Springtime marks a new beginning for us in LWV Broward. To borrow from Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, "Whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry... and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another."
The 2018-19 "tapestry" is something to be proud of, thanks to the leadership of outgoing President Bradette Jepsen!
During the Midterm Election Season, our
Speakers Bureau gave nearly 200 Amendment presentations, registered hundreds of voters, reached out to millions through
Vote411.org, and to many others with bus ads. We held
parties at polling places to celebrate voting, and celebrated the
passage of Amendment 4.
We initiated new programs:
New Member Orientations, Headline Issues talks, and Lock It Up! - a program by Gun Safety Co-Chair Barbara Markley, which has distributed 23,875 brochures and 11,144 gun locks in just six months -- to put guns out of reach and save lives.
League teams interviewed elected officials prior to the
2019 Legislative Session. League members followed the Session, writing letters, emailing, and calling their representatives, as action alerts notified the membership about legislation supported or opposed by the State League.
In 2018-19, LWVBC
membership grew from 120 to nearly 400 members. We hosted/cohosted candidate forums, moderated debates, and held talks on issues of critical importance to Florida voters -
Oil drilling in the Everglades, Gun Laws since Parkland, and
Advocating for Women's Reproductive Rights. We participated in important local events, like
Water Matters Day.
Vice President Julie Morrall led our effort to collect petitions to put an
Assault Weapons Ban on the 2020 ballot. We also cosponsored artist Adam Dolle's Flower in the Gun event to raise money for the BAWN effort. To date, our chapter has collected thousands of petitions in just a few short months.
Our Annual Luncheon, with keynote speaker and esteemed Floridian,
Sen. Bob Graham, captured the essence of our League success in 2018-19.
History will play an important role this coming year, as we prepare for the League's
100th Anniversary Celebration in 2020, as well as a Presidential Election. Our 66-year old chapter is proud to be one of 29 chapters included in the 80-year old Florida League.
Nationally, we are 400,000 members strong, a proud legacy for founder, Carrie Chapman Catt. But we cannot rest on laurels and history. We will continue to stand on our principled League positions, reached after careful study and consensus.
Some goals for 2019-2020 include:
- Voter Education programs, like "Pizza & Politics", especially in low turnout precincts within Broward
- Continued initiatives to register voters, including those with restored voting rights
- General Membership Meetings/Hot Topics talks open to all members and prospective members
- Use of social media platforms, like YouTube, and expanded use of Facebook Live
- Initiatives to address the linguistic and cultural diversity of our Broward community
- Development of fundraising to support a robust action program and growing membership needs
- Integration of new IT programs and platforms to manage membership, facilitate volunteer engagement, and improve communication
- Continued involvement with the grassroots petition collection effort for BAWN and Medicaid expansion
Our mission statement sums up what we already do so well:
Empower voters and defend democracy.
Change is sometimes hard to come by. But we will continue the good, non-partisan fight.
In the words of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, "Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you."
Stick with us in 2019, celebrate with us in 2020, and join our efforts to make democracy work - weaving new threads and patterns into our League's tapestry.
