OVERVIEW:
AAUW NC...In the Know, On the Move
Strong, focused advocacy on issues
affecting women plays an important part of AAUW mission, whether it means
serving on boards and commissions, getting out the vote, coordinating
candidates' forums, contacting representatives at all levels of government to
make our voices heard, participating in coalitions with other women, and much
more. In this issue of Tar Heel News, more information has been received than
usual, in part because of the activities of our members and due to the
convenience of technology-websites, e-mail, and listservs, in addition to snail
mail. Thanks especially to Nancy Shoemaker, our technology coordinator, who
manages the AAUW NC listserv and website, as well as the members who regularly
surf the web and post calls to action and items of interest. The information
presented here serves two purposes: to continue to inform you of important
issues and to give you an idea of the material distributed on the listserv. The
listserv is a collection of e-mail addresses of members which are kept private,
and to whom bulletins are distributed. In future issues, some listserv items
will be noted briefly under the icon shown on page five, while public policy
issues with significant content will be published as regular articles. To
subscribe to the listserv (it is free), send a message to
aauwnc@rtpnet.org
Excerpted from an article by Ann B.
Johnson, NC Coalition on Aging vice-president;
submitted by Helen
Martikainen, AAUW NC liaison to the coalition
By 11 a.m., the parking lot across the
street from the Legislative Building was a panorama of color. Buses from all
over North
Carolina had started arriving about 9 a.m. with both frisky and frail
passengers. The year was 1989 and the event was Senior Spirit Day at the state
legislature. The event was coordinated by Ernest Messer, retired legislator who
became president of the NC Senior Citizens Association.
The older adults attested to their satisfaction
with the effort when 14 groups came together in 1991 to formalize a cooperative
structure for influencing
North Carolina's General Assembly. From 1991-1993,
the group met in the Division of Aging and made major decisions: The
organization would consist of a membership only of organizations; the name
selected was the NC Coalition on Aging; dues were set at $25 per organization;
the coalition would be an open membership, with groups other than those
consisting of seniors.
The purpose of the organization continues to be "a
statewide coalition of organizations committed to improve the quality of life
for older adults by addressing their needs and promoting their dignity,
self-determination, well-being, and contributions-both as individuals and within
the context of their families and community."
By-laws were completed
and the election of officers was held in 1993. Membership continues to increase
and is projected to be at 40 organizations by 2003. The volunteer leadership
works without benefit of professional staffing and the NC Division of Aging
still provides meeting space. Voice, a publication of the NC Senior Citizens
Association, serves as a newsletter. The NC Coalition on aging exists as one of
four major aging advocacy groups in the state. The others were created by state
statute: Governor's Advisory Council on Aging, 1973; Legislative Study
Commission, 1987; Senior Tarheel Legislature, 1993. Contrary to the expectations
that the existence of four groups would promote competition and duplication,
this has not occurred.
Note:
AAUW NC was admitted
into full membership of the Coalition on December 7, 2001. Helen Martikainen was
appointed AAUW NC liaison. Membership was one result of extensive research by
Chapel Hill Branch on the issue of healthcare for our aging population. You can
reach Helen at 919-918-3633.
From the AAUW NC Listserv:
In June, the NC Senate passed a budget
bill calling for reductions in services. On June 26, the president of the NC
Coalition on Aging sent a letter to the members of the NC House of
Representatives urging them to consider revenue increases to balance the budget
and giving a number of concrete suggestions. Helen Martikainen has asked that
this letter be shared with our members and she would like to urge you to use the
letter as a model to contact your representatives as well as members of the
Senate Leadership and the Senate Appropriations/Base Budget Committee. You can
find information on your representatives' contact information at
www.ncga.state.nc.us.
For a copy of the letter, see
http://www.rtpnet.org/aauwnc/02-03/CoalitionOnAging/Letter2Lesgislature.htm
Student Attends Conference
From Carolyn Sattin:
I wanted to let you know that I really
enjoyed the AAUW conference in
Washington last week. I attended the
"pre-conference public policy institute" where we learned about current policy
issues and we lobbied on the hill for the reauthorization of the welfare bill.
Approximately 250 college women and a few
university administrators attended the conference. There were a number of
different workshops to choose from each day, ranging from presentations by human
rights lawyers to sexuality in film to self-defense. In addition, there were
larger sessions with keynote speakers each day. All in all it was a very
informative, interesting, and worthwhile experience.
Campaign Reform
From Nancy Shoemaker:
Campaign costs in NC have skyrocketed in recent years. The Judicial
Campaign Reform Act (S 1054), which is a first step towards real reform, was up
for debate in committee on July 17. See
http://www.rtpnet.org/aauwnc/02ncwu/issues/NCCampaignFinanceReform.htm
for a message posted to the NC Women United list.
Women's Agenda Assemblies
From Barbara Ann Hughes:
AAUW NC has been working in coalition with other groups to
reenergize NC Women United. Among other things this group will be coordinating
Women's Agenda Assemblies across the state this fall. For more information,
including a "Report Card on NC Counties" which includes a ranking of the
counties on many social and economic scales as well as information on the Agenda
Assemblies, see
http://www.rtpnet.org/aauwnc/02ncwu/2002/.
This page also has links to
the list of where Assemblies have been scheduled
for this fall, a "Report Card for NC Counties" that ranks the counties on a
number of criteria related to the NC Women United goals, and the Agenda Building
Book that gives instructions for hosting an Assembly.
AAUW NC is a member of the coalition NC
Women United that is sponsoring the Assemblies this fall and will sponsor an
Advocacy Day at the Legislature early next year. For more information, contact
Barbara Ann Hughes, AAUW NC public policy chair for state issues and the AAUW NC
representative to NC Women United,
barbara-ann@bahughes.com
or 919-787-2949.
North Carolina Women
United is the organization which is coordinating the Women's Agenda Assembly
process for this fall and recently posted a list of coordinators of assemblies
from 2000 and earlier:
http://www.rtpnet.org/aauwnc/02ncwu/2002/AgendaPlanning/AgendaCoordinators.htm
If you have updates for that list - new
contacts in particular - please send them to Paige Johnson, NCWU Program
Committee (address below). Please include mailing address, phone(s) and e-mail
for all new contacts - and if you recognize that the contacts listed for your
county have changed, please do forward the new information to Paige Johnson,
Director of Public Affairs, Planned Parenthood of Orange and Durham Counties,
Inc. 1765 Dobbins
Drive, PO Box 3258, Chapel Hill, NC 27515-3258. (919) 929-5402 ext. 33; Fax:
(919) 933-5271.
Voter's Guide
From Karla Atkinson, Brevard Voter
Education Project:
The Brevard (NC) Branch now has a
Voter's Guide for the November 2202 election on its web site. See
www.aauwbrevardnc.org
The guide lists all NC candidates for
office in the US Senate and all candidates running for judicial vacancies in the
NC Court of Appeals and the NC Supreme Court. (Additionally, the guide has
information relevant to NC state house and senate races for voters in our area -
Transylvania/Henderson County). Questionnaires went out to 47 candidates. The
web site is updated daily to include candidate responses as they are received
here. Information on all candidates will be updated on our web site until the
primary on Sept. 10.
Following the primary, only information
on winning candidates whose name will appear on the general election ballot in
November will appear on the web site. A printed Voter Guide will be published
with the cooperation (and financial support) in our local newspaper as an insert
on October 3. An additional 500 copies will be distributed around town. Our
survey was tailored to address issues and priorities of AAUW and include such
topics as health, education, social security, child well-being, campaign finance
reform and environmental issues.
To our knowledge we are the only branch
in NC that has undertaken such a voter education project for the 2002 year (and
what a crazy year in which to plan and set deadlines for this project!) Please
alert your membership to the availability of this voter guide. Your comments
would also be appreciated.
Federal Public Policy Issues
From Mary Peterson:
Get-Out-The-Vote: This fall we are
electing a new Senator from North Carolina. Our AAUW Association has made
it easier for us to evaluate the candidates on family, education and equity
issues. Please make the Voter Education material available to help your
community members in deciding which candidate should get their vote. The
Get-Out-The-Vote materials should help every branch to be a part of increasing
the number of people voting in their community. The 2002 Voter Education and
Get-Out-the-Vote Workshop materials are available in printable PDF format on the
AAUW website at
http://www.aauw.org/6000/leadership.html -
Remember! One vote can make a difference!
Ways to Contact
Public Officials: Best address for Senator Edwards:
http://edwards.senate.gov
and click the "Send and e-mail Message" link near the top of the page. E-mail
and fax messages are preferred over snail mail. Also, see
http://RTPnet.org/~lwvnc/
or The AAUW "2 Minute Activist" page at
http://capwiz.com/aauw/index_frame.dbq?url=http://capwiz.com/aauw/home/
AAUW Statement on CEDAW: More than
twenty years after the First World Conference on Women, the United States has
still failed to ratify the most comprehensive human rights treaty addressing
international women's rights, the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of all
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
CEDAW, also known as the Treaty for the
Rights of Women, is the only international legal instrument that comprehensively
addresses women's rights within political, cultural, economic, and social
spheres at the local, national, and international levels. The Treaty has been
ratified by 169
nations and it has become an important
tool for partnerships among nations to end human rights abuses and promote the
health and well being of women and girls. Although the
United States played a
defining role in drafting the convention and signed the treaty in July 1980, it
has never ratified it, and is the only industrialized country to fail to do so.
To guarantee
equality and individual rights for a diverse society, AAUW advocates support for
U.N. programs that address human rights and women's and girls' concerns. AAUW
has endorsed the ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) since 1981, and urges the Senate
to take action in support of this important treaty. See
http://foreign.senate.gov/menu.html and
www.womenstreaty.org
Short Notes:
* Representative Walter Jones (R-NC)
offered legislation that would allow church leaders to make endorsements of
political candidates without risking their tax-exempt status.
* Ratification for Equal Rights
Amendments nears goal-only three more states needed as of July 29, with
Illinois, Missouri,
Virginia, and Oklahoma possible prospects. See www.ERACampaign.net
* In its 6-5 decision, the 9th U.S. Court of
Appeals ruled that comments posted on web sites and anti-abortion "wanted"
posters are not constitutionally protected speech under the First Amendment, but
rather constitute a "true threat," however, sent the $108 million damages award
back to a lower court for reconsideration.
Covenant with
North Carolina's Children
From Barbara Ann Hughes:
There are items in contention that child advocates
care about. Tell your elected officials that you respectfully urge them to keep
the children of North Carolina in mind with regard to
these issues. The Covenant with NC's Children consistently has called for the
General Assembly to raise additional revenue, use existing resources, and close
outdated tax loopholes to solve this budget crisis. Please note that more often
than not, our preference for one budget over another represents the better of
two negative choices.
http://capwiz.com/cwncc/officials/state/?state=NC
Calling all
AAUW Advocates
The Association has implemented a
*branch* public policy listserv. If you'd rather get the AAUW Public Policy info
straight to your mailbox rather than wait for it to be forwarded through the
AAUW NC listserv, join the new AAUW Branch Public Policy Leaders' Listserv! You
don't have to be a public policy chair to subscribe. Receive public policy
alerts and tips directly from the Associaton Public Policy Department. Simply
send an e-mail to
listserv@elists.aauw.org
and type subscribe branchpolicy in the body of the message. Questions? Contact
the AAUW Public Policy Department at 800/608-5286 or
votered@aauw.org.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]