LWV-Wake Update 6/13/2022
|  | Dear ~~first_name~~,
Greetings from LWV-Wake.
Freedom. It's what we celebrate on June 19, recognizing the day in 1965, when the news of the 1963 Emancipation Proclamation abolishing slavery, reached enslaved people in Galveston, Texas. Freedom as a country is what we celebrate every 4th of July. The freedoms we have are ensured by our rights, like the 13th Amendment (freedom from slavery) and the Bill of Rights (freedom of speech, religion, etc.)
Rights are what we continue to fight for in this country to protect our freedoms. Whether it be guns and LGBTQ+, or abortion, equality and voting, battles over rights are heating up this summer as we witness weekly mass shootings, respond to the dreaded Roe decision and fight back against discrimination.
Advocating for rights is what we, the League of Women Voters, commit to as we carry out our mission of Defending Democracy and Empowering Voters. We must continue to speak up, and encourage others to speak up, for abortion rights, equality, public safety, and the right for EVERY eligible vote to count, whether made on an absentee ballot or at the polls. For this is the work that truly ensures our freedom.
January 6th Public Hearings
There's another battle heating up in Washington. It's the battle to name and hold accountable, those responsible for the deadly attacks on our Capitol. It's also a battle to uphold and protect the peaceful transfer of power. Public hearings for 2022 began Thursday, June 9th. Three additional hearings have been scheduled for this week: Today at 10am, Wednesday at 10am, and Thursday at 1pm. Network coverage begins at 8pm on the hearing dates. A full hearing schedule has not yet been made public. To learn more about what will be discussed at this week's hearings, click here.
LWVUS, released the following statement on June 9th regarding the January 6th public hearings:
"January 6, 2021, will forever be marked as the day our democracy was assaulted by criminal seditionists. These unpatriotic insurrectionists stormed our nation’s capitol in a deadly attempt to overturn the will of the people in the 2020 Election. These heinous actions should not be overlooked and cannot go without consequence.
"We support the bipartisan January 6th committee in holding this investigation to learn the truth of what happened that day and provide the American people with a road map for action to ensure our democracy isn’t threatened in this manner again."
Presentation on Best Babies Zone - June 14th 12pm
A Black baby born in Southeast Raleigh is only half as likely to see their first birthday as a White baby born in the rest of Wake County. Those are bad odds for the start of a life. Does the sheer unfairness make you want to get up and help? Wake County can do better for our youngest. Best Babies Zone is a community-based initiative to give all babies a better chance. Join us as we hear from BBZ leader Dauline M. Singletary, June 14th at noon on Zoom. To register, scroll down to events.
Coming to an Inbox Near You - Membership Renewals
Although our new website allows an annual renewal of dues based on your individual registration date, many of our long-standing members remain registered with a June/July renewal date. This means that beginning late May, many of you will receive the first of three renewal email notices generated from the membership roster on the website.
You can extend your membership for another full year by paying dues in one of three ways: on the website, using your credit card through our PayPal credit card processing system (no PayPal account required), via a PayPal account, or by downloading the form and mailing a check ($60 individual; $90 household). Our office address is 3509 Haworth Drive Suite 306 Raleigh, NC 27609. Office mail is checked once or twice a week. Once your check is received, your membership will be noted as paid on our website directory.
In addition to our regular individual/household membership, we now offer a benefactor/benefactor household level membership for $100/$150. This type of membership is being offered to raise funds for memberships for those that may want to join the League but lack adequate financial resources to do so. Once we have collected enough benefactor memberships, we will begin to offer a "Pay What You Can" membership. We encourage any member who is interested in helping others join the League to choose this membership level.
If you have forgotten your password in order to log in to your account, you may follow the instructions to create a new one, or you may contact roster guru Laurel Voelker to assist you. Should you have any questions about memberships, please contact Dale Cousins.
We hope all of you will continue your membership and support the League of Women Voters of Wake County.
LWV-Wake Volunteer Opportunity - Finance Committee
As part of our strategic plan implementation, LWW-Wake is creating a finance committee. This committee will work with the Treasurer to expand the types of financial reporting presented to the board, create processes to mitigate financial risk and assist with the yearly budget process. Experience with, or knowledge of, budgeting, financial statements, and Quickbooks would be helpful. The committee will determine the frequency of meetings and work process. If you are interested, please email Elaine Okal. |
- June 14th 12pm - Disparities in Black Maternal and Child Health - Presentation on Wake County’s Best Babies Zone - Please join the LWV-Wake Healthcare and Women's Rights Committees for a special program about Disparities in Black Maternal and Child Health and how Wake County's Best Babies Zone Program is working to address infant mortality and health disparities, particularly in Southeast Raleigh. Guest speaker is Dauline M. Singletary, Public Health Educator in Maternal and Child Health with Wake County Health and Human Services who leads the Best Babies Zone. Register here.
- June 21st 3pm-4:30pm - League Lit Western Wake - Will discuss The Wilmington Lie by David Zucchino. A gripping account of the overthrow of the elected government of a Black-majority North Carolina city after Reconstruction that untangles a complicated set of power dynamics cutting across race, class and gender. Register here.
- July 21st 2pm-3pm - League Lit Raleigh - Will discuss Once I Was You by Maria Hinojosa. From Simon & Schuster: "The Emmy Award–winning journalist and anchor of NPR’s Latino USA tells the story of immigration in America through her family’s experiences and decades of reporting, painting an unflinching portrait of a country in crisis in this memoir that is “quite simply beautiful, written in Maria Hinojosa’s honest, passionate voice” (BookPage). Register here.
- August 10th 11am - Anna Julia Cooper Gravesite Trip & Lunch - League members and their guests will visit the gravesite of Anna Julia Cooper at the City Cemetery of Raleigh and learn the highlights of her accomplishments. We will then meet for lunch at a downtown restaurant. For more details and to register, click here.
|  | | Registration is now open for our largest fundraising event of the year, our Women's Equality Day celebration. Our theme this year is The Power of Pearls...And the Women Who Wear Them. We invite you to put on your pearls and join us!
During this event, we will recognize and honor all women elected officials serving Wake County. In addition, Janet Cowell, former NC state treasurer, state senator, and current CEO of Dix Park Conservancy, will serve as the keynote speaker. The event, held at the beautiful All Faiths Chapel at Dix Park, begins at 5:30 on Thursday, August 18th. We invite you to join us as a sponsor. Dues alone does not cover our annual expenses and we rely on sponsorships to help us fund:
- Programming - Timely Topics, DEI Roundtable, and other programs during the year that serve to educate our community on important issues.
- Civics Education program - A new program of short videos that provide information on local and state government, voting, elections, redistricting and other related topics, to our community.
- GOTV/Election projects - As we approach mid-term elections, our Voter Services committee is planning a host of GOTV projects, including media promotion for VOTE411.org, candidate forums, door hanger and post card projects, yard signs, etc. We must also push back against election disinformation meant to confuse, intimidate and harass voters, suppress the right to vote, or otherwise disrupt our democracy.
- Leadership Development Training - As we focus on developing leaders among our members, we need to invest in training and materials to help potential leaders learn how to be effective in the League to ensure the growth and stability of LWV-Wake.
- Technology - As the ability to reach citizens relies more on technology, LWV-Wake must adapt and invest in technology that allows us to educate, organize and activate in order to advocate more effectively.
To learn more about our sponsorship levels and to register, click on the link below:
| To see all upcoming LWVNC sponsored events, please view their Events Calendar
|  | NCGA Short Session Update
State legislators are midway through the short session, which is expected to end on July 4th. Noteworthy bills include:
- SB 149 - Expanding access to healthcare - A bill to expand Medicaid. Announced during a press conference on May 25th, the bill has passed the NC Senate. Advocacy efforts are being made to encourage the House to pass medicaid expansion as well. Be on the lookout for a LWV-Wake Action Alert this week.
- HB 755 Parents Bill of Rights - Filed May 26th. Informally called the "Don't Say Gay" bill, referring to similar legislation passed in Florida earlier this year, this bill would prohibit teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. It would also require schools to inform parents if their child seeks to change their sexual identifying pronouns. This bill, passed by the senate June 1st and expected to pass the House, would likely be vetoed by Governor Cooper.
For a discussion about this bill, as well as HB 860, filed by Senators Batch, Fitch and Garrett, see this article from Public Schools First NC.
- SB 888 - Codify Roe and Casey Protections - Filed May 26th and sponsored by Senators Marcus, Chaudhuri and Murdock. This bill effectively ensures precedents of these cases in protecting abortion rights.
- HB 119 - Reproduction Freedom Act - Filed May 26th and sponsored by Reps. Morey, Cunningham and von Haefen. The bill, in addition to protecting abortion rights, seeks to remove barriers to abortion, such as insurance coverage bans and banning telemedicine for medicine abortions.
We applaud these legislators for standing up for, and ensuring abortion rights support remains in the spotlight. Thank you! | Looking for information from a past newsletter? Previous League Updates can now be viewed on our website's home page. Look for the "League Updates" blue tab on the top menu.
Thank you for continuing to support the League of Women Voters of Wake County.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Tung
President | | The League of Women Voters of Wake County is a designated 501(c)3 nonprofit charitable organization by the IRS. Donations and membership dues are fully tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. | | Support the LWV-Wake with Amazon Smile donations
You can now select our League as your charity of choice and support LWV-Wake at no cost to you. A portion of all your Amazon purchases will be donated to LWV-Wake by Amazon. To learn more about Amazon Smile and how to sign up, click here. Once you have signed up and chosen League of Women Voters of Wake County as your charity, you can bookmark the Amazon Smile page. Thank you! | | | |