State of the League 2005

Membership has not only stabilized, it has increased:  our membership is up 9% just since last year—176 members, from 2028 to 2204.  Congratulations to all of you who have worked so hard to increase membership in your local Leagues.  We know, however, that we can never rest:  membership in any volunteer organization is a very fluid thing.  Members may come and go, we know that local Leagues come and go.  There are currently 35 local Leagues and seven member at large units plus CMAL.  Robbinsdale and Brooklyn Center Leagues have disbanded; there are two new member at large units:  Lakes Area in Detroit Lakes and Bloomington.  The Cannon Falls League combined with the Northfield League, resulting in a very happy marriage.  As we look to future arrangements of the League, we will need to show this kind of imagination.  I understand that some time back for Northfield League was down to about five or six members; current membership is 117.  You may have noted that the proposed new state board includes a membership chair.  And, if our capital campaign is successful, we will be able to hire full-time outreach staff.  Member recruitment, we know, is not something we do on the side as an afterthought: it is the very essence of our mission -- the engagement of citizens in democracy.

At the board retreat last August, we continued to informally update our strategic plan, and diversity took center stage.  A diversity task force has been formed and a multiyear plan is being developed and funding sought.  The goals of this task force are to help create inclusive communities throughout Minnesota, build leadership among women of color and underrepresented groups, enhance citizen participation in communities of color and underrepresented groups, and diversify membership in the League so that our membership is reflective of Minnesota's population.  We are entitling this project "Transforming Our Communities through Cross-Cultural Dialogues."

Clearly, we have made much progress.  Our study of immigration in Minnesota has led to fruitful collaborations with immigrant groups.  Our work with Neighborhood House and Twin Cities public television created and produced an hour-long televised program entitled "The New Minnesotans," aired in conjunction with a national PBS program, "The New Americans." A condensed version of "The New Minnesotans" is nearing completion, and accompanied by a workbook will soon be available.  The state League, in collaboration with the Humphrey Institute of the University of Minnesota, put together a collaborative program in Faribault, Minnesota, whose purpose was to explore diversity issues, particularly those of immigrant students in Faribault schools, and immigrant workers in agriculture.  We hope to continue with this effort.

We have been working with Somali women and have had outstanding success registering new American citizens—1100 in the last 3 months alone!  Another result of the immigration study is that it has led to advocacy:  based on a position reached after consensus, we are now lobbying at the state legislature on immigration legislation.  So both on the ground in the community and through new laws we are working to shape strong, inclusive communities.  Finally, and I mean finally, we are on the verge of presenting the manuscript of the fifth edition of Indians in Minnesota to the University of Minnesota Press.  Readers of the manuscript are praising it, and one reader, former president of the Leech Lake Tribal College and member of Leech Lake Nation stated, "I was happy to review this publication and would like to offer myself to do a pipe ceremony when the book is published."

The answer is yes -- on many fronts.  The Juneteenth Freedom to Vote Project is an excellent example of our efforts to engage communities of color in democracy -- informed voting, specifically.  This project, in which we played a lead role, involved us in a working relationship with over 100 organizations representing a wide array of minority communities.  And through it we completed a stunningly successful voter education and registration drive.

In order to ensure fair and full citizen participation in the 2004 election, we played a major role in a collaboration entitled the Citizen Oversight Committee:  through this effort we monitored compliance with the Help America Vote Act and its implementation in Minnesota.  We spoke at press conferences and testified before elections committees in the Legislature in order to call attention to the need for voting rights to be protected in this state.  And we were instrumental in getting legislation passed establishing the Voter's Bill of Rights.  The Citizen Oversight Committee has, since the election, become an ongoing collaboration entitled the Voting Rights Coalition.  Through this collaboration we are lobbying the legislature and in fact helping to write legislation to make it easier for citizens to vote in this state.

Our voter service efforts during this past election -- and I mean the efforts of all of the local leagues as well as the state league -- were simply outstanding.  I mean televised congressional debates, a telephone hotline both for the primary and general elections, an updated video, The Road to Election Day, the newsprint Voter Guide (300,000 copies distributed) as well as the complete Voter Guide on our web site and for the first time a judicial voter's guide.  We revived The Minnesota Compact -- that is, a compact between the media, candidates, and citizens whose purpose is to raise the level of political discourse in campaigns.  We organized a series of seminars to which the media were invited on subjects such as Civility in Politics and Political Ad Campaigns and we put pressure on candidates to subscribe to the planks in the Compact.

In addition to Voter Service, our efforts to inform voters and engage citizens included three public forums, one on the Patriot Act, one on No Child Left Behind (both of which were produced by the Minneapolis League of Women Voters and cosponsored by the state League), and one, put together by the state League, funded by the National League, and hosted by the College of St. Catherine, entitled "US foreign policy and its impact on women in conflict or post conflict countries:  the case of Iraq and Afghanistan".  All three of these forums were highly successful and attracted large numbers of citizens.

The League being a learning organization, we spend a lot of time informing ourselves.  Our study, entitled "Alternative Voting Systems" turned out to be a remarkable learning experience for the committee members and indeed for all of us.  It turned out that understanding voting systems was a bigger task that we all thought at the last convention when we all we voted to make this a one-year study which we also happily reduced to instant runoff voting.  The study was a mind stretcher, involving everything from mathematics to the founding fathers, and the committee did a terrific service to the League and Minnesota community by illuminating the subject.  The membership came to a consensus which allows us to lobby for instant runoff voting or for maintaining the plurality system, depending on the circumstances.  The committee produced a high quality publication which has been widely distributed to citizens and policymakers.

If the League is a learning organization, it is also a training organization.  Few things are more important than training future leaders, and we are justifiably proud of the LOTT program.  Leaders of Today and Tomorrow, which is sponsored by the state League, offers a three-day seminar on public policy for college women.  Offered yearly in January, the seminars draw about 50 college students from Minnesota and the upper Midwest and attract nationally known speakers such as FBI agent Coleen Rowley in 2004 and Marie Wilson, founder of the White House Project, in 2005.  LOTT has been replicated in other communities and there is hope for future expansion of this program.  A project director has been hired.  May I add that each participant in the LOTT program receives a membership in the League of Women Voters.

I would say emphatically yes, and point out that the League of Women Voters was born in action -- hardly had the suffragists won the vote then they began, through the newly fledged League of Women Voters, to advocate for such things as an end to child labor, and free public education.  The Minnesota League's action committee never seems to rest, at least during the legislative session.  These are not easy times for our progressive organization -- this has been the case for the last few years -- but our volunteer League lobbyists push forward, and, armed with League positions, enter the legislative fray.  Committee members are following bills, attending hearings, meeting with legislators and testifying before legislative committees, sending e-mails and letters and making phone calls and urging through action alerts that you to do the same.  They are also inviting some interesting and provocative speakers to their meetings.  At the moment I imagine they are praying that the legislative session will end on time.

I would answer that we are working toward that goal and making enormous progress but we are not there yet.  Visibility has been our primary goal.  Our communications committee is managing to get the League name out before the public in a consistent way, and they are doing an outstanding job.  Radio spots, television interviews, meetings with newspaper editors that lead to editorials, letters not only to the Twin Cities newspapers but to greater Minnesota papers as well, booths at such venues as the state fair or at the International Women's Forum, continuous expansion and upgrading of our public web site -- all these efforts have indeed put the League name out there.  Our media exposure during the election season just didn't quit.  It was wonderful to see the League logo so brightly displayed during the televised congressional debates, for example.

Sometimes our media exposure was unplanned.  There was the moment last August when the Speaker of the House accused us of being in cahoots with the Democrats and therefore unfit to host candidate forums.  Our rebuttal and explanation both in the newspaper and in the Speaker's office, led to some good media exposure.  In the Minneapolis Star Tribune's lead editorial of August 31 entitled "Bad and Dumb," the editors called us "scrupulously nonpartisan," and continued as follows: "[the League is] the gold standard when it comes to moderating candidate debates.  Impugning the League's sterling reputation for debate impartiality does the impugner discredit." There was other unplanned coverage:  before the election when we found that telephone scam artists, identifying themselves as League of Women Voters members, were calling people and asking for their Social Security numbers for the purpose of voter registration.  That brought us radio, television, and newspaper coverage.

There is no doubt that in order for LWV to be strong, we must all be strong.  Our member resources committee and part-time field service staff have committed all kinds of energy and time in support of local Leagues—I'm thinking especially of last year's successful and well attended Council meeting, regional meetings, and this wonderful convention.  There has been a good deal of travel between St. Paul and greater Minnesota.  Many of us have spoken at League meetings at various venues across the state, and many League members from across the state have come to St. Paul for an open house or a committee meeting.  We held regional workshops in four areas last year and we will hold such workshops again this fall in four different areas in Minnesota.  All of this reminds us that we are one Minnesota League.  May I add that our wonderful state Voter links us all together too.

We are of course one national League as well, and the ties between the Minnesota League and the national League are strong.  Clear evidence of this is the presence of President Kay Maxwell at this convention.  More evidence:  the recent trip to Washington made by two state League board members, invited by the national League to lobby against the Bush "Clear Skies" initiative.  We Minnesotans turned out in great numbers for the national convention in Washington last June, and, I believe, made an impression.  As you know, we succeeded in replacing a national board statement on citizen voting rights that had specifically to do with direct recording electronic voting machines.  The convention voted for the Minnesota resolution, namely, to replace wording having to do with the inadvisability of a paper trail with the statement that voting systems must be secure, accurate, recountable, and accessible.  The tremendous amount of work organizing, strategizing, and lobbying and caucusing that we did to get the Minnesota resolution adopted was, I believe, proof of the faith we have in and respect for this organization.  We had a disagreement and the League provided the process for handling this disagreement.  The already strong bond between Minnesota and Washington will no doubt grow stronger as together we plan the national convention for Minneapolis in 2006.

During the last two years the quantity of information on our web site has greatly expanded.  We have essentially moved from paper to electronic communication, although this move continues of course.  From the Voter's Guide to the Capitol Letter, from our studies such as Choosing Minnesota's Judges, our agriculture study, our study on immigration and the most recent alternative voting systems study—these are on our website.  For this convention you have been able to register on the Web; you can now make contributions to the League and to the Power of Three campaign on our web site.  Testimony for committee hearings, letters to the editor, -- you may read these on our web site.  All the data surrounding membership is now handled electronically as is communication between the state office and local Leagues.  So yes, we are taking advantage of technology in order to enhance productivity.

The answer is that we are on our way, thanks to the foresight of those League members who saw some years ago the need to make sure that League finances were healthy for the long term.  You are no doubt familiar with the Power of Three capital campaign:  begun in 2002, this 3-year campaign is a joint one between the League of Women Voters of Minnesota Education Fund and the Minnesota Women's Consortium, with the Minnesota Women's Building, which is home to both of these organizations, serving as the third partner.  The overall goal is to raise $3.2 million, $1.6 million for the League of Women Voters of Minnesota Education Fund.  Why $1.6 million?  Because the League needs exactly what FutureTrek talks about -- namely, financial stability and a predictable income flow.  This is the investment that we need so that, for example, we can keep up to date with technology (have a webmaster on staff), so that we can provide strong membership support (have field service staff), so that we can plan ahead with confidence.  And let us remember that we need the Minnesota Women's Building, which is our home, to be in good repair, attractive, and welcoming, and our staff needs a professional working environment.

The campaign has done extremely well and at this point pledges have been received totaling $3 million plus, but we can't rejoice yet.  Let me explain.  Much of the pledged money is restricted.  In fact $700,000 of the $3 million is bound up in a charitable trust restricted to the Minnesota Women's Consortium.  The League's Education Fund pledges have reached the halfway point so we still have over $700,000 in pledges to raise.  So while the overall campaign is nearing its $3.2 million goal, we in the League have a ways to go.  One more thing:  the Kresge Corporation put forth a challenge grant:  if we raise the $3.2 million in pledges by October 1 they will give us the final $200,000.  At the moment we are about $150k short—so every dollar you pledge today is more than matched by Kresge.

Many of you here have been extremely generous already to the Power of Three Campaign and we thank you.  We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Kay and Bill Erickson for their splendid, generous gift to the League which really launched the campaign.  May I personally urge those of you who have not yet made a pledge to do so, and to do so before October 1, so as to help us meet the Kresge challenge?