Monthly Archives: March 2023

Authors Luncheon April Program

Authors Luncheon April Program By Angela Scarlett

Our Authors Luncheon will be a shared event with CHAR. Here are the details on the Authors Luncheon coming up soon:

Date: Saturday, April 29, 2023, 11a.m.-2 p.m.,

Location: North Ridge Country Club, 7600 Madison Ave., Fair Oaks

Menu: Choice of Chicken Marsala with roasted potatoes and grilled vegetables or Pasta Primavera with marinara sauce and grilled vegetables. Choice of Limoncello Cake or Fruit Cup. Bread. Coffee, iced tea, hot tea and water.

Reservations: Price $30. Checks made payable to AAUW CHAR or electronic payment accepted. AAUW Sacramento Branch reservations should be sent to Charmen Goehring (address in directory). Members may also send payment and RSVP via Venmo to @Charmen-Goehring (send it as “personal”). RESERVATIONS DUE BY APRIL 19. PLEASE INDICATE MENU CHOICE in “memo” section of check.

Hear local author Christine Hunter talk about the women and stories she encountered when writing her recent book, “We Can Do This!: Sacramento’s Trailblazing Political Women and the Community They Shaped”.

Chris is a former Sacramento City Planning Commission member and volunteer lobbyist. She has worked on many political campaigns. In her book, she took a deep dive into the women serving Sacramento from 1972 to 2014. Her book is available on Amazon if you want to read it before our lunch date. We may even have a special guest joining Chris to further add to the discussion.

President’s Message

President’s Message By Angela Scarlett

As you all know, the nominating committee could not find a replacement for me last year, resulting in my serving a third year as branch president. We also tried to find a replacement for our programs director. We will hold an official election during the April Authors Luncheon that we share with CHAR.

For this upcoming year, Nancy McCabe, who previously served as president six years ago, has agreed to step back in as president. After her presidency, she took over as the Sunshine coordinator from Jane Cooley. Since Nancy just had knee replacement surgery, this is a brave move on her part. She knows the branch is in need, and we are very grateful for her presence. If you have received a birthday card or condolence card this year, Nancy sent it.

For the newly renamed vice-president of programs, Hedda Smithson and Barbara Smith have both agreed to serve in this position. This position is critical for having meaningful and engaging mission-critical AAUW Sacramento branch meetings and building community and friendship.

Hedda and Barbara are also former branch presidents who have diligently volunteered for years. They will seek to expand the pool of volunteers who can help plan events for our monthly programs.

Thank you, Nancy, Hedda, and Barbara, for your service!

Membership News

Membership News By  Donna Holmes & Marty McKnew

Annual Renewal

Dear Members,

Welcome to renewal season!  Renewals for 2023-24 officially open April 1 and you have until June 30 to renew.

Things to note:  National dues increased by $5 to $72 per year, no change for State ($20) or our Branch ($20), new total is $112 of which $89 is tax deductible.

You may pay online with a credit card by clicking on this link: Renew and enter your email and password.

If you paid by check last year you will receive a renewal form and return envelope in the mail during the month of April.  You may pay by check again, plus any extra donations, and return your form and check in the envelope provided.

Please also take this opportunity to provide needed updates of your directory information.

Thank you for your quick responses so we can get the directory out.

Hugs,
Donna & Marty

Member Recognition

One of our members, Ann Arneill, PhD, was recently recognized by the Sacramento County
Board of Supervisors for more than 30 years of service as a champion for behavioral health.
Ann served as executive officer for the California Council of Mental Health from 1985 to 1993
and the California Mental Health Planning Council from 1993 to 2011. These organizations were
established in state law to advise the California Legislature and state government on mental
health issues. During this time, she was a significant contributor to the evolution of mental
health in the State of California.

Dr. Arneill received a doctor of philosophy degree in psychology from UC Davis in 2004 to help
with her work in the field of behavioral health. In addition, Ann served on the Sacramento
County Mental Health Board from 2015 to 2022 and as chair from 2019 to 2020.

Congratulations, Ann! We are very proud of you and your contributions.

 

 

Celebrating April Birthdays! By Donna Holmes

Happy Birthday to All!

  • Anne Rhodes                                    4/1
  • Carol Nyman                                    4/3
  • RosaLee Black                                  4/7
  • Theresa Chekon                              4/9
  • Sandi Schoenman                           4/10
  • Sandra Young                                  4/11
  • Ann Pickens                                     4/17
  • Pamela Saltenberger                     4/17
  • Janelle Kauffman                            4/19
  • Carol Doughty                                4/22
  • Loretta Hom                                   4/25
  • MJ Hamilton                                    4/26
  • Margaret Brown                             4/27
  • Ronni Riemer                                  4/28
  • Dorothy Hodel                                4/30

Interest Group Happenings

Interest Group Happenings By Vicki Nicholson

  • Art & Architecture:  April 7, 10:30 a.m., visiting The Art Studios, contact Deborah Dunne
  • Board Games:  April 28, 7 p.m., home of Ruth Werner
  • Great Decisions I:  April 17, 7 p.m. on Zoom, topic-Politics in Latin America, contact Cathy Locke
  • Great Decisions II:  April 13, 6-8 p.m. on Zoom, topic-Economic Warfare, contact Lynn Wood
  • Great Decisions III:  April 17, 1 p.m., contact Kathy Schrumpf
  • Healthy Heart:  April 14, 11:30 a.m., Cafe Bernardo (Pavilions shopping center on Fair Oaks Blvd.), contact Jane Cooley
  • Readers’ Theater:  April 12, 1 p.m., play “Skeleton Crew” by Dominique Morisseau, home of Mary Williams
  • Scrabble:  April 24, 1 p.m., home of Vivian Counts
  • Singles Dining:  April 2, 6 p.m. at Zocalo’s, contact Karen Burley

Book Group News

Book Group News By Sharon Anderson

March Book Groups

Book Group 1:
The Alice Network,
by Kate Quinn, on April 13; coordinator is Joy Clous

Book Group 2:
Transcription, by Kate Atkinson, on April 4;  coordinator is Carol Hayes

Book Group 3: 
Our Missing Hearts, by Celeste Ng, on April 26; coordinator is Carolyn Meeker

Book Group 4: 
My Sister the Serial Killer, by Oykinkan Braithwaite, on April  12; coordinator is Pat Morehead

Book Group 6: 
How to Stand Up to a Dictator, by Maria Ressa, on April 17; coordinator is Kim Rutledge

Book Group 8: 
The Doctors Blakwell, by Janice Nimura, on April 24; coordinator is Diana Squire

Book Group 10: 
Damnation Spring, by Ash Davidson, on April 20; coordinator is Sandi Schoenman

Book Group 12: 
The Dovekeepers, by Alice Hoffman, on April 6; coordinator is Linda Cook

Living Our Mission of Equity Book Discussion

Living Our Mission of Equity By Charmen Goehring

We hope you will join us in a monthly equity conversation looking at our own biases and what actions we can take to attract diversity to our branch and become better people in the process. Each month, we read a section of our selected book then meet to discuss what we have learned, along with exploring other issues related to race and equity. We generally meet the first Wednesday of each month from 7 to 8 p.m. on Zoom. This book group is a joint AAUW Sacramento and CHAR event and open to all.

The Zoom meeting code is 737 420 3780 or you can join using this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7374203780

We will be discussing chapters 5-8 of our latest book, “The Color of Law” by Richard Rothstein at 7 p.m. April 5. If you have questions and to RSVP, please email Charmen at charminme@yahoo.com.

AAUW, Equity and Inclusion

AAUW, Equity and Inclusion By Charmen Goehring

This past weekend, I attended the California Teacher’s Association’s Equity and Human Rights conference. I was both a presenter and participant.

I was heartened by the more than 500 attendees, all educators with social justice mindsets, eager to do their part to dismantle systemic racism and biases that are hurting our students and, more widely, our nation and world. It felt good to know that I was not alone in this fight and to be validated about the importance of equity and inclusion work.

How does this relate to AAUW? In education, most teachers (73.4 percent in California) are female, yet most administrators and those in spaces where decisions are made are male — like the halls of government. We know that women bring a more collaborative, inclusive manner to discussions, whether in a school, board room, the floor of Congress or on the Supreme Court bench. Therefore, having more women in those spaces is beneficial for all, especially women and girls. To this end, AAUW has programs like Tech Trek, Gov Trek, Start $mart and Work $mart, and the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders (NCCWSL), all geared toward helping young women gain the skills and confidence to enter male-dominated spaces and thrive.

But we need to do more. Women of color have largely been left out of the conversation, in

Charmen Goehring

general and in AAUW. The women’s rights movement did not include them and until the late 1950s, neither did AAUW.

One glance around any AAUW meeting anywhere will show the effects of that exclusion — after 142 years of storied existence, AAUW is still predominantly an older, white woman organization. We have missed out on the passion, creativity and ideas of all those women who have the same concerns and interests but look different than us. We continue today to work on similar goals separately, despite knowing that “stronger together” isn’t a theme for nothing!

Lest you think I am advocating that we run out and find women of color to join us, I am not. I strongly believe that we each, and as a branch, have work to do first. When others join us, we want them to feel welcome and like they belong. And, for that to happen, we must examine our own biases (we all have them) and learn about the ways that our financial, educational and cultural systems have marginalized those who do not look like us. It’s the only way we can make lasting change that will ensure “equity for all”, which is, after all, our AAUW mission.

Some suggested resources:
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/- online Implicit Association Test

Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald, explains the science behind implicit biases that we all have

“The Color of Law “by Richard Rothstein — our Equity book group is reading this now, about the blatant racism built into housing policies in the US from the turn of the 20th century (some linger today)

https://www.ted.com/talks/ibram_x_kendi_the_difference_between_being_not_racist_and_antiracist?language=en – Ted Talk by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, who is amazing

Tech Trek News

It’s Exciting times for Tech Trek! By Mary C. Miller and Lori Franz

The time to meet the vibrant young women who applied to represent our branch at Tech Trek Camp arrived on Saturday, March 18.

After diligent work by Gloria Yost and Kathleen Deaver, with the cooperation and assistance of teachers and principals at two middle schools, 10 applications were completed and successfully loaded into the new Campdoc system. Thanks to the assistance of Angela Scarlett, the committee was able to use the Dharma Center as a meeting place and interview location.  The girls, all seventh graders, arrived for their interview with eager parents accompanying them.

Selection to attend camp at UC Davis, or even to attend a virtual camp, is an opportunity that can change a young woman’s life.  It can ignite an existing spark of interest in STEM, feed strong interests in a field of study, or simply create an insatiable desire to attend college.

The committee’s task was to evaluate the students’ enthusiasm for STEM fields, the availability of opportunities to the student, and the evidence of curiosity and potential. Along with teacher evaluations and the essays the girls submitted, the committee then met to select the five applicants who would have the opportunity attend the residential camp and the five who would be offered the virtual camp.  Working together and assisted by committee member Monique Stovall, consensus was reached.  The letters are ready to go out to the girls, the camp directors have been notified and we eagerly look forward to the next steps of Tech Trek.

We encourage anyone with an interest in this important project to join the 2024 committee.

Focus on Women’s Health

Focus on Women’s Health By Lisa Howard

With the Dobbs decision from the Supreme Court in May 2022, access to women’s health care was put at risk across the country.  Many of us have granddaughters, daughters and friends of child-bearing age that live in states where pregnancy now holds greater risk than it has for previous generations. The choice of pushing the decision back to the states has left many women who live in jurisdictions with government leadership supportive of women’s health wringing our hands about how to help as the horror unfolds in other states.  For the Sacramento AAUW women that gathered to discuss the threat to women’s health (the Reproductive Choice Committee), our first task was to gather resources.

While we haven’t yet figured out how to take action on this knowledge, we recognize that a first step we can each take is to share information with others so that more people understand what and where restrictions are being built into the law. Perhaps a small step each of us can take is to share the legal actions being taken and the resulting stories of impact on women’s individual lives with friends and families who are constituents of the leaders seeking to remove their rights.

Resources for you:

AAUW National Position on Women’s Health Protection
The Rally for Abortion Justice — and Beyond

Pass the Women’s Health Protection Act!

  • Contact your elected officials.
  • Write a Letter to your Editor
  • Build Community

AAUW members have been participating in Planned Parenthood events – https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/rightfully-ours/bans-off-our-bodies#events

Kaiser Family Foundation maintains a dashboard of state actions against women’s health – https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/dashboard/abortion-in-the-u-s-dashboard/

There are at least two women who have dedicated themselves to investigating and surfacing human stories that really provide personal context to the issues – https://substack.com/profile/535611-jessica-valenti
https://andreagrimes.substack.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

AAUW Fund Update / Printable Articles

AAUW Fund Update By Charmen Goehring

Thanks to the generosity of many members in our branch, AAUW Sacramento contributed $17,487.50 to the AAUW Fund in 2022. This amount topped last year! Most of the funding was designated to the Greatest Needs account, which allows AAUW to remain nimble and able to respond to needs that arise. Thank you to those who donated so bountifully!

AAUW Sacramento also leads all other branches in the state in number of Legacy Circle members. There is always room for more! A special event for prospective members was held last month and netted two additional members in CA and others across the country. Another exclusive online event will be held in May for all current Legacy Circle members — I would love to see so many Sacramento faces on that Zoom screen!

You can find more information on how easy it is to become a member Here or contact me at charminme@yahoo.com. Legacy Circle is a fantastic way to ensure that our organization is around for years to come “fighting the good fight!”

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