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League of Women Voters Newton

Making Democracy Work

What did LWVN do this week? The Pollworkers’ Party and the Supper for Elected Officials

Newton celebrated our Pollworkers on Tuesday, January 21st!

The Newton Election Commission and City Clerk’s office, along with LWVN, thanked our hard-working pollworkers with a supper on Tuesday, January 21st.  LWVN supplied the cakes, paper goods and drinks.  Many thanks to LWVN volunteers Alice Donisi-Feehan, Frieda Dweck, Sue Flicop, Marcia Johnson, and Sharyn Roberts for all their help in providing these items and greeting pollworkers.

City Clerk David Olson noted that there are FOUR elections to come in 2020, starting with the Presidential Primary and Newton City Referendum, both on March 3, followed by the State Primary on September 1 and the Presidential Election on November 3.  If you can be a pollworker on any of these dates, please contact the Newton Election office at elections@newtonma.gov.

 

LWVN Supper for Election Officials on Wednesday, January 22nd

As we’ve done every two years, LWVN provided a light supper for our newly elected officials as well as Election Commission members to celebrate the new session.  Many thanks to Frieda Dweck, Sue Flicop, Marcia Johnson, Andrea Kozinetz, and Sharyn Roberts for their help!  We hosted approximately a dozen City Councilors before their meetings at City Hall, 1 School Committee member, 1 Election Commissioner, Mayor Fuller and several staff members.

Climate Change Forum – Feb 26

There’s No Time to Waste – Addressing the Urgency of Climate Change

We invite you to attend a…

Climate Change Forum

Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020
7pm – 9pm
Scandinavian Cultural Center
206 Waltham Street, West Newton, MA

The wildfires in Australia, and the flooding of Indonesia and Venice are examples of tragic climate events that have raised alarm bells across the globe.  Climate change is here in real time and will feed an increasing number of devastating, extreme weather events. Facing inaction on climate legislation at the federal level, state and local governments must pick up the slack.

Join us on Wednesday, February 26th, when the League of Women Voters of Newton (LWVN), together with the Leagues of Framingham, Needham, Wayland, Wellesley and Weston, will co-host a community conversation you won’t want to miss!  You’ll learn how Massachusetts can join other states and hundreds of cities across the country working to reduce carbon emissions – “Job One” if we are to avert the worst impacts of climate change.

Discussion topics will include:

  • The current state of climate change science and implications for society
  • The current status and importance of the regional transportation and climate initiative
  • The plan to help transition gas utilities to delivery of clean, safe, renewable energy and the importance of the FUTURE Act

To present this topic, we have assembled an outstanding panel that includes Craig Altemose , Co-Founder and Executive Director of Better Future Project;  Jordan Stutt, Carbon Programs Director of the Acadia Center; and Audrey Schulman, Co-founder and Executive Director of HEET (Home Energy Efficiency Team) and/or Zeyneb Magavi (Director, HEET).

State Senator Cynthia Creem, a sponsor of the FUTURE ACT, will be attending as well and providing remarks.

RSVPs to info@lwvnewton.org or on Facebook are appreciated!

The Abolitionist Origins of the Women’s Suffrage Movement

The Newton Free Library presents

The Abolitionist Origins of the Women’s Suffrage Movement

co-sponsored by LWVN

Tuesday, February 25 at 7:00 pm

Join Manisha Sinha, author of The Slaves Cause: A History of Abolition, for a talk that will illuminate the forgotten origins of the women’s suffrage movement in the abolition movement and reconsider the break between abolitionists and some feminists during Reconstruction. It will show how the constitutional amendments during Reconstruction opened a path to women’s suffrage rather than shut the door on women’s enfranchisement. The 19th amendment eventually passed in 1920 and continued the abolitionists’ legacy, but the women’s suffrage movement ignored and downplayed the issue of white supremacy. Despite black disfranchisement, the 19th Amendment eventually paved the way for black women to emerge as the most progressive voting bloc in American politics. A book sale will follow.

Manisha Sinha is the James L. and Shirley A. Draper Chair in American History at the University of Connecticut. She was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal; the highest honor bestowed on faculty, from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her book, The Slaves Cause, was featured as the Editor’s Choice of the New York Times Book Review. It was named the book of the week by Times Higher Education in May, 2016 to coincide with its UK publication and one of three Great History Books for 2016 in Bloomberg News.

This program is part of the year-long celebration being planned by the Women’s Right-to-Vote Coalition of Newton in recognition of the passage of the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote. Through education and the arts, the Coalition honors the struggle suffragists endured to gain this first step in voting rights and acknowledge that the journey continues. This program is cosponsored by the League of Women Voters of Newton.

For more information call the Newton Free Library at 617-796-1360. All programs are free and open to the public, parking is free. The Newton Free Library is an accessible facility.

REGISTER NOW: Civics Challenge – March 1

CIVICS CHALLENGE

Join us …
Sunday, March 1  –  3:30pm to 5:30pm
Cabot School, 229 Cabot Street

 

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage and get excited for the March 3 Massachusetts primaries by joining the League of Women Voters of Newton for this inaugural event.

Adults and students in grades 8 and above are invited to participate.

This is a FREE event; no expertise is needed, just a will to challenge yourself and have some fun. Come and test your knowledge of civics; federal, state, and local government; and the women’s suffrage movement.

Participants will work together in teams of 3-4 people.  Form your own team or register as an individual and we will assign you to a team.

Prizes will be awarded to the winning teams.  Refreshments will be provided.

For more information and to register, visit our Civics Challenge page!

This event is presented in collaboration with the Women’s Right-to-Vote-Coalition of Newton and with support from The Village Bank.

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