Adelante! Newsletter

AAUW Poway Penasquitos Branch 

September 2018 Adelante!

September 8 General Meeting by Harriet Gerza

Ready for another great year?  Start it off with our brunch on Saturday, September 8 – my favorite meeting of the year!  Enjoy a special treat and get the inside story from Tech Trek Camp with a panel including a teacher, dorm mom, and a junior counselor/former TTer.  Also, meet and hear from our seven Tech Trek campers and three Scholarship recipients!  Get your reservations in early for a great meeting! (see reservation form at the end of the newsletter)

 Welcome to the 2018-2019 AAUW-PP Year! by Joan Thompson, President

Welcome to the 2018-2019 AAUW-PP Year! by Joan Thompson, President

Dear Fellow Branch Members, At a Board Planning Session, the board developed the following goals for the year. We ask your help and support in reaching them. If you have something you would like the Branch to consider working on, please let me or another board member know.  We are here to serve you.

2018-2019 Goals

  1. Increase membership involvement.  Some examples of what each of us can do:
    1. More 1-1 communication; make contact more personal; say Hi to someone you don’t know.
  1. Buddy system – i.e. offer a ride, or to do something, with other members
  2. Interest groups – invite non-volunteers to volunteer
  • Encourage people to shadow you on a committee
  1. Volunteer to help with something the branch is doing
  2. Attend an extra program/event/interest group activity
  1. Investigate the Start Smart/Work Smart programs to see what training/set ups are required to implement these programs that can help women negotiate competitive salaries. Marie Dye is spearheading the investigation.
  2. Develop new partnerships.
  3. Get 1-3 corporate sponsors within the next two years. Janice Heather and Sheila Walker are willing to work on this. We invite other interested members to contact Janice and Sheila so folks can work together.
  4. Look into other ways to increase community partnerships, maybe with colleges or other community groups. Ideas from you are welcomed! What will make our branch more meaningful to you?  Please let me know.

We also slightly stretched our fundraising goals to increase support for our Tech Trek and Women’s Re-entry Scholarship programs.

We will have the Fall Campaign, which raises most of the funds we need. Please be generous.  We’re planning a few more fundraisers that should be FUN!  Please be looking for them.

Looking forward to meeting with you, working with you and serving you this year.

Public Policy by Marie Dye

AAUW has been very active this summer. Here are some of the highlights:

  • AAUW headed to Capitol Hill to participate in the annual Women’s Congressional Policy Institute STEAM Fair (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics). Information was shared about all the ways AAUW empowers women in STEAM.
  • AAUW joined over 100 organizations to call for the Senate Judiciary Committee to request and review the records from Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s prior work for the George W. Bush administration. Since then AAUW has announced its opposition to the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Kavanaugh has shown little support for workers’ rights; failed to support contraceptive healthcare coverage; argued against long-standing precedent prohibiting the use of public funds for religious activities; and has a record of limiting access to the ballot box.
  • AAUW joined an effort to petition the U.S. Department of Education to retract and correct the 2017 Title IX Dear Colleague Letter on Campus Sexual Misconduct.
  • The AAUW Action Fund Capitol Hill Lobby Corps visited over 60 Senate offices to advocate for the co-sponsorship and passage of GEEA (Gender Equity in Education Act)
  • AAUW joined more than 50 women’s organizations in a letter and participated in a Congressional press conference rejecting family separation and calling for an approach that “respect[s] the sanctity of a family.” We continue to urge Congress to take up and pass the bipartisan Dream Act.
  • Illinois became the 37th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) leaving the ERA only one state away from potential addition to the U.S. Constitution. AAUW of Illinois was active in pushing this legislation through the state legislature
  • California recently passed a bill clarifying the state law banning the use of salary history in the hiring process, making it the sixth state this year to pass legislation to address wage discrimination and the gender pay gap. The bill defines several terms in existing law, establishes that employers can ask for expected salary, and clarifies that prior salary cannot be used to justify pay disparity in compensation. AAUW of California members strongly advocated for the bill and played an active role in lobbying their state legislators.

Anniversaries

  • 50th anniversary of the Fair Labor Standards Act
  • 46th anniversary of Title IX
  • 55th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act.
  • 53rd anniversary of the Voting Rights Act

Did You Know?  AAUW Fund Choices by Marianne Treese

All of your contributions to AAUW go toward furthering the goal of gender equality, but did you know that you can DESIGNATE to which specific FUNDS within that umbrella you would most like your contribution to go?  Each FUND has its own number:

9110 – THE AAUW FUND supports existing programs that meet challenges facing women and girls (Not tax deductible)

4339 – THE LEADERSHIP PROGRAMS FUND supports programs that develop women’s leadership. (All tax deductible)

* 2505 NATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR COLLEGE WOMEN STUDENT LEADERS provides                       financial assistance to young women to attend this annual conference in Washington, DC.

* 2515 CAMPUS ACTION PROJECTS award grants to campus leaders.

* 2522 ELECT HER teaches young women to run for student government.

* 4338 START SMART provides college women with skills to negotiate salaries and                             benefits.

4336 – THE EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FUND supports educational and lifelong learning                  opportunities that give women a chance for success. (All tax deductible)

*????   AAUW FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS (refer to directory for name and number)

*4371 TECH TREK educates and inspires 8th grade girls in science, technology,                                  engineering and math through weeklong camps.

3999 -THE LEGAL ADVOCACY FUND protects legal rights of those facing sex discrimination. (All               tax deductible)

* 9310 CASE SUPPORT protects LAF plaintiffs in workplace sex discrimination cases.

* 3072 TRAVEL & EDUCATIONAL GRANTS informs members of legal rights.

* 3500 CAMPUS OUTREACH PROJECTS protects college students from discrimination,                         harassment and assault through grants.

9170 – THE ELEANOR ROOSEVELT FUND supports AAUW research to provide information about               issues important to women and girls.

4337 – THE PUBLIC POLICY FUND supports public policies and laws that are fair to women.

2011 – THE AAUW ACTION FUND advances equity for women and girls through member                            activism and voter mobilization.

AAUW-PP Funds Honorees by Sally Jacobson

Each year we honor members who have made significant contributions of their time and efforts to the AAUW Poway-Penasquitos chapter.  For 2017-2018, we have 5 AAUW Funds honorees:

As our public relations chair for the last 3 years, Georgia Chagala has significantly raised the profile of the AAUW-PP branch by publicizing AAUW events in local publications. Her efforts have helped increase our branch membership by 15% in the last 2 years.

 Pam Ames has been an active board member, an instigator in fundraising events, and has been actively involved in promoting and leading several branch interest groups.

 Deborah Dutilly has served on the Board and assisted in fundraising activities.  She consistently volunteers to serve on whatever projects need assistance.

 Harriet Gerza has been active in branch activities, serving as president, program chair, and most notably, is responsible for bringing corporate donations to enhance our fundraising goals.

Pamela Meyer has been involved in almost every aspect of this branch, from president, to programs, to membership, and organizes many of our fundraising events, including Cover to Cover.  She’s also been active in the statewide organization.

We thank all of you for your dedicated service to AAUW-PP.

Membership Matters by Pamela Meyer & Jeanni Harris, Membership Co-chairs 

Who are we?  What is AAUW doing for me?  My community?  My country?  AAUW is a nationwide, nonpartisan community that uses its influential network to disseminate information, raise awareness, and effect change on women’s issues.   We have nearly 170,000 members and a nationwide community that includes 1000 branches and 800 college and university partners.  We are well known on Capitol Hill and in the state capitals, and in the civil rights and women’s advocacy communities, especially in the areas of K-12, undergraduate and graduate education.  We have been working to advance women’s equity for more than 137 years, integrating our time, our energy and our philanthropy.

AAUW is making a difference in the lives of women and girls by supporting and developing programs that enrich, educate and motivate them to discover their potential and reach higher goals than they may have dreamed they could achieve.

Our branch is working to increase our membership by introducing more women to the benefits of joining our branch.  We are going to hold four membership orientations in September and October to reach out to the community and find those women who did not know they needed us!  Keep watch for the dates and the places via our Gmail.  Invite your friends to come and listen to what AAUW and the Poway Penasquitos branch can offer them!

AAUW-PP Branch Budget 2018-2019 by Michelle Blasberg, Treasurer

As we get ready to start a new AAUW fiscal year, it’s time to review and approve the 2018-2018 budget for the branch.  Included here is the FY2019 budget for our branch.  The board members have reviewed expenses and considered what we would like to offer to the membership this year and now we ask you, the members, to review and approve this budget.  The vote to approve the budget will be done at the breakfast meeting on September 8th.

Please review this and come prepared to vote at the September 8 General Meeting!