Mill Valley native Emily Kirsch has been named a 2011 New Leaders Council Fellow, one of just 18 San Francisco-based progressive political leaders selected for the program.

The New Leaders Council trains and supports the next generation of progressive political entrepreneurs – those who are leading industries, setting trends, and building institutions that support robust civic and political life in a global America.

As part of the fellowship, Kirsch will participate in a five-month professional development program focusing on a core curriculum of personal leadership development, entrepreneurship, communications and marketing, fundraising and finance, political strategy and management, traditional and new media and Internet and technology.

Kirsh is currently a lead organizer at the Oakland-based Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, which works for “justice in the system, opportunity in our cities, peace on our streets.” The Green-Collar Jobs Campaign, led by Kirsch, advocates for public policy that creates good green jobs, especially for low-income communities and people of color.

Kirsch’s interest in grassroots politics and leadership was piqued last year when she attended a weekend training program, jointly produced by the Ella Baker Center and Camp Wellstone, which provided hands-on, practical skills in grassroots politics for citizen activists, campaign workers, and people interested in running for office.

“I've spent the past four years advocating for solutions with decision makers,” Kirsch wrote in an e-mail. "I decided to participate in the Camp Wellstone training so that I could learn how to run for office and be an elected official making the decisions

At the weekend retreat, she met two alumni of the NLC who eventually nominated her for the fellowship. Her resume and application got her through the first round of decision-making; an in-person interview in Berkeley sealed the deal.

Kirsch grew up in the Sycamore Park neighborhood of Mill Valley, where her parents Joel and Susan still live, and attended Tamalpais High School for two years. She spent her junior year abroad in Durban, South Africa, and graduated from Tamiscal High upon her return.

Kirsch will join 17 other San Francisco-based fellows and a total of 270 fellows in 15 cities around the country in the program, considered the premier political entrepreneurship training program for young professional, progressive leaders.

And her plans don’t end there: this year, the 2008 San Francisco State honors graduate (who designed her own major in Urban Health and Sustainable Development), will be applying to U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

Kirsch seems to have a solid vision for her future and how this fellowship will help her get there.

“As the founder of the Ella Baker Center, Van Jones said, we must shift from an old economy based on consumption, debt and ecological destruction to a new economy based based on production and manufacturing, thrift, conservation and ecological restoration," she said. "My goal as a New Leaders Council Fellow is to be a leader in making that economic shift. Progressives have often shied away from power and money. However, this leaves both in the hands of those who are willing to put profit above all else.

"As an NLC fellow, I'm excited to reclaim power and use it to ensure that people and our planet are put before profit, because I know that justice begins with you and with me," Kirsch continued.