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Loud and Clear - August 2014  
Welcome
New Members!
  

Ginger Adkins
Ellen Alper
Amy Blouin
Evie Hemphill
Norma Line
Mary Merz
Mary Sawyer

~~~ 

  
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A Word from the President
  
Women's Voices: Your Source
for All Things Social Justice
 
  
As summer winds down here at Women's Voices, we're gearing up for an interesting and eventful 2014-15.  Thanks to the hard work of our board and committee chairs, we have several things to tell you about...all related to the social justice issues you care about!  
  • Women's Voices recommends voting "No" on Amendment 5 which duplicates the Missouri and federal  Constitutional protection of the  "right to bear arms" and "No" on Amendment 7 which would raise the sales tax to fund transportation projects. 
  • We begin our monthly programs with "The Unraveling of Our Reproductive Rights" on September 11 at 7:00 pm at the Ethical Society.  We are honored that our speaker will be Paula Gianino, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri.
  • Our newest project ("Lock It for Love") provides free gun locks to parents and guardians, along with information on keeping children safe from gun injury or death.

 

More information on the above topics  is in this newsletter.  And you can "like" us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for timely updates on social justice issues. 

  
-Lise Bernstein
 
Women's Voices Takes Positions on Two Ballot Initiatives  
  
Women's Voices members voted to oppose two initiatives that will appear on the August 5th ballot: Amendment 5 and Amendment 7. 

 

Amendment 5 would make the right to keep and bear arms in Missouri an "unalienable" right. It would reinforce the right of Missouri citizens to keep and bear arms, ammunition and accessories in defense of families and to protect themselves, their homes and their property. The amendment would acknowledge these rights as unalienable, and obligate Missouri officials to uphold these liberties against infringement.

 

"Our Committee members are against this proposal because the Second Amendment already gives permission for individuals to keep and bear arms, and our State Constitution already provides protections for the right to bear arms in defense of one's home, property and person," according to Carol Wofsey and Barbara Finch, co-chairs of the Campaign for Common-Sense Gun Solutions. "We believe that making this right unalienable is dangerous public policy and increases the likelihood that guns may fall into the hands of those who should not possess weapons."

 

Our members also voted to oppose Amendment 7, a $6 billion sales tax increase for highway maintenance. Amendment 7 would result in a 3/4 cent sales tax for 10 years. The Missouri Department of Transportation will receive 90% of the money from the tax, while cities and counties will each get 5% of the tax.

 

This proposed sales tax unjustly shifts the burden for road construction from highway users like the trucking industry to Missouri consumers and working families. Those who benefit the least from Amendment 7, people of modest incomes who do less driving and pay a disproportionate share of their incomes toward sales tax, will bear the greatest burden of this regressive tax.

 

This is the largest tax increase in Missouri's history. The state/local sales tax rate in Missouri is already the 14th highest in the nation. Should Amendment 7 be approved, Missouri will have the 7th highest sales tax rate in the nation (ahead of states like New York, California, and Illinois).

     

 

 

 

 

 
Getting Ready, Getting Set...  
  
One dining room table + eight women + two hours = Women's Voices educational programming for the coming year!
 
Kudos to members of the program committee who gathered in Joanne Kelly's dining room to discuss, argue, explain, critique, evaluate, and finally, vote on programs for the second Thursday night of each month, from September through May.  We have a fabulous lineup of programs and speakers that we'll be announcing over the next several weeks.  Of course, we will have something special in December.  Of course, we will have a great celebration at our annual meeting in May (ten years!).  And you can look forward to programs on urban education, reproductive health, Missouri's tax crisis, shareholder advocacy, white privilege, and gun violence.  More will be revealed soon!
 
Thanks to everyone around Joanne's table:  Susan Hayman, Lise Bernstein, Jeanne Bubb, Mary Clemons, Barbara Finch, Ann Ruger, and Anna Sandidge.  
  
    

"For the Sake of All" 

   
In a letter published in the July 4 edition of the St. Louis Business Journal, Women's Voices immediate past president Mary Clemons emphasizes the imperative need to address racial disparities in the St. Louis region.  Click HERE to read her inspiring letter. 
    
Maj. Rochelle Jones & Lt. Janice Bockstruck distribute free gun locks
A 21-Lock Salute...
 
 
... to members of the Campaign for Common-Sense Gun Solutions, who distributed 21 free cable gun locks to owners of firearms at the July 20 Back To School Store!  Many thanks to Lt. Janice Bockstruck and Maj. Rochelle Jones of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, who provided the locks and demonstrated how they should be used in order to keep kids safe. 
 
This event was the first in our "Lock It For Love" campaign, which focuses on gun violence as a public health issue. 
  
  
And Speaking of Guns... 
    
Do you have one?  An old one, that you don't want any longer?  A gun that you haven't used in a while?  A gun that you'd like to get rid of?  As a social justice organization, we never thought we'd need, want, or ask for a gun.  But it turns out that we do need a demonstration firearm to use in our "Lock It For Love" campaign. 
  
We need a real gun (disabled, of course) that we can use to demonstrate how gun locks are to be properly used.  If you have a pistol or revolver that you would be willing to donate to the cause, we will take it to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police department where it can be permanently disabled.  Then we can show parents the proper way to install gun locks to keep their kids safe.  If you're interested in making this in-kind contribution to Women's Voices, contact us at: gunsolutions@womensvoicesraised.org.   

   

 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
"Lock It for Love" Effort Evaluated 
  
In early July, members of the Campaign for Common-Sense Gun Solutions appeared at two venues  --the Back To School Store at Central Reform Congregation and a family picnic sponsored by the Deaconess Foundation at O'Fallon Park--  to hand out flyers about safe gun storage and distribute free gun locks to parents who requested them.
 
Members of the committee are meeting this month to evaluate this effort and determine if they want to launch a city-wide campaign under the "Lock It For Love" concept.  A study titled "Gun Storage Practices" that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2005 reached this conclusion: 
 
The 4 practices of keeping a gun locked, unloaded, storing ammunition locked, and in a separate location are each associated with a protective effect and suggest a feasible strategy to reduce these types of injuries in homes with children and teenagers where guns are stored.  
       

Ignorance Is NOT Bliss 

  
Did you know that there has been no federally funded research on gun violence for the past 18 years?  Does this seem smart to you?
 
It doesn't to members of the Women's Voices Campaign for Common-Sense Gun Solutions. They are contacting members of the House sub-committee that sets the budget for the Centers for Disease Control to ask for funding to study the roots of gun violence and how best to prevent it.
 
A fact sheet is being prepared that will contain information about this problem.  If you would like to raise your voice and contact a member of congress, send an email to: gunsolutions@womensvoicesraised.org and we'll see that you get information.  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Women's Voices Represented at Statewide Health Advocates Conference  
  
Joyce Borgmeyer and Ruth Ehresman participated in a 2-day conference sponsored by the Missouri Health Advocacy Alliance.  Along with health care advocates from across the state, they learned about several legislative successes (restoration of adult dental services to our Medicaid program; eliminating the waiting period for children to enroll in the state children's insurance program; an increase in reimbursement rates for Community Mental Health Centers) and about budget and tax issues affecting health care and on the efforts to expand Medicaid.
 
The presenters expressed optimism that a bill to expand Medicaid has a high likelihood of passing in 2015.  So stay tuned!  Working in partnership with the other members of the Medicaid Expansion coalition, our legislators need to hear from us that Medicaid is critical for the health and economy of our state. We will continue to speak out until a bill is passed, signed by our governor, and 300,000 uninsured low-income Missourians have health care coverage.   
  

See What You Missed!

Click HERE for more WV photos from the 2014 PRIDE PARADE

  

You didn't join us in the Pride Parade?  Watch this wonderful video made by our member and parade participant Sandra Pfeifer, and mark your calendar now for the last Sunday in June, 2015!  Our contingent had a terrific time displaying our signs (quotes about equality from famous people), being cheered by the crowd, and enjoying the sights and festivities as we marched with our Women's Voices banner. 
 

  
Kudos to... Women Who Write!  
 
... to member Maxine Stone for her July 2 letter to the Webster-Kirkwood Times about the parks in Webster Groves.
  
... to member Sharon Hollander for her letter to the editor published in the Post-Dispatch on July 16. 
 
... to member Mary Ann McGivern for her online article in the National Catholic Reporter on July 21 online about helping refugee children. 
 
... to member Susan Mlynarczyk for her online commentary in the St. Louis Jewish Light on July 23 about managing your environmental footprint.
 

 

And a special "Thumbs Up!"...
 
... to St. Louis Public Schools and KIPP charter schools for partnering to open KIPP Victory, an elementary school opening August 7 in the district-owned Mitchell School that closed in 2008 (Kelvin Adams and Kelly Garrett spoke at the WV program in September 2012).
 
[SAVE THE DATE for the WV October Program taking a deeper look at education and the status of Normandy district: Thursday, October 10, 7:00 pm at the Ethical Society.]
     

 

BRAVO to all who raised their voices this month! 

  
Not on Facebook?  
  
Here's what you missed on the WV Facebook page* this last month: 
  
  
Former Senator Bond will step up activities in support of Missouri Medicaid expansion 
 
Justice Ginsburg quotes in dissent of Supreme Court ruling granting privately held companies right to deny birth control coverage on religious grounds 
 
Sandra Fluke commentary in the Washington Post on the Hobby Lobby case 
 
Article in Post-Dispatch on municipal courts being asked to open their courtrooms to the public 
 
Job creator tells Missouri Legislature it is wrong on Medicaid 
 
Editorial on child injuries and deaths due to lack of firearm safety 
 
ACLU lawsuit on ballot language for early voting proposal 
 
Tishaura Jones, St. Louis city treasurer, helping city workers escape payday loans 
 
Governor Nixon vetoes sham payday loan bill 
 
Early returns on health care reform are positive 
 
Article on partnership of St. Louis public school and KIPP Charter school  
 
Post-Dispatch editorial explains why Governor Nixon correct in vetoing payday loan bill 
 
Editorial on underfunding programs that serve the poor and working poor in Missouri 
 
Medical legal partnerships can improve community well-being and health 
 
Federal Protecting Finance Bureau taking steps to halt abusive practices by payday lenders
  
*To receive WV news feeds on Facebook, click 
and then click the "LIKE" button on our Facebook page.
  
 
Have something to submit for LOUD AND CLEAR?
  
Loud and Clear is the official monthly e-newsletter of Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice and is distributed on the last Monday or Tuesday of the month.  The deadline for article submission is the 20th of each  month; click HERE to contact editor Bethany Curtis.
 
 
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