Amy Vruno Joins DC Vote as New Executive Director
About Amy Vruno
Amy Vruno is a nationally respected organizer, coalition builder, and executive leader with more than 20 years of experience building powerful coalitions, leading winning policy campaigns and advancing strategies that strengthen communities and our democracy. She brings the strategic discipline, fundraising strength and deep DC roots needed to defend and advance the rights of the 700,000+ people who call Washington, DC home at a critical moment for American democracy.
Amy has spent her career leading complex, multi-issue campaigns that expand access to participation in civic and economic life and deliver material results for working people. As Executive Director of the Washington Interfaith Network and previously as a Supervising Organizer with the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation, she directed and developed large-scale organizing efforts across housing, climate, transit, utilities, family sustaining jobs and economic justice issues. Under her leadership, coalitions secured more than $500 million annually in dedicated public transit funding across DC, Maryland and Virginia without concessions that harmed frontline workers; advanced a pipeline of more than 3,000 affordable homes; helped move 1,700 residents from homelessness into permanent housing; and won passage of the Healthy Homes Act to electrify 30,000 low- and moderate-income homes.
Her work has consistently bridged faith, labor and community institutions, building durable civic infrastructure capable of moving both government and corporate decision-makers, and expanding who has a voice in the decisions that shape their lives.
Amy operates fluently at both the grassroots and national levels. Across work in labor, climate, community and philanthropy, she has built on-the-ground capacity in nearly every state in the nation. As a Program Officer with Invest in Our Future, she managed a $41+ million national grantmaking portfolio supporting community power-building and clean energy implementation. She also played a lead role in a national capacity-building initiative supporting communities seeking nearly $2 billion in federal funding for projects addressing climate justice, pollution reduction and climate resilience, reaching more than 1,100 applicant communities, including local governments, institutions of higher education and federally recognized tribes across 49 U.S. states and most U.S. territories.
Through her capacity-building leadership, she has supported the Amalgamated Transit Union International across more than 20 U.S. states and several Canadian provinces, and trained and developed organizers and leaders in several states through the Industrial Areas Foundation. She has collaborated with networks including Community Change and Just Power Alliance to align institutional strategy and grassroots organizing to expand democratic participation and community power.
In addition to her organizing leadership, Amy brings deep executive experience. She has raised funds through dues, grassroots campaigns, major donors, foundations and contracts for more than 15 years; built and supervised high-performing staff teams; partnered closely with boards; overseen budgeting and strategic planning; and led organizational change processes during periods of growth and transition. She is both a movement-rooted leader and a disciplined institutional executive.
Amy holds a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School and a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Minnesota, where she graduated summa cum laude. She is also certified in Leadership Coaching through Georgetown University.
At a time when struggles over who counts as a full participant in American democracy continue to shape our national life, Amy believes the fight for DC statehood is inseparable from broader efforts to defend and expand voting rights, civic participation and democratic legitimacy across the United States. The struggle for the enfranchisement of DC residents is part of a larger American tradition: each generation working to overcome barriers along the road to full representation and expanding the promise of democracy.
As Executive Director of DC Vote, Amy is focused on building the durable civic and political power necessary to secure full representation and self-determination for the people of Washington, DC, and to ensure that when the next federal opportunity emerges, the movement is strong, focused and ready to win.