Thank you to all of our outgoing Board members from 2018-2019.

To outgoing board members who gave days and days of their time to AAUW Sacramento, we can never thank you enough, but we greatly appreciate all that you have done and continue to contribute to our branch.

• Donna Holmes – Co-President 2017-2019
• Deborah Dunn – Program Co-Director
• Sharon Norris – Membership Co-Director
• Linda Patterson – Membership Co-Director
• Danielle Metzinger – AAUW Funds Director
• May Ruth Lynch – AAUW Finance Director
• Nancy Lawrence – Fundraising Director
• Cherril Peabody – Interest Group Director
• Ashley Anglesey – Public Policy Director
• Susana Mullen – Scholarship Co-Director

 New to the 2019-2020 Voting Board:

We want to welcome to the board this year some new-to-the-board members, as well as

some long-time board members in new positions:

• Charmen Goehring – Co-President
• Angela Scarlett – President-Elect
• Karen Burley – Program Co-Director with Cathy Locke
• Janice Stuter – Membership Director
• Merrie McLaughlin – AAUW Funds Co-Director with Kathy Asay
• Donna Holmes – (temporary) Finance Director
• Barbara Smith – Fundraising Director
• Kathy Papst – Interest Groups Director
• Amy Rose – Public Policy Director
• Linda Patterson – Scholarship Co-Director with Anna Storey

Continuing 2019-2020 Board Members

These members continue to serve and enjoy the friendships of the board:

• Elizabeth (Liz) Jordan – Co-President
• Cathy Locke – Program Director
• Kathy Asay – AAUW Funds
• Tiffany Ardisana James – Secretary
• Angela Scarlett – Communications Director
• Sharon Anderson – Membership Treasurer
• Ruth Ann Hines – Parliamentarian
• Anna Storey – Scholarship Co-Director
• Shari Beck – Speech Trek Co-Director
• Ann Arneill – Speech Trek Co-Director
• Jo Reiken – Teck Trek Co-Director
• Ashely Gilreath – Teck Trek Co-Director

Board service is a wonderful way to make lifelong friendships, keep up with all the work AAUW CA and National are doing to advance equity for women and girls, and to gain leadership, technical, and interpersonal skills.

What we did at the Board Retreat

The new AAUW Sacramento Branch Board assembled on Saturday, Aug. 3 at Cathy Locke’s home to orient new members, make some plans, set some goals and get to know each other.

The theme for the year

The Co-Presidents presented a theme for our work this year of Equity=Fairness. Under that theme the board decided on two goals:

Expanding our STEM Outreach

• Look into a cooperative partnership with a Girl Scout Gold Award seeker
• Develop or participate in a Tech Trek Alumni group

Expanding our Equity Self Awareness

• Diversity and Accessibility Education
• Review member and board recruiting strategies

Board Meetings

The board is undertaking some new efficiency measures to expand time for discussion on important topics. Board members will submit their activity reports by email, and the Presidents will collect, assemble the board meeting agendas and resend all to the board members for review before meeting times. Board meetings are open to the membership, and we welcome your participation. A list of the meeting dates, times and location follow in this issue of Capital Ideas.

Website

The board is researching updates to the branch website at sacramento-ca.aauw.net. As technology changes, our ways of using our website to connect with members is changing. Also, just keeping annual and monthly updates done is an effort we don’t always get it done as well as we might wish. So, we ask for your patience (and offers of help!) as we make some changes to our website in this year ahead.

 Year Ahead

The year ahead is full of informative programs, our 100^th Anniversary celebration Feb. 29 at Northridge Country Club, and making new friends. See the Programs listing in your Directory for more details of the year to come. Our Annual Showcase on Sept. 21 at Arden-Dimick Library from 10 a.m. to noon. We will meet our young women student leaders from CSUS, our scholarship recipients and get an overview of branch Outreach Programs and Interest Groups. Come join the fun and bring a friend or potential new member!

 

Looking Within to Expand Our Reach Out by Charmen Goehring

We live in troubling times. As I write this, the news pundits are discussing the two mass shootings we just experienced in the United States in less than 24 hours. Displays of hate are at an all-time high. Racist comments are tweeted by those in the highest places of power in our government. The risk of irreparable division is real.

Meanwhile, we belong to this amazing organization that has worked tirelessly to help women and girls, and indeed our nation, to move forward in equity and education for over 130 years. Our involvement in AAUW can be a way that we each help to bridge the divide with our community. To that end, the board is making a conscious effort to use an equity lens as we move through this next year – from our meetings to our interest groups to our own attitudes and beliefs. We want to continue seeking out diversity and finding new people to join us. However, in order for that to work well, we have to be something that they see themselves joining and being a part of. I think of it like a restaurant – you might love the food at a certain place, but if you had poor service on your visit, you might think twice about going there again. If the restaurant worked on their service presentation, you wouldn’t hesitate to return and bring your friends, as well. Sometimes, we have to focus inward before we can reach outward.

A website that I highly recommend is Teaching Tolerance | Diversity, Equity And Justice. You can sign up for their monthly e-magazine (or even a hard copy – it used to be free) and there are amazing articles in there. You can also search their archives for articles, lesson plans, and videos on many equity and diversity subjects. I have used it for years and always learn something new that stretches my thinking.

The other thing I suggest is the Harvard Implicit Association Test (IAT). This measures the strength of associations between subjects. It can be found at Project Implicit, and you can either create an account or log in as a guest. It is very interesting and will make you think about your own bias. Nothing to be ashamed of as we all have them, but being aware is the first step towards empathy and being more inclusive and tolerant of others.

We invite you to join us on this journey of self-awareness and reflection.