IN THIS ISSUE:
- ANNOUNCMENTS
DWC Hoedown thanks!
Openings on city Boards and Commissions
Leadership Bloomington - Monroe County
- EVENTS
DWC Breakfast Meeting
D4MC Meeting
An Evening with Glenda Ritz on Making our Schools Safe for LGBTQ Students
IFDW Fall Meeting
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor to Speak on "Understanding the Teenage Brain"
Candidate Forums @ City Hall Council Chambers
MCDP JJ Dinner
- ACTION ITEM THIS WEEK
Breakfast this Friday, September 4th, 7:30 am at the Village Deli!
Be there!
Final details are being worked out for this program, but be sure to highlight this date on your calendar!
HOEDOWN BREAKS RECORDS FOR A FESTIVE, FUN AND FROLICKING GOOD TIME!
Thanks to all who came to the DWC Women’s Equality Celebration, a good old fashioned hoedown.
Thanks to all who supported this fun event! Entwyned played wonderful music, we learned just what a contra dance really is, won cakes and goodies to take home at the traditional cake walk, auctioned several really nice things (Susie Johnson will paint walls, Friends of Sophia will work 3 hours for a candidate!), ate wonderful hoedown grillings and had a great time! Thanks to Susie Johnson and Dee Tuttle for hosting us all! It was great to see old friends, meet new ones, and the weather was lovely, too!
Check out our facebook page for more pictures, but here are two for starters! Dancing and Cakewalk!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
City Board and Commission Openings
As happens during the year, there have been some recent vacancies on city boards and commissions. Applications are sought for:
- Bloomington Arts Commission
- Bloomington Commission on Sustainability
- Commission on the Status of Black Males
- Commission on the Status of Children and Youth
- Environmental Commission
- MLK Birthday Commission
- Traffic Commission.
- Housing Trust Fund Board of Directors (for a banker, low income resident, persons with expertise in not for profit housing and social services)
For information and application materials (including an online application form) seewww.bloomington.in.gov/clerk or call the City Clerk’s office at 812-349-3408
Leadership Bloomington-Monroe County Class of 2016
Offered in partnership by Indiana University and the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Bloomington-Monroe County prepares emerging leaders to address current and future community needs through a seven-month experiential learning program. In LBMC, participants learn leadership skills they can apply to their career and community involvement. LBMC session topics will include project management, ethics, conflict resolution, communications, and strategic partnerships, as well as spotlight community strengths and needs.
Applications are due September 15 and class begins October 16. A limited number of scholarships are available for those who would otherwise not be able to participate. For more information and an application, visit http://lbmc.indiana.edu or call Kyla Cox Deckard at (812) 855-1182.
EVENTS
Breakfast with your wonderful, smart, fabulous Democratic Women’s Caucus at Village Deli, 7:30 am on Friday, September 4th. Be there!!
Democracy for Monroe County meet-up.
Panel discussion with: Joseph Varga, Ph.D, Indiana University Department of Labor Studies; Benjamin Robinson, Associate Professor of Germanic Studies and organizer of the IU Themester "Labor and Civil Rights"; John Lacney, Research Associate for SEIU; and Roni Embry, Public Education Advocacy Coordinator for the Indiana State Teachers' Association. Discussion will be on Labor's future coming into pivotal elections in 2016. Labor has lost membership, clout and political influence. These important local Labor leaders and activists will talk about stemming the tide of Labor's decline in this important year nationally. Thursday, September 3rd, 6 pm at Bobby’s Colorado Steak House.
An Evening with Glenda Ritz on Making our Schools Safer for LGBTQ Students
Tuesday, September 8, 6:30 p.m. , Bloomington High School South Auditorium
The event is free and open to all. Superintendent Ritz will speak on educational policies that affect LGBTQ students and how to make our schools safer for them. To RSVP and invite others, visit Facebook athttps://www.facebook.com/events/1706247839594830/
IFDW Fall Meeting
Saturday, September 19, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
The Indiana Federation of Democratic Women (IFDW) is having its fall meeting at IBEW Local #481, 1828 N. Meridian St., Suite 205. Registration fee is $15. The meeting will include a public speaking workshop and issues discussion. Send registration fees to Brittany Solis c/o the Indiana Democratic Party, 115 W. Washington St., #1165, Indianapolis, IN 46204, email her at [email protected], or call 317-504-2853. For questions, email Leona Glazebrooks at [email protected], or Sue Althouse at [email protected].
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor Presentation
Monday, September 28, 6:30-8:00 p.m., Bloomington High School North Auditorium
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, neuroanatomist and best-selling author of My Stroke of Insight, will be presenting on “Understanding the Teenage Brain.” Dr. Taylor is a Harvard-trained brain scientist and was featured in the first TED talk to go viral. She experienced a rare form of stroke in 1996 and took 8 years to fully recover. She has been an advocate for those who have experienced neurological trauma and created a not-for-profit organization focused on providing educational services and promoting programs related to the advancement of brain awareness, appreciation, exploration, education, injury prevention, neurological recovery, and the value of movement on mental and physical health.
The event is free but you must get tickets at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/dr-jill-bolte-taylor-understanding-the-teenage-brain-tickets-17800543906. Up to 10 tickets can be reserved at a time, and printed or shown on a smart phone.
Candidate Forums:
September 28, League of Women Voters Candidate Forum, Mayor and Council at large candidates, City Hall Council Chambers, 7 pm.
September 29, League of Women Voters Candidate Forum, City Council District 1 and 3 candidates, City Hall Council Chambers, 7 pm.
September 30, League of Women Voters Candidate Forum, Ellettsville Town Council Seats 2 and 3 Candidates, Ellettsville Fire Department, Training and Conference Room, 7 pm.
Speaking of the League of Women Voters, check out their newsletter. This group is really in motion this year. They have lots going on!
http://bmclwv.org/newsletter/September%202015.pdf
Monroe County Democratic Party JJ Dinner
Join us for the Jefferson-Jackson dinner to support the Monroe County Democratic Party. The event will be held at the Bloomington-Monroe County Convention Center on Thursday, October 1, 2015. Tickets: $50, Students: $35; $100 for program sponsorship; $400 for a table (seats 8); $500 for table and program sponsorship.
Click here to purchase tickets https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/mcdpjj2015
South Bend Mayor, Pete Buttigieg is the keynote speaker. Mayor Pete has been an estimable progressive and pragmatic leader for the City of South Bend. His administration has rigorously tackled problems of housing and blight in South Bend, while keeping the City on strong financial footing and making efficient use of taxpayer dollars.
Mayor Pete embodies the spirit of public service like few other public officials. During his first term as Mayor, he served for seven months in Afghanistan as a lieutenant in the Navy. Mayor Pete has also made history for being the youngest Mayor of a City of such size (he was elected at the age of 29) and last month, he came out as the first openly gay executive in the state. These are just a few of the reasons why the Washington Post called Pete “the most interesting mayor you’ve never heard of”.
INVITE A FRIEND TO JOIN THE DWC
The DWC is open to progressives regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Join any time. Only $20 for one year’s membership. Join online here.
ACTION ITEM
First of all THANK YOU to all who came out to support Planned Parenthood and the Sophia Travis Social Service Funding last week. We sent out a quick call for help, and many of you answered that call.
This week we have two local issues regarding Planned Parenthood and those continued attacks.
1-PPINK at the 4th Street Arts Fair
This coming Saturday and Sunday, residents of Bloomington and it’s surroundings will visit the Fourth Street Arts Festival. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK) is looking for some supporters who would stroll among folks, ready to tell them that defunding Planned Parenthood is a really bad idea – nationally and in particular our area. There will be T-shirts to “show our colors”, flyer-style cards to hand out about PPINK services and contact information for anyone to who wants to be involved. Please contact Dena Downham at [email protected]. The group hopes to find pairs of walkers for both days (10-6 and 10-5) in two hour shifts. The schedule is flexible. Please help if you can!
2-Tell Indiana Governor Mike Pence not to defund Planned Parenthood by illegally canceling Planned Parenthood's Medicaid contracts.
Republican governors are defunding Planned Parenthood by canceling their Medicaid provider contracts. The contracts provide low-income women with access to cancer screenings, prenatal care, STD testing, and birth control — health care services that are under constant attack by the radical right. Politicians in each state are trying to downplay the damage they’re inflicting on women’s health by claiming that women will be able to access services elsewhere, but the reality is that more than 50 percent of Planned Parenthood clinics are in rural or underserved areas, places where there just aren’t other options for care.
The Department of Health and Human Services warned Alabama and Louisiana that ending Planned Parenthood’s contracts is a violation of federal law, which prohibits states from restricting patients’ access to qualified Medicaid providers. It’s clear that Republican governors like Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal and Alabama’s Robert Bentley don’t care about the law, or about women. They are simply jumping on an opportunity to pander to their extreme right-wing base.
The states are also launching baseless investigations that have no other purpose than to harass Planned Parenthood and force the organization to tie up resources that should be going to health care in countless political fights. The investigations, as expected, have not turned up wrongdoing on Planned Parenthood’s part. Yet, Planned Parenthood funding is still at risk in states where Republican governors can gain politically from attacking women. These governors need to hear from constituents who expect more from them than political grandstanding.
Tell Governor Pence that defunding Planned Parenthood would be an unacceptable attack on women’s health. Click the link below to sign the petition:
http://act.credoaction.com/sign/States_Defend_PP?t=6&akid=15444.2270322.YoAoWm
Do you have news items? Send your items of interest to us at[email protected]. Deadline for MMN is noon on Sunday. Democratic Women's Caucus http://www.democraticwomenscaucus.org/