We will be meeting at Amy Vegh's home - 3133 Fairfax Road - at 6:00 pm on WEDNESDAY, June 11th for a potluck dinner, some business, and a guest speaker. Jodi Sourini, member of the CH-UH School Board, will join us to speak about current challenges from federal and state rule changes

Please note that we must still find someone to chair the nominating committee.  We have two very capable people serving on the committee, including Eef who has now chaired it twice and will be there to help explain the process, but we need someone to step up to lead the process.  The Nominating Committee doesn't start until next February and is generally done by the end of April so it is a limited time obligation.  If this seems like a way for you to help the League, please either reply to this email or be prepared at our Annual Meeting on June 10th to volunteer.

 

LWV of Ohio held their biennial convention last weekend in Aurora, Ohio.  It was a wonderful opportunity to learn and debate and consider new options, new programs, new problems that we are facing as League members (and as citizens.)  Janice Foster and I were two of the 14 allotted delegates for Greater Cleveland.  I was also delighted to see Paula Goodwin who came out on Saturday to learn what she could learn, and Susie Kaeser who was there to support the agenda item she had initiated on public education.   Fun fact:  The Greater Cleveland League is the largest in the state with 629 members!  Next up are Greater Dayton with 419 members, and Columbus with 363 members.  No wonder Cuyahoga County leads the charge in collecting signatures for ballot petitions.

 

- The priorities for the next two years, as chosen by the Leagues in their Program Planning meetings in January, are to rededicate ourselves to Making Democracy Work, and to support public education as an issue of democracy.

 

- Program Updates - there are no current changes to the Ohio Positions and Priorities.  HOWEVER, we will be reviewing the Natural Resources position statement. Some of it was found to be overly vague (e.g. the use of terms like "presently" without knowing what the timeframe was), in an illogical order, or perhaps not sufficient for current changes such as the environmental and energy implications of data centers and of fracking.  IF YOU WANT TO HELP WITH THIS REVIEW (which is not yet a study but might lead to recommending a study) - Peggy Berry of the LWVO Board will be directing the effort starting in June.  You can contact her through the LWV Ohio office.

 

- Things I found interesting:  - If we are not drawing a diverse group to our programs we should consider where we are holding our events, where we are publicizing them, and it often takes more than one effort at outreach.  - The average person reads at a 4th grade level.  - The districts need to be redrawn this year for Congressional seats next year, and the map that is being floated around would go from 5 likely Democrat seats to 3 likely Democrat seats.  Why? Because they can....  - If you find yourself in a confrontation, take a moment to stop and breathe deeply. It is the exhalation that calms our nervous system.  - The people who are less likely to vote are young, or over 65, lower income, lower education, highly mobile, urban, with no party identification and limited political knowledge.  - Election turnout across the board has been declining over time. Simply, fewer people are choosing to vote, and  voter suppression efforts are a factor. - Youth engagement: there are a number of programs developed by LWVO to work with youth, including Girl Power to work with Girl Scouts. And young people throw away paper - give them digital ways to follow us and to find voting information.  - Use Reddit to provide voting information to younger people.  Authenticity matters, and many younger people are looking for "good Mom talks", for mentors. Who knows how to use Reddit?  :-D

Maintaining our local community structures and guard rails is an important aspect of upholding our country.  Do any of the following activities interest you?

• NEW: An easy on your own time project - compile the data we have on our observer process re time spent on the various steps for the various boards.  Talk to Maryann if you want to snag this opportunity.
• Talk to Maryann about joining the observer corp to help observe meetings, either in our communities or beyond, or help edit the observer reports for publication
• Talk to Maryann about helping to maintain the LWVGC website (she is the webmaster now)
• Talk to Betsy about helping with the Voter’s Guides this fall
  
• Ask Betsy about helping with Vote 411 – the online county-wide Voter’s Guide
  
• Talk to Wendy or Betsy about helping form an event planning committee – helping with locations and refreshments and developing new ideas
• Talk to Wendy about taking over posting items of interest to our Facebook page
• Write occasional articles for the newsletter
• Talk to Wendy about finding paths to Youth Engagement - a new possibility
• Print off some palm cards about the 10 Habits of Good Citizens and share them with others as you help people to stay informed about democracy.

 

I recently wrote postcards to the Supreme Court justices regarding their ruling on immunity, and shortly afterward saw that The Card Campaign group has put together a template to print out postcards to the Supreme Court.  If you can print two-sided onto card stock then you can use this template to create postcards.  Otherwise, you can use it as suggested text to write your own postcards to members of the Supreme Court.   I also see that the template is simply addressed to "The Nine Honorable Justices" whereas I directed mine to each of the justices and varied my text based on their vote.

 

 

In case you missed the news, our Cuyahoga County Board of Elections has moved a bit further west and north to

the former Plain Dealer Building - 1803 Superior Avenue.

For those of you who have been in the current building at 30th and Euclid, you will probably agree this is a good move.

 

Going forward the directory will be updated quarterly and posted to our chapter's website at www.lwvgreatercleveland.org (and emailed to new members.)  But here is your first (in a very VERY long time) member directory.  With major credit to Janice Foster who just couldn't believe we didn't have such a thing.  Thank you Janice!

For the report on the Public School Funding Meeting held on May 5th with State Sen. Kent Smith, and suggestions of follow-up steps, go to https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JiFYYO97YkdYMpGo8vqZr5cK-Gi2DSB4xsJTtP2GnrQ/edit?tab=t.0

 

 

CHUH Chapter Leadership