News 12 is highlighting an organization founded in Brooklyn that is helping to grow the representation of Black women in political office and giving Black women the resources they need to run.

"I was a member of the New York City Council for eight years and then I was president of the borough of Manhattan. Sometimes we have to be willing to step out and take a chance for running for office," says C. Virginia Fields, founding member of Higher Heights for America.

Fields broke barriers for Black women in political leadership as a former City Council member, the first Black woman to run for mayor and the second to become Manhattan borough president.

"I chose to run because I saw devastation, I saw abandonment. I saw lack of opportunities for young people. So, I wanted to be on the side of making those decisions," she says.

Fields is helping to grow Black women's political power as one of the founding members of Higher Heights for America, an organization started by president Glynda Carr in Brooklyn back in 2012.

"Higher Heights is the political home for Black women. A place for us to be informed, engaged and to take action," Carr adds.

Carr says she created the organization to give resources to women seeking office, at a time when those resources lacked.

"We were concerned about the state of this democracy and the representation of Black women. We train Black women to run for office. We create a space to be the sounding board for Black women."

Since then, the work of Carr and her team has helped elect 11 Black women to U.S. Congress, one to the Senate, and even helped to elect Letitia James, the first Black woman to serve as the New York state attorney general.

Higher Heights has been leading the movement to create a level playing field for Black women in politics as they work to invest in the next generation of political leaders.