Succession Planning and Local League Leadership by Committee
Robyn Bramhall
Several Leagues around the state have adopted a leadership structure where there is a President of Record, backed up by a small group (e.g., Executive Committee) that shares the various leadership tasks. This smaller group sometimes meets more regularly than the full board and makes decisions as needed between board meetings. Such a structure alleviates burnout and works well especially while membership is being expanded, but some Leagues have adopted it as a formal framework.
Hybrid Language Translation for Video, Audio, and Text on a Budget
Robyn Bramhall
I attended this workshop to see if I could learn of ways to make our programs accessible to Spanish-speaking viewers/readers besides paying a live translator. The presenter was from the SF League, where their audience speaks a wide variety of languages, and they pay for some translation by the word by AI-powered services. In our case, our main need is for Spanish translation, and I learned that both Google Translate and the Zoom translation tools have enough history/data to be reliable in most cases. Having a bi-lingual Editor proof the final version before publishing is recommended, at a far lower cost.
Youth Councils That Work: Building California’s Next Generation of Leaders
Robyn Bramhall
This workshop highlighted a few local LWV Youth Council members and their older mentors speaking about how and why they joined. Some were identified through their county’s or city’s youth leadership program and joining LWV appealed to them as a way to join a meaningful project or program in partnership with knowledgeable, caring adults. Ages ranged from junior-high through college-aged, with some youth staying on for several years. The session gave me hope for expanding our own youth reach.
Youth Councils that Work: Building California’s Next Generation of Leaders
Chris Riezenman
This fantastic session presented by the League of Women Voters of San Francisco (LWVSF) and the League of Women Voters of North & Central San Mateo County (LWVNCSMC), featured youth council members and adult mentors from both organizations. Some new insights for me included the effectiveness of outreach to local Youth Advisory and Recreation departments as recruitment allies for connecting LWV with youth looking to get engaged in community work. As for how to engage youth members, LWVSF, now on their third cycle of youth council members, said a key learning was inviting newcomers to join the activities we are already doing. This was more impactful than opening up a “green field” to new ideas. They also affirmed that youth members like being involved in candidate forums and it is a great way to show them the value of our work. LWVSF has student moderators for Board of Education and Board of Trustees candidate forums. In non-election years, student found tabling and talking to other youth about voting and trusted resources.
There was consensus among the youth presenters that tabling is high value for them. Youth leaders felt that their own networks were the most valuable recruitment sources and emphasized the importance of communicating what students might get from involvement; recommendations, community service hours, etc. I highly recommend this session.
Navigating the Noise: Mastering Communication in the Digital Age
Lynn Dooley
This very interesting workshop gave information about how to best use social media with the goal of educating, informing and empowering your audience. I learned there is a social media guide on the US league management site as well as a lot of in-depth marketing tools. LWV US also provides a bi-weekly newsletter that anyone can sign up for at communications@lwv.org. It was stressed that every message should be looked at through a DEI lens and target different demographics with methods that appeal to that demographic. Finally, asset framing was discussed. Asset framing is a way of using empowering language. The idea is to couch ideas as values vs. challenges. In most cases, this will yield a more desirable outcome.
Reaching Functional Zero: Redondo Beach Got There – Your Community Can Too!
Sara Ingle
This was an amazing story of an LA city of 71,000 people told by Joy Ford, a city attorney. The city was plagued by homelessness and tried different paths for several years until they gave up and the mayor asked the DA to handle this issue by filing lawsuits against the faith-based organizations that were serving people food. The DA said “No, we can solve this problem.” And they did.
One city department spun out of the DA’s office does it all. They interviewed citizens to find out what they wanted and homeless persons to find out what they needed. They established a homeless court one day a month that moved outdoors during the pandemic, so other providers could be there, and two meal sites were nearby. The court heard misdemeanor cases and some felonies. If people moved to permanent housing the charges were dismissed. Court has 77% attendance, 5% recidivism. They established a pallet camp with small homes and permanent housing in an old motel. They coordinated all the nonprofits, contracted mental health to the county. They had funding to fill small gaps in people’s lives that let them leave homelessness. The city employees gained empathy.
The system registered and tracked everyone. Ronson Chu came up with “Functional Zero” which is those leaving homelessness are equal to those entering homelessness. In 2024, 64 entered homelessness, and 65 left, while the median duration of homelessness was 14 days. This was a lovely success story.
Author’s note: funding came from a myriad of sources no longer available
Importance of DEI, Especially in Uncertain Times
Sara Ingle
Dr. Ninochka McTaggart of the Greater LA league and LWVC board gave an excellent presentation based on her work with the DEI committees of both LWVC and LWV US.
DEI has been expanded to DEIJAB – diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, accessibility and belonging. There are many kinds of diversity and a difference between equitable and equal. Justice removes systemic differences.
DEI is a process. Our leadership needs to be open to all voices and perspectives. With this process, organizations better understand needs of communities they serve, can ensure equitable access, and can create spaces for underrepresented voices to be heard and acknowledged.
Our democracy is under attack, and we are called to action to undertake this hard, uncomfortable work. We must educate our stakeholders, embed DEIJAB in our organizations, stay resilient despite backlash and collaborate for impact.
Anatomy of an Earth Day Event
Sara Ingle
Anatomy of an Earth Day Event was a nuts-and-bolts review by Gloria Gutierez and Deepti Kanahan of how the LWV of Torrance’s Bay Area natural resources committee tried coalition building with other climate activists and partners through events in 2024 and 2025. In 2024, they went big, with a 5-hour event, 100 attendees, a big venue, lunch provided, 6 speakers, 3 panels and tabling by 28 organizations on a budget of $5,000. In 2025, they had 40 attendees, a 2-hour event with bag snacks at a library, 3 speakers and 2 panels on a $500 budget. The meeting adjourned to a restaurant where networking was done over self-purchased dinner.
The committee kept meticulous records and analyzed what worked and what didn’t. They met weekly for three months but recommended starting earlier for fundraising and partnering. The first meeting is for doing brainstorming and setting goals. They developed a template for all tasks. Select a venue and tagline for the event. Make contacts with organizations, teachers, repeats, and outreach organizations. Maintain planning documents. Make multiple passes over elements of the event allowing more time for details like technology and timing the day of the event.
The highlight was connecting with other activists in the climate space and the biggest challenges were fundraising and panels running long.
The Art of the Ask: Fundraising 101 for Local Leagues
Sara Ingle
The Art of the Ask workshop was presented by Kristy Oriol, Development Director, LWVC and filled with tips to build your confidence and be effective in fundraising. You need to connect and empower those you want to ask and think broadly to find those who care about our work to expand the donor base. You can ask someone to coffee or an event to share information about our work. Make clear this is not an ask. Make notes of interests, look for what is resonating, know what they do to find shared interests.
The ASK should not be a surprise. Know your project or goal with dollar amounts needed and specific amount asked. Donors love a goal and a match. The worst thing that can happen is they say No. It’s easier as the relationship develops.
Email asks should have the local league name in the subject. Couch the message in terms of “you” or “your dollars will”, not “we”. Consider time of year, early in week, etc. Use plain language and be action oriented. Make sure they know the percentage of their donation that will directly to the program they are supporting.
Follow up with a thank you. Phone calls and thank you notes are best but continue communication with the donor about how they are making a difference.
Upholding Democracy through Justice Reform
Leona Judson
This workshop covered a variety of issues related to criminal justice in California. The LWVC actively follows legislation on criminal justice, and the workshop touched on a few.
I was primarily interested in the section on juvenile justice. The CA juvenile justice system completed a major realignment resulting in the closure of the state facilities and returning youth to their own counties. There was a discussion about diversion of youth offenders vs “processing”. Such measures would include probation, release on own recognizances, community service, payment of restitution. San Diego has a model program that includes a college like campus, small classes, emphasis on prevention and staff training to support youth. Currently, only about 7% offenders are in diversion. Perhaps AB 1376 making its way through the legislation will help. It limits how long a youth offender would remain on probation. LWVC supports this bill.
Also discussed:
- Law enforcement accountability and transparency (equivalent to our IOLERO)
- Prop 36- repeat drug offenders offered drug treatment vs jail time. Lack of funding major issue
- Unarmed crisis response
Climate Change and California Water
Leona Judson
The talk began with Jane Wagner-Tyey, the LWVC Position Director, Water. She provided an overview of the primary sources of CA water and its various locations of water storage and conveyance of water throughout the state.
The main speaker was Felicia Marcus who has served in many capacities on water and climate change. She is a wealth of information and impossible to summarize in a paragraph. Here are some highlights of her talk:
- Climate change policy has relied too much on sustainability and not enough on resilience. We need to focus more on adaptation as well.
- Effects of water is what people will feel first as the climate warms. Water is the bleeding edge of climate change, which is felt differently in different locations: floods, drought, fire.
- Climate warming causes disruption in the predictable weather patterns causing changes in the gulf stream. The warming air retains moisture leading to wetter seasons, flooding and so on.
- CA has done a great job with water efficiency. We are making strides on water recycling. The Bay Area is working on a stepped wetlands to diminish threat of rising sea water. New policies on forest restoration are online to offset wildfire damage
Climate Change and California Water
Chris Riezenman
This was a content rich, very high caliber presentation. Host Jane Wagner-Tick provided an excellent introduction to California’s water infrastructure and Dr. Felicia Marcus, former chair of the State Water Resources Control Board and current visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Water in the West Program, provided rich historical context, policy and environmental challenges that exist in today’s water and environmental landscape. Dr. Marcus offers valuable insight into how we move forward from here. Anyone interested in Climate and Water should make a point of watching this excellent presentation
Money in Politics- Campaign Finance Reporting
Chris Riezenman
Since 2018, LWV Alameda County has undertaken the daunting task of converting candidate finance information and putting it into an easy-to-read graphics all using programs readily available on the home computer. LWVA has put together a fantastic campaign finance tool that allows constituents to look at where local candidates and issues are getting their financing and whether those funds were coming from – the area and in large or small amounts. They are working on a “how to” manual for other leagues to use which includes precise instructions for populating and updating campaign finance information. Their manual will show how to develop a spread sheet grid that will show City Council candidate contributions by size, source and area taken directly from CA form 460 which candidates are required to complete. From this grid, they created user-friendly charts which they posted on their website and provided to news outlets to inform the public.
The charts and campaign finance information drove a 30% increase in website traffic and news outlets using the data credited LWVA as the resource. Candidates have also shared that they now pay closer attention to how their contributions are being viewed and considered by voters. A very substantive and effective resource that their voting population and candidates alike appreciated. Check it out!
Get Your message to Decision Makers
Chris Riezenman
Learn how public meetings are run and how you can contribute and make your voice heard. Get tips on listening and speaking skills that can make you a more effective communicator.
This workshop will be valuable to anyone who is new to public meetings’ processes. It was well presented by an LWVC’s experts Nita Kenyon and Jen Grayson. The workshop included an introduction to the format for public meetings and included helpful suggestions for speaking effectively, delivering a clear message, and presenting with a polished, professional comportment. This was a great workshop for those new to public speaking or as a refresher for those with more experience.
To see all the workshops and speeches visit:
https://lwvc.org/convention |