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Date: 2/11/2021
Subject: LWVOC Newsletter & Events
From: Lisa K Adkins




Enjoy these memories from previous Hot Topics luncheons celebrating Black History Month.  If you missed this week's online event, view it on our YouTube channel HERE and check out Dean Johnson's review below.  As always, we're looking forward to the day when we can be together again for our Hot Topics luncheons.

LWVOC has a history of presenting solid Hot Topics programs for Black History Month – getting the vote last year; racism in Lake County (featuring Gilbert King, author of “Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys & the Dawn of a New America”) in 2016; civil rights and education since the 1968 MLK Jr. assassination in 2018.
Wednesday’s Hot Topics offered “Black Families: Representation, Identity, Diversity,” featuring moderator Renata Sago, a journalist; Connie Lester, a UCF history professor; and Karen Adamopoulos, president of the local branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH).
 

How will you celebrate Black History Month?  Check out events in City of Orlando.  Visit the website of Orange County's own Wells' Built Museum and visit a current exhibit This Was Home at the Orange County Regional History Center.

There are as many ways to celebrate Black History Month as there are people in the world. Luckily, the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) has you covered!

FOR MEMBERS ONLY from the LWV of Florida
The webinar will be focused on the Florida's SB 48. This piece of legislation threatens an unprecedented expansion of private school vouchers in Florida. The proposal would dramatically increase Florida’s public funds diverted to private schools. This would follow a harsh decade which the state reduced its public education funding effort by 30 percent from 2008 to 2018.
Discussion: What exactly will SB 48 do as it as written? How can we stop the divestment of public dollars for public schools?
Q&A Session with Rev. Rachel Gunter Shapard and Florida League President Patricia Brigham
Action: Where is this bill headed next and how can the League help stop it?

Attention Leaguers!  On FEB 18 at 7PM, The League of Women Voters of the US is hosting a Lens Event applying a DEI (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion) lens to virtual events planning including annual meetings, memberships meetings, MORE Info HERE
 
All League members should be receiving email updates from our national League.  If you have not seen these, check your spam file and move them accordingly to your primary email file.

SAVE the date!  On MAR 17 at 7:00 PM, our new DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) Committee will present a Racial Wealth Gap Simulation.  
Some of you were able to participate in one of these last autumn for Hot Topics.  Due to its popularity and effectiveness, we are offering it again.  More details coming soon but in the meantime, save the date!

Tamra Boone
Nancy Tunnell
Julie Tindall
Shawn Hunter
Shana Carson
Laura Adams
Catherine Weeden
 Who's missing here?  Your friend, your colleague, your family member!  Encourage any students you know to join as their membership is free!  And don't forget to renew your own membership!

 
 
The Nominating Committee is hard at work setting the slate for the next Board of Directors. If you would be interested in serving on the Board or know someone who would make a great addition please contact Nominating Committee Chair Sara Rich at sararich14@gmail.com
 
Find out more about our current Board HERE (shown above during a recent Zoom mtg) and envision yourself in a leadership role for 2021-2022.
 
 

SAVE THE DATE~March 18

The League of Women Voters of Orange County is proud to partner with the Orange County Regional History in an online Women’s History Month Celebration honoring Mabel Norris Reese (1914-1995), the determined Central Florida journalist who fought fearlessly for justice and took on the Ku Klux Klan. 

The program will highlight Reese’s career at the helm of the Mount Dora Topic, as she investigated the case of the Groveland Four and other instances of grave injustice. She withstood violent threats, including the firebombing of her home, in her efforts to present the truth and expose her powerful opponents. In 2018, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Gilbert King brought renewed attention to Reese in his book Beneath a Ruthless Sun: A True Story of Violence, Race, and Justice Lost and Found, which followed Devil in the Grove, about the Groveland case.

Tickets are $25 and benefit the Historical Society of Central Florida. For details and to make reservations, visit TheHistoryCenter.org. (Registration will be open soon



Newsletter Checklist:
  • If you missed Hot Topics, view it on YouTube or read about it from Dean's perspective.
  • Celebrate Black History Month online and at local museums
  • Save important dates in March for upcoming events
  • As a community service, we're sharing the below information