Upcoming LWV Events

Celebrate Women's History Month
Possibilities for Women's Leadership

Presented by Jane Maddy, Ph.D. in Social Change
retired  UMD Associate Professor
Departments of Psychology and Women's Studies

 A celebration of the 90^th Anniversary of 
the League of Women Voters
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
12:00 Noon – 1:30 p.m.
Chester Creek Café, Lunch available

Past LWV Events

12th Annual Citizens in Action Workshop
Saturday, January 30, 2010

MN State Representative Frank Hornstein  – Opening speaker Elected in 2002, Rep. Hornstein is serving the Minneapolis area in his 4th term.  Hornstein is a key leader on transit, regional growth and renewable energy issues. Hornstein is a veteran community organizer who has worked with Clean Water Action and the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability.

Recently retired Duluth City Councilor Greg Gilbert. CIA Planning committee recognized him for his 12 years of service and his commitment to citizen involvement.  We thank Greg for always attending and being supportive of the CIA workshop.	Recently elected leaders having a great time at CIA.

LWV Duluth had a discussion on the Briefing Paper on Redistricting on January 16, 2010.

Duluth City Utility staff met with LWV members in October to answer our questions regarding the Comfort Systems, the gas, water, storm and sanitary sewer services of the City.  The three Brown Bag lunch meetings, sponsored by the local Infrastructure Study Working Group were held in City Hall October 15, 22, and 29

Duluth LWV members posed some tough questions to the Utility staff and were given clear, direct and comprehensive information to make complicated but essential functions of our city utilities understandable. 

We will be having Briefing and Discussion Sessions in late February.  See our February Voter for more information. This is the first step toward reaching member consensus on the LWV Duluth position regarding issues related to our water, sewer, and gas utility services. Without members’ careful consideration and discussion of the options available to us,  LWV cannot reach a thoughtful, useful position of agreement or take action on these issues locally.

LWV Duluth Kick-off Smashing Success

Was it the chocolate, the surprise program on the U. S. Census or the chance to hear about how to get involved with LWV Duluth?  We will never know for sure what brought everyone out, but over 60 folks came to the Duluth Art Institute on September 17.

85th Birthday Gala

The League of Women Voters of Duluth celebrated its 85th birthday and kicked off its 2005-06 year of political activities with a live radio broadcast of "A Voice for Citizens" hosted by Pat Castellano, radio announcer for LWVN radio station, Channel 1920.  We gathered at the Duluth Depot Great Hall for an afternoon of music, interviews, stories, news flashes of League action through the decades, updates on League events planned for the coming year, and commercials from the program's sponsors.

We also had an opportunity to hear Dorothy Davies, live and in person all the way from Willmar, Minnesota, sing her latest hit song, "A Voice For Citizens."  Ms. Davies is a charter member of the Willmar League of Women Voters,  

Annual Membership Tea
Program "How Far We've Come"

League members and guests gathered for tea to celebrate and remember two courageous women who endured hostility, violence, arrest, jail, and beatings to achieve the right to vote for women and people of color.  League members Gail Schoenfelder, Anita Larson, and Portia Johnson presented a program on "Unsung Heroes: Women Who Dared to Resist" to highlight the heroic contributions of Alice Paul, an early twentieth century radical suffragette, who was instrumental in the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920; and Fannie Lou Hamer, organizer of the Mississippi Freedom Party, who was instrumental in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 

Pat Castellano, Rachael Loeffler-Kemp, and Cheryl Skafte, known as the "Unsung Heroes Trio," added a special touch to the afternoon with their songs from the suffrage and civil rights periods.

LWV and Congdon Park School Work Together 
to Send Books to Nicaraguan Children

League member and media specialist, Julie Seidelmann made it possible for Congdon Park Elementary students and parents to purchase Spanish books at their annual Spring Book Fair.  The Congdon students and parents provided 123 books which were sent to children in the Nicaraguan community of El Regadio, who are not  able to afford the fees for books and school supplies.  League members Lyn Clark Peg, Gail Schoenfelder, and Portia Johnson learned first hand while visiting this rural village in January how teachers struggle to keep as many children as possible in school.  Because education in Nicaragua is not financed by the government, families must pay a fee for their children to attend.  Eighty percent of the people in Nicaragua are either unemployed or underemployed.  As a result, almost a million children do not attend school because their families cannot afford to pay the fees.  A donation of books from an outside source helps to cut costs and make education available to more children.