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LWVO On Scene and Reporting out about "LWVC Convention 2019"
The 68th Convention of the League of Women Voters of California (LWVC), was host to 213 voting delegates representing 55 local Leagues, 3 inter-League organizations (ILOs that included League of Women Voters Bay Area-LWVBA), and the LWVC board. Held May 31 to June 2, 2019 at the Westin Hotel in Pasadena, the convention had a total number of 243 attendees that included non-voting members, guests, LWVC staff, and volunteers. As one of the largest leagues, the LWVOakland had 9 delegates, led by LWVO President Louise Rothman-Riemer. In addition, four LWVO members attended a special daylong training workshop, held Thursday, May 30, before start of Convention. Entitled “Let’s Talk About Power—Exploring Race, Identity Formation and Organizing,” this mind-shifting inspiring pre-convention workshop explored individual cultural assumptions and implicit bias to apply it to our work with the League and was facilitated by PaKou Her, Principal of Tseng Development Group and former Executive Director of 18MillionRising.org.
Besides the full agenda of plenaries, speakers, elections, we from LWVO were active participants and presenters during workshops that featured such topics and issues as “Listening Across our Differences and Building Bridges of Respect in a Polarized America,” Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Our Journey to Greater Mission Impact” Great League Ideas!, Who Has the Power, LWV Climate Change Across California, Growing the League of the Future, Organizing for Dollars, and more.
We were also part of early morning and late evening caucuses featuring discussion and insights into “One Byte at a Time: Our Story in Data;” “Free the Vote: the Case for Felony Enfranchisement;” Schools and Communities First Campaign, “Everyone Counts? How your League can support the Census 2020; Electoral Process Concurrence; Gaining Consensus on Charter School Position; ‘How to be Beneficiaries, not Victims of Social Media in a Democracy;” “Voters Choice Act 2020—Engaging Voters and Driving Turnout Across Diverse Communities;” Criminal Justice—Balancing Safety and Equity for All; California’s Homelessness Crisis; LWV Los Angeles Transgender and Gender Non-conforming Voter Education and Empowerment Program; “Water, Water, Water—Tell Us Your Concerns;” Takeaways from the United Nations CSW 63; Candidate Forums—Keeping the Discussion Civil; “Parkland Voter Movement Youth Leading the Way toward Civic Participation;” “The Idea of America—Our Values, Our Legacy and our Future;” General Plans: How are you holding Local Officials Accountable; A Guide to Supportive Housing; Equity for Women; Finding Local Stories about the Women’s Suffrage Campaign; Wildfire Prevention, Emergency Communication and Evacuation Procedures; Local League Services and Feedback and more League-related help. As you can see the array of programs and ideas was outstanding and innovative with insightful presentations. In coming weeks we will be sharing summaries of what we learned and presented and filing our reports on our website—Watch for more in upcoming eblasts!!
New LWVC officers, Directors and Nominating Committee elected are as follows;
Officers:
President: Carol Moon Goldberg (LWV Sacramento County)
1st Vice President: Jacquie Canfield (LWV Fresno)
2nd Vice President: Gloria Chun Hoo (LWV San Jose/Santa Clara)
Secretary: Caroline de Llamas (LWV East San Gabriel Valley)
Treasurer: Open
Directors:
Director: Maxine Anderson (LWV San Francisco)
Director: Amanda Berg (LWV San Diego)
Director: Christina Dragonetti (LWV San Francisco)
Director: Tracey Edwards (LWV Cupertino/Sunnyvale)
Director: Debbie Fagen (LWV Pasadena Area)
Director: Helen L. Hutchison (LWV Oakland)
Director: Aisha Piracha-Zakariya (LWV Palo Alto)
Director: Lori Thiel (LWV San Diego)
Nominating Committee:
Chair: Open
Member: Pat Coulter (LWV Pasadena Area)
Member: Carolina Goodman (LWV Los Angeles).
The LWVC Program - 2019-2021 (See Convention Workbook, pages 35-47 which is located on LWVC website and provides very informative, interesting and detailed descriptions of positions, policies listed below and voted on at Convention) Delegates voted to retain current positions as follows:
- Government, including campaign financing, constitution, election systems, intergovernmental relationships, public libraries, redistricting, state and local finance, and voting rights.
- Natural Resources, including agriculture, air quality, energy, hazardous materials, land use, solid waste, transportation, and water.
- Social Policy, including children and family issues, child care, community college system, education: pre-kindergarten through 12, housing, juvenile justice/dependency, legal aid, mental health care, and public higher education.
Delegates adopted the recommended Issues for Education and Advocacy for 2019-2021:
- Making Democracy Work in California
- Schools & Communities First Campaign
- Climate Change
- Housing and Homelessness
- Criminal Justice Reform
Delegates adopted the recommended new positions by concurrence as detailed on pages 42-47 of the Convention Workbook: Criminal Justice and the Electoral Process (replaces the current position on Election Systems). A widely discussed “Not-Recommended Program” item approved by the delegates was the recommendation: LWVC update of the PreK-12 Education position to include charter schools’ accountability.
LWVC Budget for 2019-2021:The delegates adopted the LWVC budget for 2019-2021 totaling $1,097,088 as set forth in the Convention Workbook, pages 75-80. The per member payment (PMP) will not increase.
Two “Will of the Convention” Resolutions for 2019 approved by delegates:
- Resolution Motion No. 550: Resolved that the LWVC statewide convention ask our elected representatives in the US Senate, Senator Dianne Feinstein and Senator Kamala Harris, to take all measures within their power to move forward the passage of the provisions of HR 1 in the Senate.
- Resolution Motion No. 551: Resolved that we as delegates of California local Leagues assembled at the 2019 LWVC Convention call upon the LWVC Board, Action Committee and local Leagues to advocate for ‘Climate Emergency Declarations’ and urgent relevant action by state, county, and local governments.
Finally it should be noted that four Local Leagues received recognition for their innovative and groundbreaking programs:
- Engaging Underserved Communities - LWV Fremont/Newark/Union City and LWV Santa Barbara
- Promoting League Visibility - Mother Lode MAS/MAL Unit
- Making Democracy Stronger - LWV Los Angeles
Watch for our next eblast where we will feature the “members” applauding the work of Helen Hutchison, Bonnie Hamlin, Louise Rothman-Riemer and introduce newly elected LWVO Board members, not to mention the issues of the day.
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Save the Date: Oakland Rising’s Progressives Party and Townie Awards
Thursday, June 20, 2019
5:30PM to 8:30PM
Lakeside Park Garden Center
666 Bellevue Avenue
Oakland, CA 94610
(map)
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Born out of Revive Oakland’s winning campaign for good jobs for local workers on the former Oakland Army Base redevelopment, the Oversight Commission has ensured these groundbreaking jobs policies are fully implemented; resulting in workers from Oakland’s flatland communities earning over $12.6 million in wages so far.
In addition, we are excited to join Oakland Rising in honoring the following Townie winners:
● Oakland Education Association (OEA) - Townie of the Year
● Reem's (with EBASE alum Reem Assil) - Local Business
● Alma Blackwell, Causa Justa Just Cause - Social Justice Warrior
● Stop Urban Shield - Volunteer
● United Roots, in memory of aManda Greene - Youth Advocate
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Save the Date: Oakland A's vs.Los Angeles Angels Baseball Game
Tuesday, September 03, 2019
7:00PM to 10:00PM
Oakland Coliseum
7000 Coliseum Way
Oakland, CA 94621
(map)
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The League of Women Voters of Oakland Membership Committee is sponsoring a social event with an evening at the Oakland Athletics vs. the Los Angeles Angels baseball game on Tuesday* September 3, 2019 at 7pm.
*Bonus--parking at the Oakland Coliseum is FREE on Tuesdays.
We will sit in the Plaza Level and the price for each ticket is $29.00. Payment may be made via the PayPal link (coming soon) on the LWVO web site or by sending a check (payable to the League of Women Voters Oakland) to the LWVO office:
436 14th Street
Suite 1213
Oakland, CA 94612.
Payment must be made by Saturday, August 24, 2019.
Tickets will be delivered to purchaser by email by Friday, August 30, 2019.
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