WHAT’S HAPPENING!
The 2024 annual meeting was held June 28-29, 2024 at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel, 40 Civic Center Plaza, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601. The Saturday morning business meeting could also be attended via ZOOM.
The meeting rules which were adopted may be viewed HERE.
The agenda may be viewed HERE.
– The president’s report may be viewed HERE.
– The Public Policy Platform may be viewed HERE.
– The membership report may be viewed HERE.
The proposed bylaws changes to Articles VIII to XXI are posted HERE. They were approved and the current version may be viewed HERE. Note – Articles I to VII are governed by AAUW bylaws.
The 2024-2026 AAUW-NYS President-Elect and Public Policy VP were both elected at that meeting. The nominating committee presented the following slate of candidates:
PUBLIC POLICY NEWS!
| ERA-NY!!! |
- Missed our ERA NY presentation? Click HERE for the recording!
- Ratify ERA Flyer!
- Short Fact Sheet
Interesting Presentation!
Poughkeepsie member Erica Salzman-Talbi has brought to our attention this video you’ll want to watch. SXSW (South by Southwest) produced this on International Women’s Day. Now available on YouTube:
Full SXSW Keynote Panel with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex
BRANCH SPOTLIGHTS!
AAUW North Shore Long Island (NY)
Equal Rights for Everyone
On May 23rd the annual Writing Contest sponsored by AAUW North Shore and the Central Nassau County Rotary Club was held for ages 11-13. 1st and 2nd place winners receive awards for their essays on the ERA NY at the West Hempstead Library. AAUW North Shore branch president Janet Lobel Adler and Sandy Camillo AAUW NY State VP Public Policy present awards to 8th grade students Yonah Lalehzari and Dilraj Singh. The essays explain what the word equality means, why the ERA NY amendment is important, how the amendment affects people and how the lives of people living in places without equal rights are different. The ERA NY affects all people, and the two winners clearly express this sentiment in their essays. The amendment is presently up for appeal and hopefully will be reinstated on the ballot. The essays are attached HERE.
At the Running and Winning workshop on April 18th, Westchester County High School Girls were able to hear from local elected Women, then spend some quality time learning about what it takes to be a successful public official. After an opening session where students and a moderator questioned our elected officials, everyone broke off into small groups where girls were able to talk to the politicians about their experiences. There were several sessions of interviewing, then elected officials stepped out and the girls began to put together a political campaign. Three pre-selected topics were provided, to give the girls a place to begin their campaign. The 4-6 girls per table had to quickly decide who would be the candidate, and who would hold other roles such as speech writers, communication directors and campaign manager. Once these roles were decided, each group chose their campaign issue: • Build and staff an Immigrant Support Services Center • Build, staff and run a Community Mental Health Center, or • Implement a Community Composting Program After lunch, the students presented their candidate and issue. Amazing campaigns were created in such a short time! AAUW-Westchester joins the League of Women Voters as a co-sponsor of this event.
AAUW Westchester Branch president Abby Hirsch works with the girls as they work on their campaign.
The Buffalo Branch held its Annual Meeting on May 18!
The Buffalo Branch Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon was held on 5/18/24 at Ellden’s Grill and Banquet Rivers Oaks Golf Club. A highlight of this luncheon was recognition of the branch Achievement Award recipient Rhonda Frederick, retired CEO of People Inc. Florence Pearsall was recognized as a new Honorary Life Member for her fifty years of membership and Marguerite Collesano was honored as a 25 year member. The branch officer installation was conducted by Carol Griffith, branch member and AAUW-NYS President.
The Adirondack Branch promoted ERA NY AND celebrated Susan B. Anthony’s 118th birthday! Note the yellow knitted rose, symbol of the suffrage movement. The knitting pattern is available HERE, courtesy of Janet Forbes of the Jamestown Branch.
The Ithaca Branch of AAUW Hosted Early Winter NYS-AAUW Regional Meeting Saturday, December 9, 2023
The Ithaca Branch hosted “Open Books Open Minds” NYS-AAUW Regional Meeting on Saturday, December 9th. The day was broken into three separate parts and attendees decided how much of the day to participate in.
The Tompkins County Public Library (TCPL) co-sponsored our first public panel discussion on book banning, including a book display of some banned books and refreshments provided from two locally owned businesses, including AAUW Member Via Carpenter’s Cookies. The panel featured four librarians sharing their expertise and firsthand experiences on the crisis impacting many public and school libraries across the country. The discussion also included NYS Assembly member Anna Kelles talking about a bill that she has sponsored on trying to control book bans and its corresponding bill being sponsored by NYS Senator Rachel May. The public that attended the discussion did not engage with the panelists, so no conclusions can be made on how successful we were with engaging the public’s awareness on this issue.
Our legislative luncheon featured talks from NYS-AAUW President Carol Griffith, NYS-AAUW President-Elect Suzanne Mercer-Young, 2022-2023 AAUW Selected Professions Fellow Neha Gerg (new MS in Architecture from Cornell), and the City of Ithaca Mayor Laura Lewis. We held table discussions over lunch on NYS -AAUW Public Policy Initiatives on Book Banning, Human Trafficking, Social Security Crisis, ERA, and CEDAW and table report outs. Plus, we added in a food and personal supplies donation collection for Ithaca Loaves and Fishes and AAUW Funds Fundraisers with wine from Carol Griffith and crafts work from Barbara Stewart. The luncheon also included time to socialize with each other after years of Zoom Meetings.
The final portion of the program was a guided or self-guided tour of Cornell University Johnson Museum which featured the fall semester’s exhibitions that are used in some of the courses on campus. It was an informative way to learn more about the uniqueness of the exhibits.
Thank you to NYS-AAUW Board for providing the Ithaca Branch with a grant to subsidize the program costs. Also, thanks to the NYS-AAUW Members and branch members who participated in our current issues program.
More pictures from the event are available HERE!