Democratic Women's Caucus Meeting this Friday!
Village Deli, 7:30 am.
In working towards our mission to inspire, recruit, train, support, and fund progressive women to increase the numbers of women in the electoral process and in elected and appointed positions, our program will feature information on the new City of Bloomington Commission on Sustainability: what it is, why its needed, how it will operate and just how you can be considered for one of the twelve commissioners. Speakers on the panel will be Heather Reynolds, IU Professor of Biology who uses sustainability in her classes and has inspired the formation of the commission, Dave Rollo, City Council member bringing the legislation forth for consideration, and Danise Alano, newly selected Assistant Director of Economic Development and Sustainability, who will serve as the city staff for the commission.
If you can come, please send a quick little email message to regina@bluemarble.netso that we can have enough chairs! (and with almost 60 attendees at our last meeting, that's important!)
If anyone has announcments to make to the breakfast meeting, it would be really good if they brought written flyers, etc., in case we run out of time and don't have time for all the announcments. In fact, a little flyer would be a reminder that folks could take with them.
Help Wanted:
Director of Programs for the Democratic Women's Caucus. Position requires a strong desire to help progressive Democratic women get elected to county and city government, and to actively work with the Steering Committee to create and implement programs for the caucus. These would include breakfast meetings and other events that would help fulfill the mission of the caucus. Time commitment: One Saturday of planning a month, One breakfast meeting a month, other planning and coordinating as needed. Must be a member to apply! Remuneration: the satisfaction of watching the number of elected Democratic women increase in the next couple of elections!
Seriously, Sue Wanzer, who was elected to this position has found her work/travel schedule incompatible with being the director of programs. If you are interested, please send an email to regina@bluemarble.net for more information. If you'd like to nominate someone for the position, please do the same. Please complete this by May 20th so that we can publicize the results and elect someone by the beginning of June!
So, You Want to Run For Elected Office Some Day? If you've ever thought about running for city council, county council, mayor, clerk, commissioner, or sheriff (why not a woman??) please reserve Saturday May 21st. Details will be announced later this week about a program that will bring together experts to talk about running for office, or helping another woman run for office. This will be an incredible opportunity for you to encourage that friend that you know would a be perfect public servant to begin thinking about elections.
9th Congressional District Meeting to be held in Bloomington May 22nd. This will be held at Mayfields MCL Cafeteria on the west side. Details will be announced by the Monroe County Democrats, hosts for the event.
Emily's List Training. Emily is an acronym for Early Money Is Like Yeast (it makes the dough rise!) Emily's List is an organization that supports Pro Choice, Democratic Women in their runs for elected office at the state and national level. They have realized that women, in order to be really competitive in their races at this level, need money in the early stages of their campaigns. This is not an easy thing to do, and they help by attracting money from like minded women all over the country to their targeted races. Our own Vi Simpson was an endorsed candidate with Emily's List and Gail Rieken (1998 candidate for congress from the 8th district) received their help also.
EL has developed a Political Opportunity Program (POP training) that they take on the road, and they're coming to Bloomington on July 22nd and 23rd to help women in Indiana plan campaigns. To participate, EL requires you to attend the entire session from Friday early evening until Saturday early evening. The training is for women candidates and their campaign managers. More information will be coming, but block out the time now!
COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN:
The Commission on the Status of Women has been working on a Series of reports to inform local citizens about the progress and status of women in Bloomington. The Civic Participation and Leadership/Political Participation report was the feature of our December meeting. Cathi Crabtree (no relation!!), commissioner, presented the report. You can find the most recent and Cathi's fascinating report on the DWC website and the City of Bloomington website:
WOMEN IN POLITICS READING GROUP!
Contact Julie Thomas for more information. julthoma@indiana.edu
MAY: Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich is the next selection for the Women In Politics Reading Group. May 15th, 4 pm, at Julie Thomas' House. Julie will be giving out directions and discussion points in a separate email and at the breakfast meeting on Friday.
JUNE: Pigs at the Trough by Adrianna Huffington. June 19, other details TBA.
One Last Thing:
Pass this newsletter on to a friend that you think might be interested in helping get more Democratic Women elected in our area. Ask her to come with you to the breakfast. Remember, although this is not an election year, there are three VERY important elections coming up in the next three years. This is our time to study, get educated on the issues, develop the issue-oriented approach to problems in our community, and develop the support system that will serve women candidates well. Don't forget to check out the Democratic Women's Caucus Website for more information on all our programs.http://democraticwomenscaucus.org/index.html
|
|
The purpose of the organization is to inspire, recruit, train, support, and fund progressive women to increase the numbers of women in the electoral process and in elected and appointed positions. |
|
Contact: Regina Moore | |
