About PLEN

We all remember what that feeling was like - being in college, collecting internship applications, wondering if you would ever make it to Washington. Somewhere along the way someone reached out and helped you; a door opened; a networking connection came through. PLEN is that door for hundreds of young women every single year.
--PLEN Alumna

PLEN...
- Prepares young women to make a difference in the world.
- Empowers young women to make their voices heard.
- Opens doors and provides young women with a powerful network of women leaders.

The Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN) is the only national organization whose sole mission is preparing women for public leadership.

Each year, PLEN brings hundreds of women students from colleges and universities across the country to Washington, D.C. for a weekend, week, or an entire semester to experience first-hand how public policy is shaped and implemented at the national level. These students meet with and learn from women leaders making and influencing public policy at some of the highest levels in the Congress, courts, federal agencies, corporate sector, policy research and advocacy organizations and the media.

PLEN is a 501(c)3 nonprofit nonpartisan organization that was founded as a national consortium of women's colleges with initial funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York