IT’S MY VOTE: I WILL BE HEARD
The 2012 election will see the largest number of women running for Senate seats in history. For the first time, more female than male Democrats are pegged to run in highly contested Senate races. Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA), who is the first woman ever to chair the committee, has spent the past few years aggressively recruiting women candidates who will help the Democrats maintain their senatorial majority.
AAUW believes that women will play a crucial role in the 2012 election, both as candidates and as voters. We are proud to launch a serious investment in getting out the women’s vote for the 2012 election with our new My Vote: I Will Be Heard campaign. We will work to educate women across the country about the rights and privileges that are at stake in the upcoming election; we will increase the volume and direction of women’s voices and commit ourselves to getting women to the polls in record numbers.
Showcase AAUW in Your Community
Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, AAUW’s new research report on sexual harassment in middle and high schools, gives branches a ready-made opportunity to show their local community what AAUW is all about.
This report is an outstanding chance to work with your local PTA, school district, Girl or Boy Scout troop, YWCA, and YMCA. Not sure what to say? Use the AAUW Power Point presentation.
Contact a nearby school to find out if there is a Title IX coordinator and if that person’s name is publicized. Ask how many sexual harassment complaints have been filed recently, and share a copy of the report.
Branch and State Happenings
Use the AAUW Member Showcase calendar to publicize your branch events. Anyone, member and non-member alike, can access the Member Showcase calendar on the AAUW website. You can include hyperlinks to your branch website and/or attach documents. It is a great vehicle for publicizing scholar recognition events, EYH conferences, fundraising events, branch meetings, special interest groups, outings – the list is endless!
When searching for events, use the Branch/State Calendar to display only events for your branch or for AAUW-WA.
To request authorization to add events for your branch to the AAUW Member Showcase calendar, have the Branch president send a request – including branch name and state, plus name, email address, and phone number of authorized person from your branch - to AAUWCalendar@aauw.org.
Welcome
What a beautiful autumn we had here in the northwest! It was a truly spectacular display of nature’s glory. And now we’ve moved into the “gray” season – rain, snow, fog, clouds…all those other identifiers of our winter weather.
So this is the time when we hunker down and get our work done. The governor has made her budget proposal for the special legislative session. (You can see a brief summary and the links to specifics on the AAUW-WA Blog on this page.) Our lobbyist, Pam Crone, will be hard at work on our behalf making sure lawmakers know that our priorities include:
- saving the higher education system
- preserving our K-12 system
- ensuring tax fairness
It’s our job to weigh in with our state legislators as well, so let them know what you think about the proposals.
Join us in Olympia on January 23rd for Lobby Day 2012. The registration form is here. We’ll hear from the experts and our lobbyist, and then we’ll visit with our legislators to reinforce our positions on issues that we care about.
The convention planning committee is working hard to make the April 2012 convention in Tacoma the best ever. Once again, we’ll be meeting on a college campus – University of Washington-Tacoma (pictured above) – and, once again, there will be panels of dynamic speakers, exciting workshops, visitors from our national organization, and a lot of fun! So plan now to be in Tacoma on April 13-15, 2012.
Another issue of the Evergreen Leader will be coming out soon with much more specific information and news from around the state, so keep checking your mailbox in mid-December.
In the meantime, Happy Holidays from both of us.
Ann Dennis and Dixie Swenson
Co-Presidents, AAUW-WA
president@aauw-wa.org
How Can I Join AAUW?
For informationAAUW-WA Blog
Our public policy team sponsors a blog that highlights recent activities impacting AAUW issues. Check it out for frequent updates
