Date: Saturday, June 19 or 26

Time: 2:00 PM

April was National Women's History Month. Fatima accepted two proclamations (from Congressman Panetta's office and the Monterey County Board of Supervisors) honoring our Branch for our mission and activities to promote equity and advancement for all women and girls. She also presented the AAUW Work Smart Salary Negotiations workshop to students at Hartnell College on March 30^th.

·        In March, we heard from Sherry McIntyre who teaches a class on World Religions at a high school in Modesto, the only district in the nation that requires the study of world religions for graduation.  Sherry believes that “Hate comes from fear, fear comes from ignorance, and by replacing ignorance with wisdom, peace is possible.” 

·        In April, we had a very informative presentation by Mimi Sheridan about Margaret Jacks, daughter of land baron David Jacks. Margaret focused much of her life to preserve and improve Monterey's historic and natural features. For example, she helped establish the La Merienda Festival and the Memory Garden at the Custom House Plaza.

·        On May 1^st, Ann Jastrab, Executive Director for the Center for Photographic Art, gave us a very enjoyable virtual tour of the Center. We learned that the Center evolved from Friends of Photography established by Ansel Adams, Wynn Bullock and Cole Weston. Ann led our virtual walk-through of the annual Members Juried Exhibition and inspired us to visit in person.

From National, you have received notices to vote about a significant bylaws change that proposes to eliminate the degree requirement for membership. If you haven't already voted on the proposed bylaws change, you still have until May 17 to vote. For the proposal to pass, a two-thirds majority is required of those members who cast their votes. You have an opportunity to make your voice heard whether you support or oppose the proposed bylaws change. AAUW has posted their rationale for proposing this change on their website at: https://www.aauw.org/resources/member/governance-tools/national-election/.

We are looking forward to when we can safely get together again. With that in mind we have reserved Veterans Memorial Park (1200 Veterans Dr., Monterey) for our annual picnic on Saturday, August 21. Please save the date. Details will be forthcoming as we get closer to August.

Save the Date on your calendars for a "June Zoom" with a few of our past Scholarship recipients who will talk to us about how our Scholarships contributed to their journey and what they have accomplished in the years since receiving them. We are very excited about this event. It will be Saturday, June 12, at 2:00 pm. The Zoom link will come to you in an eblast a few days before the event.

Our committee selected 15 girls and 4 alternates for this summer’s Virtual Tech Trek camps. The girls are from Pacific Grove, Seaside, Walter Colton, Buena Vista and Bolsa Knolls Middle Schools. Go to https://www.aauw-ca.org/virtualtechtrek/ to learn more about the format of the virtual camp. A BIG thanks to a great committee for their wisdom, experience, and caring and relaxed approach to the interviews, which helped the girls relax as we interviewed them over Zoom: Pam Craig, Jane DiGirolamo, Marilyn Erickson, Karen Hall, Mary Hall, Cheryl Moore, Chris Parmentier and Karen Snow. Mark your calendars NOW for Saturday, September 11, as the date for the fall Tech Trek fundraiser.

The convention was held on April 17, online. To see the recording of it, go to this link. An alternative to seeing the entire meeting: at the same link, under Materials, click "Meeting Presentation" to see the slide show that summarizes it.

At the link, there are videos of the speeches of the Speech Trek finalists this year, from CA Online (1st place), Del Mar-Leucadia branch (2nd place) and La Mesa-El Cajon branch (3rd place). They won $1500, $1000 and $500 respectively. The topic was on how social media are good/bad for women.

The slide show also describes the winning state project grants of the Alhambra-San Gabriel, La Palma-Cerritos, and Lompoc-Vandenberg branches (slides 15-17), and the two winning Activity of the Year branches (Fremont and Marin, slides 45-52). The state public policy report is covered in slides 29-40.

The public policy committee has completed its review of the bills for this legislative season and the link to the 2020-21 bill tracker can now be found on the website here (under Public Policy/Legislative Advocacy/Bill Tracking).

The Membership Vice-Presidents, Ardith and Debbie, are hoping you've seen and read the most recent eBlast, where we alerted you to the fact that you should have received an email from AAUW-National on or about April 20. The email, which would have originated from [email protected], has information on how to renew your membership this year; just like last year, you have the option of renewing with credit card via the link, or by mailing your check to Nancy Soulé (P.O. Box 1786, Monterey, CA 93942). There are also instructions in the eBlast on how to donate to Tech Trek, Local Scholarships and/or AAUW Fund, if you wish.

AAUW-CA presents webinars monthly. To view the upcoming webinars, click the link below. Each webinar requires registration, which is free to our members. To see webinars you may have missed, just click on the name of the webinar. The link is https://www.aauw-ca.org/2020-2021-webinars/

May 26, 7 PM: "Don't Hesitate...Communicate! Oral, Written, Non-Verbal Communication Skills; Speaking across generational divides" with Marlene Cain

Learn how to lead (not herd) cats in your leadership role and work with diverse personalities. These techniques can be used in everyday situations, not just in leadership positions.

AAUW National now has a link where you can look at webinars that have already happened, and watch for news of upcoming ones. Click HERE.

(831) 899-9141 or [email protected]

More information and a donation form (optional) may be found at this link to our website. If making a donation directly from an IRA as a qualified charitable donation (QCD), consult your tax advisor or www.irs.gov for further information.

899-9141 or [email protected]