AAUW and Black History Month

Join us at noon on February 20 for a multi-generational discussion on “Racism, Discrimination and Bridging the Gap” with special guests Tia Mitchell, Washington correspondent for the Atlanta Journal Constitution (and a former Times Union journalist), and Jade Collins, Douglas Anderson graduate and current University of Central Florida student. As her schedule permits, we have also asked Ms. Mitchell to share her experience while reporting from the U.S. Capitol on January 6.  

An upcoming exhibit at the Lincolnville Museum in St. Augustine entitled “Women Who Made a Difference” is expected to launch in April. A recent article highlighting the women can be accessed at:  https://www.staugustine.com/story/news/history/2021/01/21/st-augustine-black-women-difference-lincolnville-museum/4244259001/.  One of the women, Janie Price, will be featured in a brief video at the beginning of Saturday’s program.  

An e-mail containing the Zoom link will be sent from AAUW JAX to all current members the day prior to the meeting. Please note that if you do not have access to a computer or smart phone at the time of the meeting, you can still take part by calling in to the dial-in number provided in the invitation. You can then access the call by entering the meeting ID and passcode. 

Elections and Public Policy

Join us at noon on January 16 for a discussion with Mike Binder, Faculty Director of the Public Opinion Research Lab (PORL) at the University of North Florida. Dr. Binder will discuss the 2020 election results, the legal and political ramifications of last week’s events in Washington, DC, and the future of our current two-party system. If time permits, he will also cover the new constitutional amendments in the state of Florida. For more information regarding PORL’s research and polling, go to https://www.unf.edu/coas/porl/Surveys_and_Polls.aspx. The program is meant to be interactive, so be ready with your most pressing questions!

Pat Dewitt, President of AAUW Florida, will highlight AAUW Florida’s public policy areas of emphasis, key points of the strategic plan, and themes for the state leadership conference to be conducted virtually in April.  

AAUW Presents: Causes and Effects of Poverty on Women in Northeast Florida

Join the Jacksonville Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) for an insightful and thought-provoking discussion about the causes and effects of poverty on women in Northeast Florida, led by Mary Gatta, PhD.  Dr. Gatta is an Associate Professor of Sociology at City University of New York.  She holds a PhD and M.A. in Sociology from Rutgers University and a B.A. in Social Science from Providence College.  Gatta’s areas of expertise include gender and public policy, low wage workers, earnings inequality and evaluation research on workforce projects.  Gatta has published several books, articles, and policy papers, including Waiting on Retirement: Aging and Economic Insecurity in Low Wage Work. 

When

Saturday, January 25, 2020,  11:00 am – 1:00 pm

Where

  • Jacksonville Public Library
  • Southeast Branch Room B
  • 10599 Deerwood Park Boulevard
  • Jacksonville, FL 32256

Registration

Free and open to the public . Register on Eventbrite.

First Meeting of the Year: Duval County Public Schools and Their Future

Special Speaker:  Lori Hershey, Chair, DCPS School Board

Saturday, September 21, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.              

         Pablo Creek Regional Library, Community Room A

                  13295 Beach Blvd., Jacksonville, FL

An Invitation to Engage in a Public Conversation on:

  1. The Importance of Public-Supported Schools.
  2. The History of Duval County’s Public School System.
  3. The Current Status of Duval County Schools: Maintenance, Magnets, Mission.
  4. The Future of Duval County’s Schools.

Lori Hershey, a champion of public education: over two decades of service on School Advisory Councils, Booster Boards, PTSA Boards, DCPS School Safety and Security Advisory Boards. Also, a former middle school teacher certified in Critical Thinking Strategies, as well as certified in serving on School Boards. A graduate of Stetson with a Master’s Degree in Public Education, and mother of four DCPS graduates.

Sponsored by The Jacksonville Branch of AAUW

         (The American Association of University Women)

The Jacksonville Branch of AAUW follows AAUW’s founding mission in 1881 to support equity for women in education and the workplace. It supports the Elementary, Secondary, and Higher Education Acts of 1965 and subsequent amendments, especially Title IX.  For further information: Carolyn Smith, smith6211@gmail.com

Dr. Mary Gatta: Latest Research and Presentation

by Anji Easterday

Plan to join the Jacksonville AAUW at noon on January 19th at San Jose Country Club for our monthly meeting featuring Dr. Mary Gatta.  She will be presenting a book talk on her latest publication, Waiting on Retirement:  Aging and Economic Insecurity in Low-Wage Work (Studies in Social Inequality).  Dr. Gatta is a professor of sociology at City University of New York.  Her research on economic issues facing women is quite extensive and ongoing.  

Dr. Gatta is a dynamic speaker with commanding knowledge of the economic issues facing women of different ages, races, and ethnic backgrounds.  She is currently working on research here in Florida, and she can give us a brief synopsis of her progress at the luncheon.  

You will not want to miss this event.  Listed below you will find information on purchasing her book.  Dr. Gatta has graciously agreed to sign copies after her talk.  The book is available through Amazon and is Prime eligible.

ISBN-13: 978-1503607408

ISBN-10: 1503607402 Waiting on Retirement:  Aging and Economic Insecurity in Low-Wage Work (Studies in Social Inequality)

State AAUW Board 2017-2018

FL State Board Mtg Sarasota 10-07-17The Florida State AAUW Board of Directors toasted Strong Women, using their wineglasses designed by the St. Augustine branch, on Sunday, October 8 in Sarasota. From left to right and bottom to top they are: Mimi Welch, parliamentarian; Shirley Reid, president; Kamala Anandam, research chair; Sue Shea, administrative assistant; Pat DeWitt, public policy director; Corky Miller, co-membership director; Susie Baird, secretary; Carol MacDonald, co-communication director (Florivision); Jackie D’Alessio, program director; Antoinette Kruse, co-communication director; Judy Bonn, development director; Pat Ross, president-elect, and Synthia Fletcher, diversity coordinator. Kathy VanderVliet, treasurer, was unable to attend due to a long-planned family trip.

2016-2017 Summary of Branch Activities

by Carolyn Smith

Although the main programs of our Branch are from September-May, Branch members are usually busy with AAUW-focused activities during the summer months, as was true over the summer of 2016:

  • On June 2, Marjorie Broward, Pat DeWitt, and Susan Cornehl attended the Florida Times-Union’s first EVE Women’s Summit, a set of panel and roundtable discussions on how to encourage and help women in Northeast Florida achieve and maintain high leadership positions. Marjorie was added at that time to join the committee that grew out of that summit and has been working from that time on preparing the research and programming for the EVE Women’s Summit, scheduled for September 2017.
  • Kimberly Beasley was also busy over the summer working on this same goal of leadership by organizing for this area the AAUW-affiliate YWTF (Young Women’s Task Force –founded in 2004 and affiliated with AAUW in 2013).
  • From June to August, too, members were in various ways making sure that friends and family members were duly registered for and voting in the August state and local primary, August 25, 2016, as well as in the November election.

Thanks to Program Director Marjorie Broward, the programs Sept- May, 2016-17, were fascinating, provocative, and energizing.

  • Under Marjorie’s urging and that of Carolyn Hall, members agreed to start each of our programs when possible with a short review of a book, preferably one from AAUW’s recommended 2016-17 book list Adelante, or a related book, fiction or non-fiction, relevant to AAUW-issues. Among our book reviewers: Marian Bunch, on Amy Elles’s Becoming Nicole; Carolyn Smith, on Louise Erdrich’s The Round House and a related non-fiction book by Sarah Deer; Kimberly Beasley, The Confidence Code, by Kati Kay and Claire Shipman; and Faith Schofield on Sisters in Law by Linda Hirshman.
  • Our September program was focused on AAUW’s national STEM focus, with our speaker as Robert Copeland, Executive Director of Northeast Florida STEM2 HUB (science, technology, engineering, math, medicine). He explained that the main goal currently of this non-profit group is to encourage and train K-12 students, girls as well as boys, to be encouraged and trained to fill the pipeline for jobs in this area and elsewhere in STEM2 fields.
  • Our October, program was focused on another AAUW focus, women in leadership roles, and on this issue, our speaker was Tia Mitchell, who has a high position in the field of journalism as the Florida Times-Union’s main political reporter. She talked about her experiences as a woman and as a minority woman in her field, from reporting on the Sheriff’s office to the Duval Schools, Jacksonville City Council, and then to her current position as The Times-Union State Bureau Chief and her “View from Tallahassee” columns.
  • For the November meeting, member Faith Schonfeld carefully researched the opportunities for financial literacy training for women in Jacksonville, primarily to ascertain if the Branch should promote an AAUW WorkSmart workshop. She introduced as guest speaker Martha Cox, of Family Foundations of Northeast Florida, to help expand our understanding of financial issues affecting women, especially those needed to get out of poverty, including financial skills as well as a living wage job, affordable transportation and child care, and freedom or protection from criminal activity and legal injustices.
  • In December, thanks to planning by Program Director Marjorie Broward and her committee, we celebrated our 90th anniversary as a Branch with a luncheon with invited guests at Bistro Aix. Our speaker was Dorothy K. Fletcher, author of books on places and people in Jacksonville’s history. She focused in particular on what events and people of note occurred in Jacksonville at the time of the Branch’s founding (February 1926). Kimberly Beasley sang songs from that era, and Marjorie and Carolyn Hall had a table with pictures and other memorabilia of the Branch’s history.
  • In January, as in November, the focus was on financial issues affecting women. The January speaker was Dr. Mary Gatta, Associate Professor of Sociology at CUNY, on her research on the effects of the gender gap and occupational sex segregation on women as they age.
  • The focus of the February meeting was STEM, with our sixth year of being involved in the Expanding Your Horizons event for middle school girls. Susan Cornehl was our Branch’s representative on the main planning committee, composed of research women at Johnson and Johnson, UNF’s Women in Engineering, and UNF’s Women’s Center. Besides helping with planning and in various tasks at the event, the Branch again: a) sponsored girls from Girls, Inc., this year 15; b) provided information on STEM books for middle school girls, this year again offering a table of examples of books; and c) offered books as prizes (this year, the choice for prizes was the YA version of Hidden Figures).  Also, this year AAUW-FL had an adjoining table with information about Tech Trek. As in 2014 and 2015, the maximum number of middle school girls that could be accommodated at UNF’s Convention Center (200) attended.
  • The focus of the March meeting was a luncheon-panel event at the Garden Center, with another focus on financial issues affecting women, with special attention to the gender gap that still remains since the passage of the Equal Pay Day Act in 1963. The date, March 28, encapsulated March as Women’s History Month and the nearing of April 4, when at last in a year the gender gap begins to close.

Equal Pay Day Lunch and Learn

Over 90 women attended the luncheon and panel event at noon at the Garden Center. This was thanks to Jax-AAUW Program Director Marjorie Broward and others on the planning committee, composed of representatives from the Jacksonville Branches of AAUW and NOW, the Jacksonville Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, the Women’s Center of Jacksonville, and the Women’s Center of UNF.

Audrey Moran, until recently President of the Chanber of Commerce, welcomed attendees and gave a brief history of the status of women since 1963; Pat DeWitt urged calls to Florida legislatures to pass two bills focused on closing the gender gap (HB 319; SB410);   and Juanita Powell-Williams, NOW, introduced the panel of three women speaking on their personal experiences encountering and trying to change the gender gap: Kimberly Beasley (Jacksonville Branch, AAUW); Tashia M. Small (attorney at law, Conroy Simberg); Lori McGraw-Baker( President of Total Awards, Acosta).

  • April was a round-up meeting with reports on special events (90th celebration, STEM-EYH, Equal Pay Event), celebration of our She-roe Nominee (Susan Cornehl), Pat DeWitt’s report on Lobby Day, and nominations of 2017-19 President, Program, and Finance Director. Pat DeWitt, Susan Cornehl, and Carolyn Smith also summarized events at the AAUW-FL Leadership Conference, April 2-3.
  • May was the first of the picnics honoring long-time and now deceased member Lydia Payne, one of the Branch’s active members in founding the Friends of the Library and also serving a term as President of AAUW-FL. The Lydia Payne Memorial Picnic was scheduled for the clubhouse connected to the condo building at 6000 San Jose Blvd. overlooking the river. Besides the buffet luncheon and fellowship, the three nominees for 2017-19 officers were elected: Carolyn Smith, President; Anji Easterling, Program Manager; Kathy VanderVliet., Finance Director.

In addition to the speakers and our STEM, Equal Pay Day, and 90th celebration special events, various Branch members were involved in other events:

  1. In October, Kimberly Beasley with several other young women from JU and UNF founded the AAUW-allied group, the Young Women’s Task Force, whose goal in the main is justice for women.
  2. In November, at City Hall, at the 50th anniversary of the founding by AAUW-Jax of the Friends of the Library , member Marjorie Broward was celebrated as a representative of those in the Branch who founded the Friends,  which continues to advocate for the Duval’s library system and raise money for its books and programs. AAUW-Jax has continued to budget financial support for the Friends.
  3. In January, various members joined the local Women’s March and carried our AAUW Banner to show solidarity with other women in the March.
  4. In January, members Kathy VanderVliet and Faith Schonfeld began work on updating the by-laws and aligning them with national by-laws. Their work was accepted at the April meeting.
  5. In March, Branch member, Pat DeWitt, as AAUW-FL Public Policy Director, planned and attended AAUW-FL’s annual Lobby Day (March 14), with highlight in FL’s Capitol Fourth Floor Rotunda, at noon, a rally for Equal Pay for Equal Work, focused on support for two bills closing the gender gap (SB 410; HB319), organized and sponsored by speakers FL Sen. Linda Stewart, House Rep. Lori Berman, and House Democratic Leader Janet Cruz.
  6. In April, Branch member Susan Cornehl was honored as the Branch’s nominee chosen to be one of the She-roes of 2017 by the Women’s Center of Jacksonville.
  7. For each monthly newsletter, Pat DeWitt, AAUW-FL State Public Policy Director, and Carolyn Smith, Branch Public Policy Director, summarized local, state, and national bills related to AAUW-supported issues and urged members to vote in support of or protest against a bill and how to do so by way of calls, e-mails, or the two-minute activist section of aauw.org.

Public Policy March 2017

by Carolyn Smith

CALLS TO ACTION

  1. Call Sect. Of Education Betsy DeVos (1-800-USA-LEARN /1-800-872-5327, or answers.ed.gov / questions.
    1. to protect all provisions in Title IX.
    2. to maintain the website giving information about IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Act), which was taken down soon after her confirmation.
  2. Call your FL House and Senate Representatives to support FL Senate 410 and House 319 (jointly called the Helen Gordon Davis Fair Pay Act).

Senate 410 is currently before four committees regarded as relevant to the issue of employment discrimination: Government Oversight and Accountability; Rules; Commerce and Tourism; and Judiciary. Duval’s District 6 Audrey Gibson is on the latter two. Please call her for support: 359-2553

3. Join the Equal Pay Day Rally, FL senate, Tallahassee, March 14, 2017, and /or AAUS-FL Lobby Days, March 13-15, 2017.

            For information, registration, rides, etc., contact Pat DeWitt, AAUW-FL State Public Policy.

  1. Call your FL House and Senate Representatives to support SB 286 and HB 665 (Education on Human Trafficking).

            This bill would provide resources training children K-12, police officers, and business people on how to spot and report human traffickers. The human trafficking ordinances have helped victims, but SB 286 /HB 665 would help prevent the young from becoming victims.

INFORMATION

  1. US Sen Elizabeth was required by Senate vote to stop reading Coretta Scott King’s view of then-nominee for US Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Nelson voted against the silencing; Rubio voted for it.
  2. On confirmations: Jeff Sessions, Attorney General: Nelson, No; Rubio, Yes.  Tom Price, Sect. of Health and Human Services: Nelson, No; Rubio, Yes.
  3. US Rep. Rutherford voted Yes on two education bills reducing ed. Improvement: a) rejection of requirement that states identify and get support for low performing schools, including charters; b) rejection of requirement that states evaluate and report on how well teacher preparation programs help with job placement and retention.
  4. AAUW has forwarded a research project indicating that while the average salary for public school teachers is $45,000, some states offer salaries below that average, including Florida (Mississippi is the worst).