All-Members Newsletter - October 2023
Happy October! As we embrace the crisp and colorful Fall season, we are excited for the upcoming local and statewide events that promise to bring us together once again, both in-person and virtually. First up is the LWVOR Fall Workshop on October 7 (details below!). We are renewing our commitment to empowering our communities through voter education activities that will ensure our voices are heard in the 2024 elections. Read on to discover some of the exciting events on the horizon.
Upcoming Events
Fall Workshop 2023
Register Now Oct 07, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM 155 High St, Eugene, OR 97401
Register for virtual tickets by October 6. In-person registration is now closed.
Join us in Eugene and online on October 7, 2023 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. We are excited to bring you this voter education focused event, filled with great guest speakers, new tools for voter outreach in 2024, plans for upcoming Oregon Student Mock Elections, and more!
Don't miss our keynote speaker, Molly Woon, Oregon Elections Director and a special workshop hosted by the LWVOR Youth Council on youth voter outreach.
We hope you’re able to join us!
More Upcoming LWVOR Events
Legislative Process Day 2023 Registration open soon Nov 07, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM Hybrid Event 250 Winter St NE, Salem, OR 97301
Youth Voter Summit Registration open soon Jan 19, 2024, 10:00 AM Hybrid Event 250 Winter St NE, Salem, OR 97301
Local League Events
⭐Event Highlight: Tour the Oregon Supreme Court Building with the Marion/Polk League
From LWV of Marion and Polk Counties:
"Join us on Thursday, October 19, to tour the Oregon Supreme Court Building. We haven’t received confirmation of the time yet. The tour will last about 1 to 1 1⁄2 hours and will require standing, although there will be chairs available when we are in the courtroom. Paid parking is available along State St. If the weather is nice, we will also visit the Women’s Suffrage memorial in Willson Park, about ½ block from the Supreme Court Building.
At our get-together at Willamette Mission State Park, 10 members signed up to go on the tour. We have space for 10 more. To attend, email LWVMPC@gmail.com.
The 119-year-old building is one of the state’s oldest continuously operating government buildings. To preserve the three-story structure and its historic features, the building recently went through a seismic retrofit. It features terra cotta, marble, and mahogany, with classical detailing, a grand staircase, and stained-glass lighting in the courtroom. We will learn what changes have been made, see the Percent for Art installation and hear about the workings of Oregon’s appellate court system."
⭐Event Highlight: National Voter Registration Day (9/19) at Rose Haven Women’s Shelter
By LWVPDX Voter Service Chair Chris Cobey
LWVPDX celebrated National Voter Registration Day (September 19) at Rose Haven, a Portland women’s shelter, where we registered voters, distributed voter registration forms to women who wanted to register later, answered questions about voting and upcoming elections, and provided links to information on Portland’s new government and online voter registration. We averaged a new paper voter registration every 15 minutes -- a robust rate of public voter registration in a period of no imminent elections!
As a result of this activity, we have learned of and received inquiries from Rose Haven's youth outreach group, have provided additional information to them, and look forward to including them in future LWVPDX-Rose Haven on-site voter registration events.
More Upcoming Local League Events
Local League events coming up in the next few weeks. Have events to add? Please send them to us at lwvor@lwvor.org:
⭐LWV of Coos County September Voter Registration Stations
Tuesday, October 10, 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm - Coos Bay Public Library
⭐LWV of Deschutes County DEIJ Discussion Group: Do the Work
Tuesday, October 31, 2023, 7:00 pm until 8:00 pm
⭐LWV of Marion and Polk Counties Fall Membership Get-Together
Thursday, October 12, 10 am - Tea & Talk - Taproot Old Mill Cafe
Wednesday, October 18, 7 pm - Being Nonpartisan - Zoom Link here
⭐LWV of Lane County Annual Fall Luncheon
Thursday, October 19, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm - The Shedd Institute, Eugene Oregon 97401
⭐LWV of Portland Programs/Events – Free and Open to the Public
October 11, 2023, via Zoom, panel discussion on progress in creating a Community Board for Police Accountability
⭐LWV of Umpqua Valley A Year of Education Events
Tuesday, October 17 – Sarah McGregor, the Feeding Umpqua Program Manager at UCAN, will teach us about efforts to alleviate hunger in our communities and how we can help.
Tuesday, November 14 – Thomas McGregor, Executive Director of Phoenix Charter School, will inspire us with “2031: Let’s Define the Future for East Roseburg”. Phoenix turns 50 in 2031. How can we help dream, develop, and actively create what the community wants Phoenix to be on its 50th birthday?
Register for Member Section
The new LWVOR website features an improved Member’s Section including an exclusive Member’s Forum, where League members can engage in discussions on a variety of topics: Voter Service, Communications, DEIJ, Membership, and more. We’re adding new topics all the time, so please feel free to explore what is there and suggest new topics if you see a need.
We welcome all current League members to join the forum and check it out! It is a great place to share ideas, links, resources, and anything you think your fellow League members will find useful. Please contact s.andrews@lwvor.org with any questions about getting started.
Volunteers Needed
LWVOR Board Opportunities
Voter Services Chair
Welcome our LWVOR Voter Service leads: Abigail Bok (Vote411), Marianne Germond (Voter’s Guides), and Peggy Bengry (State Ballot Measures).
LWVOR is still looking for a Voter Service Chair to represent this work as a liaison to the LWVOR board. With the reduction of work off the shoulders of the VS Chair into these other lead positions, the VS Chair will be able to activate, coordinate, and manage the various efforts to closure across Voter Services each year. Read the full position description here.
League Voter Services makes election information available to the public to encourage citizen participation in government. The Chair inspires Voter Service volunteers and dedicated professionals to produce clear, unbiased information for tens of thousands of Oregon voters. The VS Chair directly contributes to making democracy work.
Please contact us at nominating@lwvor.org or lwvor@lwvor.org if you are interested in the VS Chair role.
Advocacy Team Opportunities
Natural Resources
What is your passion related to Natural Resources? You can help. The 2023 legislative session is over, but 2024 is just around the corner. Natural Resource Agency Boards and Commissions meet regularly year-round and need monitoring. If any area of natural resources is of interest to you, please contact Peggy Lynch, Natural Resources Coordinator, at peggylynchor@gmail.com. Training will be offered.
Dept of Environmental Quality Air Quality Programs
Dept of Environmental Quality Land Quality Programs
Dept of Environmental Quality Recycling and Waste Prevention
Dept of Land Conservation and Development Coastal Programs
Dept. of Agriculture Programs (any or all)
Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Programs (any or all)
Columbia River Gorge Commission
Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries
Oregon Marine Board
Oregon Dept. of Parks and Recreation
Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board
Climate Emergency
Natural and Working lands, specifically Agriculture/ODA (Oregon Dept. of Agriculture)
Transportation, I-5 Bridge and ODOT state agency
Environment/Climate Related Lawsuits/Our Children’s Trust
Public Health Climate Adaptation (OHA, Oregon Health Authority)
Regional Solutions/Infrastructure (with NR team)
State Procurement Practices (DAS: Dept. of Admin. Services)
CE Portfolio State Agency and Commission Budgets
Oregon Treasury: ESG investing/Fossil Fuel divestment
Please contact us at lwvor@lwvor.org if you are interested in helping out in any of these areas.
Social Policy
Human rights
Immigration, Refugee & Asylum Seekers/Migrants
GLBTQ+
Basic Human Needs
Please contact us at lwvor@lwvor.org if you are interested in helping out in any of these areas.
DEIJ: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice Toolkit for local Leagues
LWVOR Youth Council DEIJ Chair Deenie Bulyalert and LWVOR Youth Council DEIJ mentor Elizabeth Kirby have produced a DEIJ Toolkit for League members! This Toolkit is a collection of resources and tools to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in your organization and community. You can find it linked in the Knowledge Base in the Member's Section of the website.
Once you've clicked on the Toolkit link be sure to check out the READ ME document first to get a snapshot view of all of the enclosed folders.
If you're looking for a good place to start, feel free to check out pronouns.org, where you can learn about personal pronouns and why they matter.
Please reach out to Elizabeth at deij@lwvor.org if you have any questions!
Youth Outreach Update
LWVUS Mobilizing Young Voter Pilot Program Launch
Nile Blass, LWVUS DMV Community Organizer, is thrilled to announce the Young Voter Pilot Program is officially launching. Over the coming weeks and months, you can anticipate a wide array of updates, resources, and supplementary materials designed to support our young voter outreach initiatives. We have a lineup of workshops, training sessions, and special speaker events in the pipeline, and we are committed to making these accessible both virtually and in person whenever possible.
To keep you in the loop, LWVUS will feature these special programming updates in the monthly League Update, on LWV's event website, and across various LWV informational forums. Thank you once again for your commitment to this important cause. Email Nile at nblass@lwv.org to request your email be added to the listserv, and make sure to sign up for LWVUS League Updates at lwv.org!
Membership Update
Everyone is invited to drop in to the Membership and DEIJ Special Interest Group
Wednesday, October 11⋅1:00 – 2:00pm Meets Monthly on second Wednesdays Join Zoom Meeting This month's meeting will begin with an interactive tour of the LWVOR website functionality by LWVOR Digital Director Sarah Andrews, including the members only side, and how to sign up for newsletters and Forums. The next topic is discussion with local League examples and ideas from around the state for new member orientation since the pandemic, a question submitted by LWV of Corvallis member Laura Evenson. Diana DeMaria is interim LWVOR Membership for Lisa Bentson, who has stepped up to co-President our state league while the nominating committee works on Board vacancies.
Count on LWVOR Membership as a local League resource!
Diana DeMaria (she/her--Why do pronouns matter?) call/text 503.319.8601 Interim Membership Chair membership@lwvor.org
Recommended Reading
From LWVOR Advocacy Chair, Becky Gladstone:
This month's book is THE HANK SHOW, about Hank Asher, “the pioneering computer programmer known as the father of data fusion”. This new-release is timely, coming shortly after Oregon’s first in the nation Data Broker Registry signing, HB 2052 Enrolled (2023). Here's LWVOR testimony. The author, McKenzie Funk, is from Oregon. We cited his 2016 NYTs Magazine article, Should We See Everything a Cop Sees? in our Privacy & Cybersecurity study and alluded to in LWVOR public records advocacy. The official release date is October 3 and it can pre-ordered through Bookshop.org, for delivery to your favorite independent local bookstore -check for your favorite! The freely shared advance excerpt, The Man Who Trapped Us in Databases, was in the Sept 24 NYTs Magazine.
From the author, McKenzie Funk:
“Recently, I spent a half-decade writing a book. It’s called The Hank Show. As you can imagine, it’s about a guy named Hank—in this case the pioneering data broker and onetime cocaine smuggler Hank Asher.
It’s sort of about him, at least. I always told myself it was really about what he left behind for us when he died in 2013: hidden tracking numbers that will stalk each of us for the entirety of our adult lives. Data and database systems that still course through the computers of the FBI, the IRS, the CIA, and ICE and through most American police departments, most Fortune 500 companies, and most of the world’s biggest banks. Digital dossiers that increasingly determine who among us gets loans, who gets insurance, who gets job offers, who gets arrested, who gets deported, who gets what healthcare, who gets ahead in life, and who’s left behind.”