“AI: Creating the Future We Want”
Monday, January 26, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Hosted by our AAUW-WA Public Policy Team

Use this-> link to register for the Zoom meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information about joining the meeting.

Presenters

Our keynote speaker is Emily Bender, UW professor of linguistics and director of its Computational Linguistics Laboratory. She co-authored the 2025 book The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want.

Other presenters will be:

• Dr. Jai Jaisimha, co-founder of the Transparency Coalition, whose mission is to champion policies that ensure AI technologies are developed and used in ways which prioritize safety, transparency, and the public good
• Fina Ormond, WA State Deputy Director of Elections
• AAUW-WA legislative consultant Nancy Sapiro
• Members of our AAUW-WA Public Policy Team

Review our Advocacy Day 2026 Checklist.

Follow our Advocacy Day bills in This Week in Olympia (sign up ->here to receive TWinO), with updates from our lobbyist and easy action steps to take to support our advocacy efforts.

Use this-> link to view a list of bills we are tracking (on BillTrack50) for 2026.

Review our bill list and Talking Points:

• Our AAUW-WA Priorities (ask your legislator to support these bills)
• Talking Points for these AAUW-WA Priority Bills
• Sample Letter to Legislators
• 2025 WA Legislator Scorecard (on BillTrack50)
• 2026 WA Legislator Scorecard (will be updated at the end of the session)

The Legislator Scorecard will be used at the end of the session to “score” how your legislator voted on our Advocacy Day bills. You can also use it now to see: bills they sponsored, their profiles, the committees to which they are assigned, and other information.

Education Empowers Our Members! Free, online “Fireside Chats”

Fireside Chats are opportunities to learn and to interact with other AAUW branch members around the state on topics that matter to us.

Tuesday, November 18
Changes to Health Care and Medicare in Washington State

Pamela Crone, Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action, is our guest speaker. Pamela is a lawyer and PSARA’s former lobbyist. She represented clients in Olympia for 20 years. Her lobbying portfolio included advocating for the legal rights of women, LGBTQ persons, workers, people with disabilities, and people experiencing homelessness.

View slides at-> this link.

Watch video recording at-> this link. Use passcode: %XAL%Lt4

In-person meeting at Heritage University.
Saturday, September 6, 2025

Theme: Education Empowers!

Program:

• Welcome by Emily Hitchens, AAUW-WA president, and Dr. Melissa Hill, vice president of Academic Affairs at Heritage University
• Overview and history of Heritage University by Dr. Kathleen Ross, SNJM
• Deborah McCall will join us remotely to explain AAUW’s College/University Partnerships.
• Brittany Gregory, director of the WA State Women’s Commission
• Workshops including membership engagement and retention, Adelante STEM Program at Heritage, Public Policy planning for 2025-2026
• Open Forum

Link to recording of Deborah McCall’s presentation. Deborah McCall is a senior program manager at national AAUW. She discussed the benefits of C/U membership and introduced the C/U Toolkit.  click -> here, Use passcode: T1W54+4u

Here are the slides and handouts on AAUW’s College/University memberships and free student memberships:

• C/U Membership Brochure
• C/U Members: How to Join or Renew
• Students Attending C/U Members Can Join or Renew for Free
• AAUW’s C/U Memberships: FAQs

Elena Cervantes (event photographer), Jodi Forsell (Program Director), Nadine Stecklein (C/U Relations Director)

“When Electricity Came to the Valley,” a Toppenish Mural.

“Stronger Together,” our AAUW-WA Annual Meeting was held on April 26, 2025.

The Annual Meeting included:

• Approval of our 2025-2027 Public Policy Priorities
• Approval of Changes to our Bylaws (see Bylaws changes and descriptions in the Member Center)
• Review of 2024-2025 Annual Financial Report (in the Member Center)
• Election of officers (See Evergreen Leader Supplement)

Our guest speaker was Kari Mar, editor and publisher of the La Connor Community News. After the closing of one of WA State’s oldest weekly newspapers, Kari and her all-female leadership team are exploring a hybrid model: the newsroom and website are supported by donations, and the print publication is covered by print subscriptions. Click ->here to learn more about La Connor’s community newspaper.

The League of Women Voters of Washington has done an extensive study and made recommendations on Local News and Democracy.

Sandra Distelhorst gave a slide presentation on the Public Policy Team, legislative successes, priorities for 2025-2027, upcoming challenges, and what we can do as individual AAUW members and branches.

Other resources:

AAUW Guidance for Public Demonstrations
Staying Nonpartisan for 501(c)(3) Organizations (Nonprofit VOTE)

Breakout rooms were used for conversations about advocacy in the coming year.

AAUW of Washington hosted this free presentation, via Zoom, informing Great Decisions Interest Group members in our state, Oregon, and Idaho, as well as others interested in the topic.

“The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”
A presentation by Dr. Jeffrey S. Morton
Sunday, April 13, 2025

View Chat transcript (text file)

“Today’s world order is at a crossroads. It is a moment of great uncertainty in which it is possible to imagine many different global futures.” (G. John Ikenberry, Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University and guest editor of Great Decisions 2025)

So begins the The Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions 2025 briefing book, which guides the discussions of numerous Great Decisions Interest Groups in AAUW branches throughout Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Middle Eastern policy has been a featured topic In Great Decisions discussions during 2023-2025. (See also Great Decisions, Spring Update, 2025)

In his talk, Dr. Morton provides an assessment of the current state of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle for security. The role of regional actors and the United States is considered along with U.S. foreign policy options.

Professor Jeffrey S. Morton is the Pierrepont Comfort Chair in Political Science at Florida Atlantic University and is a Fellow at the Foreign Policy Association. He completed his MA from Rutgers University, specializing in War Studies. He received his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in International Law. He offers the annual Great Decisions Master Class, which is a series of eight lectures on selected foreign policy topics.

A recommended reference for those interested in more background is The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine: From Zionism to Intifadas and the Struggle for Peace by Michael Scott-Baumann.

Monday, January 27
Links to the handouts and slides are available below.
Hosted by our AAUW-WA Public Policy Team.

View the recording, click-> here.
Passcode: 745Yh9V^

Lobby Day Agenda Slides

Speakers included:

• Our legislative consultant Nancy Sapiro
• Mia Shigemura, Senior Policy Analyst, WA State Budget and Policy Center. Mia’s presentation, Understanding the 2025 Budget Landscape
• Samuel Fennell, WA State LGBTQ Commission
• Emily Brice, Northwest Health Law Advocates. Emily’s handouts: NoHLA 2025 Policy Priorities, Public Worker Health Cost Containment, 2025 Fair Health Prices

Sign up now to receive This Week in Olympia, containing updates from our lobbyist and easy action steps to support our advocacy efforts.

Your Resources for 2025 Legislative Advocacy

• Our AAUW-WA Priorities. Ask your legislator to support these bills.
• Talking Points for These AAUW-WA Priority Bills
• Sample Letter to Legislators
• 2025 WA Legislator Scorecard (BillTrack50)

The Legislator Scorecard will be used at the end of the session to “score” how your legislator voted on our Lobby Day bills. You can also use it now to see: bills they sponsored, their profile, the committees to which they are assigned, and other information.

Lobby Day Checklist

Click -> here for a Lobby Day Checklist of things you can do for follow-up actions.

“Telling Our Stories” was our first in-person event in over four years! It was held on Saturday, October 19, at Renton Technical College.

The program included:

• Welcome and remarks by Dr. Yoshiko Harden, RTC President
  
• Keynote presentation by April Sims, President of the Washington State Labor Council

• Viewing Arise Firebird, a documentary film celebrating the resilience and empowerment of women and BIPOC professionals in the workplace. Q&A with the director (who tells her story in the film)

• Breakout sessions facilitated by Doris Martinez, Executive Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at RTC
• Door prizes and plenty of time to socialize

About Our Keynote Speaker, April Sims

April Sims is the chief executive officer of the Washington State Labor Council. She supervises all of its activities and staff, and leads Washington’s largest union organization representing more than half a million union members. The granddaughter of Louisiana sharecroppers and the daughter of a single mother, Sims has seen the power of unions to change lives.

Contact Jodi Forsell, programs@aauw-wa.org, for more information.

On October 1, the MacArthur Foundation announced their 2024 Genius Grant winners. One of the recipients is Dr. Dorothy Roberts.

Many AAUW-WA members will remember Dr. Roberts’ presentation for our 2021 Health Matters! webinar.

Dr. Roberts is a professor of sociology and law at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a legal scholar and public policy researcher exposing racial inequities embedded within health and social service systems. Her work encompasses reproductive health, bioethics, and child welfare. She sheds light on systemic inequities, amplifies the voices of those directly affected, and boldly calls for wholesale transformation of existing systems.

From the MacArthur Foundation website:

“Roberts argues that the engrained oppressive features of the current system render it beyond repair. She calls for creating an entirely new approach focused on supporting families rather than punishing them. Her support for dismantling the current system of child welfare is unsettling to some, but her provocation inspires many to think more critically about its poor track record and harmful design. By uncovering the complex forces underlying social systems and institutions and uplifting the experiences of people caught up in them, Roberts creates opportunities to imagine and build more equitable and responsive ways to ensure child and family safety.”

The MacArthur Fellowship is awarded to talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction.

The selection criteria are 1. Exceptional creativity, 2. Promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishments and, 3. Potential for the Fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work.

Join us for free online “Fireside Chats”!

It’s a virtual opportunity to chat informally with other AAUW branch members around the state on topics that matter to us.

Lobby Day Follow-up, March 12

Learn about the progress of our priority legislation, the latest proposed state budget cuts, and new revenue options (taxes).  You will hear a sneak preview of our AAUW-WA public policy priorities for 2025-2027. How are federal policy changes and funding cuts already impacting WA state?  And finally, what can we do as advocates to protect women’s rights in WA and beyond?

View recording at –> this link.
Passcode:  x*9cu.03

Links to Materials Shared:

• Why AAUW Is Nonpartisan
• Budget Request Letter, WA State Governor, Senators and Representatives
• AAUW-WA Public Policy Priorities, 2025-2028

Fundraising: Ideas, Tools, Getting Started
February 19, 2025

What is your branch doing to raise funds? What idea do you have for fundraising? What tools do you use for ticket and product sales? Collecting money prior to and at the event? How do you promote it?

View recording at –>this link.
Passcode: =F7&a2&z

Handout on “Purses with a Purpose,” a fundraiser held by Stanwood Camano Branch. There are two online tools that Anacortes Branch uses: QGIV, an online fundraising platform, and Eventzee, a customizable scavenger hunt app.

National AAUW also has resources for branch fundraising.

• Fundraising Tools for Branches. Go to Leader Resources and Tools on the AAUW website. Select Fundraising Tools for Branches.

“Elections 2024: What Did We Learn”
Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Our AAUW-WA Public Policy Team led a discussion on lessons learned from our branch candidate forums and “Get Out the Vote” activities, to help us plan for 2025-2026 and beyond.

“The Future of AAUW”
Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Discussion facilitated by Barbara Sando.

• The vote to change membership requirements did not pass—what happens now?
• How do we continue growing our organization?
• How financially stable is national AAUW?
• What are the ramifications of the Title IX scholarship decisions?
• What is the future of AAUW? What steps do we need to take to get there?

Click here to view-> Slides and charts on the Future of AAUW

Click here to view ->Handout on Title IX and Scholarships, prepared by Barbara Sando

Click here to view -> Notes compiled by Emily Hitchens

For more information, contact Jodi Forsell, programs@aauw-wa.org.

Across the country, school boards, and candidates for school boards, are taking up controversial policies that have led to:

• Banning books from school libraries
• The censorship of curriculum in school classrooms due to individuals finding content “objectionable”
• Policies leading to the prevention of safe school climates for students of all sexual orientations and gender identities

Here are some resources to help you learn about and participate in AAUW’s school board advocacy.

Watch this webinar: School Boards: The Battleground for the Education Culture Wars

And check out the resources referenced in the webinar.

Read AAUW-WA’s position statement on Supporting Public Educators, Academic Freedom, and Equity Efforts in Schools.

School Board and SPI Elections

There are no school board elections this year but the Superintendent of Public Instruction position is up for election. Use our  SPI Candidate Comparison to see how these candidates stand on specific issues.

The League of Women Voters provides How to Choose a School Board Candidate: What Every Voter Should Know.

Serving as a School Board Director

Are you interested in running for your local school board? The Washington State School Directors Association (WSSDA) provides a helpful get-started webpage, Serving on Your Local School Board.