President's Message

Our June Branch meeting was a time to celebrate the year's accomplishments, of which there many! Thank you to all who attended! There are various feature stories in this first of two summer newsletters that present some highlights of the meeting -- our outgoing and incoming board members and other branch leaders, our scholarship support numbers, our community service, and more. For me, being selected as the 2025 Named Gift Honoree was a special and moving distinction in my 15 years with AAUW and our San Luis Obispo Branch. A deep and sincere thank you to the selection committee, to those who made donations to AAUW Funds, and to the entire branch for the energy and commitment you show to the mission of our organization: to advance equity for women and girls through research, education, and advocacy.

You will also read about AAUW's new strategic plan and our top strategic priority: AAUW empowers women and girls by championing their success in higher education and pushing for policy solutions to create lasting change. This laser focus on higher education is even more important in the current educational and political climate. I look forward to working with branch members at our upcoming planning session on Saturday, July 12 to see how we might expand our support of this priority, especially in some of our monthly branch programs — thanks to our various scholarships, we already are doing quite a bit in direct support of students!

On behalf of the branch, I added our support to AAUW CA letters to Senators Padilla and Schiff requesting their opposition to the budget reconciliation bill H.R.1. You can see copies of those letters with the email sent to announce this issue of the newsletter. Although this devastating bill was passed by both the House and Senate and signed by the President, your advocacy for economic equity is still very much needed. Consider becoming a Two-Minute Activist! "Sign up to get regular alerts on when and how to engage, including sending letters to your legislators, writing letters to the editor and other timely calls to action."

AAUW Rocks!
Debra Valencia-Laver, President