2024-25 PROGRAM OF WORK
Approved at 2024 Annual Meeting, June 8, 2024
Twenty League members gathered for the December 6, 2023 program planning meeting. They voiced support for the core work of voter services and ongoing advocacy work based on our positions (especially housing/homelessness, Pierce County comprehensive land-use planning, and environmental concerns). For 2024-2025, they proposed three local priority actions for the 2024-2025 program of work, as well as support for the LWVWA proposed LWVUS concurrence with the 2023 LWVWA position on local news.
- GOTV (Get Out The Vote) and expanded civics education
- Book bans and access to information
- Local league membership engagement and growth
ONGOING PROGRAM OF WORK: Democracy & Community Engagement, Housing & Homelessness, and Environmental Justice
GOTV: Get Out The Vote
Recognizing the many challenges to informed voting today, a new GOTV committee formed in January 2024. The group is undertaking efforts to expand the high school civics education outreach and voter registration program, reactivate voter registration collaboration with community colleges, recruit college students to engage with the high school student program, develop social media outreach strategies, educate members and the public about barriers to voting, and collaborate with the Pierce County Auditor’s office on outreach efforts as appropriate, especially in mapping and responding to areas of low voter turnout. The committee welcomes all interested members. Contact Rosemary Powers at rpowers@eou.edu for more information.
Book Bans and Access to Information
Focus on this priority began with scheduling a unit meeting on the issues (including First Amendment concerns, school board jurisdiction and perspective, misinformation about content or uses). Recognizing that our local League does not have an explicit position on this issue, members did not propose a study
at this time but agreed to research other local Leagues’ positions to determine the potential for adopting a position by concurrence. That investigative work is ongoing and may lead to a proposal at the December 2024 program planning meeting. To join this effort, contact Carolyn Edmonds at carolyn54edmonds@gmail.com.
Local League membership engagement and growth
A newly constituted Membership committee was formed in January to take up this priority. About half the membership was surveyed in February/March 2024 about their interests and priorities. Initial ideas to increase engagement include: phone tree for event notification, “business cards” encouraging league
membership, regular informal meetings to welcome new and potential members, and promoting engagement through our website and social media. For questions and meeting information, contact Joanne Mansfield at yanahana@hotmail.com.
National League recommendation
We recommended National LWV adoption of the 2023 Washington State position on local news by concurrence. The LWVWA proposed this concurrence by the LWVUS for the 2024 National League convention. We will submit a statement of our support for this action by the State League, and acknowledge the important work of three of our local league members on the LWVWA local news study (Joanne Lisosky, Sharon Wilhelm, and Carol Rikerd).