writing Black and women’s empowerment-focused poetry, and reading that poetry to eager students at an all-girls school in the South Bronx.
Board of directors
Dr. June DePonte Sernak, Chair
Nancy Mirfin, Treasurer
Meghan Day, Secretary
Ting Ting Cheng
Lois Gabin-Legato