Progressive Dane honors Rebecca Kemble, Heidi Wegleitner with Awards

Progressive Dane honored two incredible leaders at our 2022 Snowball Fundraiser at Cafe Coda this past Sunday.

District 10 Alder Yanette Figueroa-Cole presented former District 18 Alder Rebecca Kemble with the David Austin Memorial Award, noting that Kemble’s “work on the council advocating for housing issues, low-income families, police oversight, and more has inspired many in the city of Madison.” 

That includes Figueroa-Cole herself who reached out to Kemble when she was first thinking of running for Common Council in 2020.

“Rebecca believed in myself before I could believe in myself. She offered to support me throughout the campaign and she didn’t fail me.” 

Kemble accepted the award remotely, explaining over Zoom that she was in Montreal at the COP 15 Conference on Biodiversity. She was a part of a contingent of activists from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan hoping to draw attention to “the struggle of water protectors and the devastation that Enbridge has caused the whole region.”

Kemble spoke of her gratitude for Progressive Dane, and particularly its Common Council caucus. 

“If it weren’t for the caucuses, we would not have been able to accomplish what we’ve accomplished from my time in office. That Sunday before Council time to converse, to debate, to understand each other, to educate each other, and to really link with PD values, to hold each other accountable to PD values, and to strategize is just freaking invaluable. There’s nothing like PD in Madison. 

The David Austin Memorial Award is presented to individuals who are committed to working toward creating a just and fair society through progressive public policy and electoral efforts that bring new ideas and new people into the local conversation.

Next, Progressive Dane Policy Committee Chair Diane Farsetta and County Board Supervisor Jacob Wright (District 17) presented Supervisor Heidi Wegleitner with the Kathy Schroeder Memorial Award.

Wright, who collaborated on his remarks with fellow PD-endorsed freshman Supervisor Kierstin Huelsemann (District 27) noted that Heidi’s “leadership within Progressive Dane and on the County Board’s progressive side has been immeasurable.” 

“If I can just editorialize for a second on my own experience, I joined the county board with specific goals around affordable housing, around reduction in incarceration, and especially with the millions that are in the 2023 county budget on affordable housing it just looks like magic, right, like i got onto the board and there it was and I got to vote for that and I got to advocate for that, it’s was great. But of course it wasnt magic, right? IT was hard work. And it was hard work that Heidi has been doing for ages. We all know it.” 

Farsetta remarked that “unlike many elected officials [Heidi] stays true to and continues to be an activist. She is rooted in the community and always challenging herself to widen who has access to the levers of power, to help bring people in.” 

Wegleitner accepted the award in person, saying that while she never met Kathy Schroeder, she understood that the Kathy Schroeder Memorial Award is a worker-bee award and that she was humbled to receive it. 

She called on Progressive Dane members to take up more of the critically important day-to-day tasks that keep a grassroots organization running. 

“We need your help connecting people to what we do. We need more active members. Be evangelists, connect people to our work. Connect us to activists. Let’s build people-power. Let’s really push for a progressive common council.”

The Kathy Schroeder Memorial Award is given in recognition of outstanding long-term service to progressive causes and honors a PD member, friend, or ally who gives generously of their time and energy to strengthen and expand community organizing efforts that serve ordinary residents, cares passionately about fairness and equity, works with a spirit of humor, creativity, experience, and foresight, takes responsibility for organizational details and makes connections between different issues and different constituencies, and has a long record of fidelity to a vision of a democratic society where burdens and resources are shared equitably.