Seven members of our branch attended the February 7 luncheon in Lompoc sponsored by the AAUW Santa Barbara Interbranch Council. The featured speaker was our National AAUW CEO, Gloria Blackwell.
Everyone mentioned that they enjoyed the food and the opportunity to meet with members of other branches. Their impression of Gloria’s talk was that she focused a lot on grants, fellowships and partnering with other coalitions. She talked about the impact of the endowed Fellowships and Grants and explained the need for donations to AAUW’s Greatest Need Fund. Her emphasis was on what AAUW is doing in Washington, D.C., to make sure that our voices are being heard, including working in alliances with many organizations that have goals that are in concert with AAUW goals. She also described our role at the United Nations. At the local level we often feel like we are not very visible, but it seems that at the national level, especially in the Washington, D.C., area, AAUW and what it stands for is well known.
For those who aren’t aware, some current areas of AAUW effort are
- Title IX
- It's My Vote Campaign...Partnering with The League of Women Voters
- Belonging to Multiple Coalitions
- Working on Public Policies
- Partnering with the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls
- Alliance for Higher Education
Members were encouraged to become ‘two minute activists’ to contribute to the National office’s efforts to influence government policy. (https://www.aauw.org/act/two-minute-activist/)
There was also a short update from Mayra Puente, the AAUW Fellow who spoke at last year’s luncheon, about her research project “Rural Latinx Students’ College Access and Choice Processes in California’s Central Coast.”
The luncheon was not one-sided knowledge sharing. Gloria went back to her office with ‘brag sheets’ from the branches whose members attended so she could see the impact that we are having on our local communities.
The News section of AAUW's website references two articles in the Lompoc Record which will give you additional perspective on the luncheon. (The group photo in the first article was supposed to be of past branch presidents, but not all past presidents present were found and included.)
Shelly Johnson
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| Mayra Puente, former AAUW Fellow |
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| Gloria Blackwell, AAUW CEO |
