CTAUN Conference
UN Headquarters, NYC
Friday, January 31, 2014
9:30 AM to 3 PM
The annual Committee on Teaching About the UN (CTAUN) conference will take place on January 31 at the United Nations in NYC. This year’s conference is titled Promoting Peace through Education. The registration deadline is January 17.
For more information and to register, go to:
Tuesday, 12/17/13 –
1 PM AAUW Kingston Book Group cancelled due to snow.
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3:30 PM Branch meeting & holiday party rescheduled to 1/21/14, Kingston Library Community Room, 2nd Floor, 55 Franklin Street, Kingston.
Enjoy each other’s company with conversational games.
Donate one or two new children’s book suitable for children under the age of 10. Books will be donated as gifts to children in our area.
Bring a salad or dessert to share.
Guests are welcome.
Call or email Ruth Bean (845-255-5752, Ruthdbean@gmail.com) for more information or if you need a ride.
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
7:15 PM
Rosendale Theater
408 Main Street
Rosendale, NY 12472
Map and directions at:
maps.google.com…
A documentary based on the book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, showing successful efforts to turn oppression to opportunity for women worldwide. Segments will be shown on gender-based violence, sex trafficking, and forced prostitution.
There will also be a discussion led by Julia Drost, the Policy and Advocacy Associate for the Women’s Human Rights Program of Amnesty International USA. Ms. Drost will share the latest developments, including the status of the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) in the U.S. Congress. There will be letter writing opportunities as part of Amnesty International’s Global Write for Rights event, which is the largest grassroots human rights event in the world.
Cost: By donation
Sponsored by: Mid-Hudson Chapter of Amnesty International
Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/events/676420339043012/
For more info: group1003@aiusa.org, 845-257-2635
This event represents the Third Annual Human Rights Film from the Mid-Hudson Chapter of Amnesty International. There is a companion event, a fundraising DJ dance party, at the Rosendale Cafe on Friday, 12/6. For more info, go to:
http://ActivistResource.org/18821
On Tuesday, December 10th, the United Nations Association Southern New York State Division and the Eleanor Roosevelt Leadership Center at Val-Kill will observe International Human Rights Day with an event titled, “Human Rights: The World We Want.”
The event will feature Ryan Kaminsky, a UNA-USA Leo Nevas Human Rights Fellow, as keynote speaker. After the keynote address, the audience is invited to participate in roundtable conversations focused on topics of interest including Climate, Education, Energy, Food & Agriculture, Gender & Protection, Good Governance, Health, Jobs, and Water & Sanitation. Notes, concerns, and suggestions from the discussions will be compiled in a report submitted to the UN Secretary General by UNA-USA.
The event runs on Tuesday, December 10, from 11 am to 2:30 pm at the Henry A. Wallace Center at the FDR Presidential Library and Home at 4079 Albany Post Rd, Hyde Park, NY 12538 (map). Participants are invited to visit the FDR Presidential Library and Museum free of charge after the event.
The program is free and open to the public, there are $10 box lunches available, but they must be ordered in advance. To RSVP, order lunch, or get more information please email mbenedict@erleadership.org or jbs@stratdev.com or call 914-478-3450 or 845-229-5302.
From an email from Donna Seymour, AAUW-NYS Public Policy VP —
AAUW Activists,
Just a reminder we are hosting a Twitter Storm in celebration of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act’s (PDA) 35th Anniversary today at 11 am EDT. We hope you will join us in raising awareness about the need to upgrade (use #UpgradeNY) PDA and pass the Women’s Equality Act. Make sure you Tweet at your New York State Assembly member and Senator as well.
WHAT: Twitter Storm - Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) needs an upgrade!
DATE: Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013
TIME: 11 a.m. EDT
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtags #WEA & #UpgradeNY
WHO: @AAUWNY, @ABetterBalance, @NYWomensAgenda, @NOWNYC, @EqualPayNY
Follow @AAUWNY, @ABetterBalance, @EqualPayNY, @NYWomensAgenda and the hashtag #UpgradeNY to participate.
Also, remember to post on Facebook, write Letters to the Editor (LTE), and schedule an in-person meeting with your local legislator this week. It’s a week of Action – so get Active!
Working with our WEA & Equal Pay Coalition partners multiples all of our voices.
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Sample Pregnancy Discrimination Act Tweets
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(Don’t forget to Tweet @NYSenate, @NYAssembly, and your elected officials).
Fire a woman for being pregnant? That is so 19th Century! Make the #WEA Pregnancy Accommodation bill law in 2013! #UpgradeNY #NYWomenStrong
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act turns 35 on Oct.31, yet pregnancy discrimination persists. Make the NYS #WEA law in 2013! #NYWomenStrong
NYC treated 40% of NYSs women right with their Pregnant Workers Fairness Act; what about the rest of us? Pass #WEA #UpgradeNY
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On Facebook? “Like” AAUW-NYS:
http://www.facebook.com/AAUW.NYS
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The “Who is Jim Crow?” Film Series
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” MLK, Jr.
Kickoff:
Monday, October 28, 2013, 7 PM to 9 PM
New Progressive Baptist Church, 8 Hone Street, Kingston, New York
Free – Light Refreshments
Showing: The New Jim Crow, with Michelle Alexander
A talk delivered at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, NYC in 2012. Alexander’s Book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, spearheaded a nationwide movement to end mass incarceration and the racial caste system it has created.
Discussion: Led by Odell Winfield, founder of the End the New Jim Crow Action Network (ENJAN) and Pastor G. Modele Clarke (New Progressive Baptist Church)
Sponsors:
ENJAN Kingston
New Progressive Baptist Church
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills – Social Justice Committee
Woodstock Jewish Congregation – Task Force to End the New Jim Crow
Citizen Action NY – Hudson Valley
Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Library (Family Services, Poughkeepsie)
AAUW Kingston
http://www.facebook.com/events/599327976790311
For more information, call Odell Winfield (914-388-3092)
Recommended audience: High School, Adult
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This AAUW national conference call will focus on several of our high-priority public policy issues as they relate to the courts. It will be conducted by AAUW’s new Legal Advocacy Fund (LAF) Director, Mollie Lam.
WHEN: Thursday, October 24, at 8:30 p.m. ET
DIAL-IN NUMBER: 866-952-1906
PASSCODE: 22890
AGENDA:
· Welcome
· Why Courts and Judges Matter
· Issues Before the Court This Term:
o Reproductive Rights
o Equal Opportunity in Education
o Pregnancy Discrimination
o Separation of Church and State
· Q&A
Please dial in 10-15 minutes early so we can start promptly at 8:30 p.m. ET.
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Voter Information
The 2013 NYS General Election is coming up fast!
It will take place on Tuesday, November 5.
Here are some voter-related events leading up to Election Day:
Voter Registration
Saturday, October 5, 9 AM to 5 PM, Wal-Mart, 601 Frank Sottile Boulevard, Kingston. Volunteers are needed! The actual hours will be determined by the number of volunteers available to cover 2-hour shifts. All materials, tables, chairs, voter instruction guides, and “frequently asked questions” (FAQs) will be provided to all volunteers. Contact: Jean McGarry of the League of Women Voters of the Mid-Hudson Region (LWV MHR) at jfmcg@hvc.rr.com or 845-336-6622.
Deadlines
Fri., 10/11 – Register in person at the Board of Elections (BOE) or by mail (postmarked by 10/11, received by 10/16)
Tues., 10/29 – Apply for absentee ballot by mail (postmarked by 10/29)
Mon., 11/4 – Apply for absentee ballot in person at the BOE
Deliver ballot by mail (postmarked by 11/4, received by 11/12)
Tues., 11/5 – Deliver ballot in person to the BOE or go to your polling place to vote! (6 AM to 9 PM)
Ulster County BOE web page: http://www.co.ulster.ny.us/elections
For other counties, go to this NYS BOE web page: http://www.elections.ny.gov/CountyBoards.html
LWV Voters Guides
I picked up a batch of LWV Voters Guides, which include information about the six 2013 Ballot Proposals, from fellow AAUW and LWV member Anne Needham for distribution. Please call or email me if you’d like one. Also, check out the LWV’s Electronic Voter Guide (http://www.vote411.org).
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Lobbying Meeting
Friday, October 4, 6 PM
At the home of Lydia and Paul Mellos
RSVP to Lydia: lydiasmitmellos@gmail.com, 845-514-2218, 917-596-9632
We’ll talk about how we will proceed and about lobbying our state and national representatives in government on these issues:
– Autism advocacy
– The budget of the Office for Persons with Developmental Disabilities
(OPWDD) (http://www.opwdd.ny.gov)
Irene Miller and Lydia Mellos are leading this lobbying program to be put into effect by AAUW Kingston. The suggestion is to meet regularly to learn the skills needed for successful lobbying and to develop issues to be included. Suggested future issues are fracking, educational funding, women’s rights, gun control, and funding for the underprivileged. Come and support our branch with this worthy endeavor.
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Fundraiser for ENJAN Kingston
Please join us at a
Fabulous Fall Foliage Fundraiser
for ENJAN Kingston
at 2 PM on Sunday, October 20
featuring a Piano Concert by Irene Miller
at her home in Palenville
Irene will play selected works by Brahms, Faure,
Ginestera, Lack, Ponce, and Saint-Saens
Light refreshments will be served afterward
Donation: $25 per person
RSVP & directions: Susan H.
About ENJAN
The End the New Jim Crow Action Network (ENJAN, pronounced “engine”), is part of a growing national movement to end mass incarceration under the so-called “War on Drugs” that disproportionately targets African Americans and Hispanics. This movement began shortly after the publication of Michelle Alexander’s 2010 book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in an Age of Colorblindness, which clearly documents the history of the “War on Drugs”.
Using the “War on Drugs” as an anthem, the United States imprisons more of its citizens than any other country in the world. We spend far more on prisons than we do on schools. Currently, more than 2 million U.S. citizens are in prison, mostly for non-violent crimes, and over 5 million U.S. citizens are on parole. In other words, we now use incarceration as a racial caste system that robs our fellow citizens of their basic dignity and humanity.
In Dutchess County alone, African Americans account for more than half of all those sentenced each year, despite constituting just 10% of the population. The same can be said for other counties as well.
It is well past the time to stop this terrible injustice. We at ENJAN are working to do just that. We hope you will join us at this piano concert on October 20. Come listen to beautiful music, see friends, make new ones, and learn more about us.
For more information about ENJAN, go to: http://www.enjan.org
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— Susan Holland, susan-holland@usa.net, 845-389-3961
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Leaving from the Kingston Plaza at 8:30 AM, from the New Paltz Park & Ride at 9 AM, returning about 6 PM
Cost: $62 includes bus, entrance, & driver tip
$59 for members of AAUW and SSIP
Visiting the Bronx Zoo will cost $45 for transportation alone
For reservations, call ViVi at 845-331-0155 (cel: 845-417-5229) or write vvhlavsa@aol.com, then send your check, made out to AAUW Kingston, to: ViVi Hlavsa, 191 Lapla Road, Kingston, NY 12401
(Ask about our cancellation policies.)
September Branch Meeting
How we work breaking barriers for women and girls
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Luncheon at noon
Garden Plaza Hotel (formerly Holiday Inn)
502 Washington Avenue, Kingston
Special Guest Speaker
Carolyn Donovan
AAUW National Representative to the United Nations (retired)
Carolyn has been honored by AAUW, which has announced the establish-ment of the Carolyn Joslin Donovan International Projects Grants Fund #4377. The International Project Grants Fund will provide grants to International Fellowship alumnae who have returned to their home countries and wish to use their knowledge and experience to initiate projects in their local communities that benefit women and girls.
Cost: $24 (pay at door – cash or check made out to AAUW Kingston).
RSVP required by 9/15 to Virginia Kohli (845-338-4990) with your entrée choice: chicken, pasta, or salad. (If you must cancel, please do so by 9/19, or you will have to pay the $24 luncheon fee.)
For more information, contact Pat Stedge (patstedge@gmail.com, 845-336-5986).
