Program – Page 3 – League of Women Voters of the Umpqua Valley

Eleanor Roosevelt in Eugene

“Eleanor Roosevelt: Across a Barrier of Fear”, a one-woman play

The League of Women Voters of Lane County is pleased to sponsor “Eleanor Roosevelt: Across a Barrier of Fear”, a one-woman play in which acclaimed actress Jane VanBoskirk portrays Eleanor Roosevelt. It will be performed at 1 pm on Sunday, June 18, at the Wildish Theater, 630 Main St., Springfield.

The actress Jane Van Boskirk and the Wildish Theater (courtesy of Dan Egan, League member and theater manager) will donate a portion of each ticket purchased to the League when the purchase is made on line and the code word “Vote” is applied.

This is a great opportunity to get to know Eleanor Roosevelt! The play deals with Roosevelt’s influential and controversial place in American history, from her troubled childhood; her desire as a young woman to alleviate social problems; her marriage to four-term President Franklin Roosevelt; and her widowhood, which included an illustrious career at the newly founded United Nations.

Please share this message with your friends. Invite them to join you at the play! Put this event on your own Facebook page and share posts from the LWVLC page.

Buy Tickets Here! wildishtheater.com When you put in the code word, your purchase will be counted toward the League’s share of ticket revenue.

Roseburg Library Rescue Action Team

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Further Info: 541-673-9759 or 671-2555
EMAIL rossjoe@hotmail.com

Grassroots Effort Building New Roseburg Cascadian Library

A Roseburg Library Rescue Action Team (LRAT) has formed, and the grassroots, volunteer, community effort is off to a great start to provide minimal library service in Roseburg after the main branch closes June 1.

The LRAT has partnered with Cascadian Coffee Co. to provide books, DVDs and CDs for loan at the business at 732 SE Cass Street, Roseburg, Or. Coordinator Joe Ross said, “A whole wall of shelves has been installed. Now we need decent, clean, popular books and materials. We need volunteers to regularly maintain the collection, as well as some funds to purchase current items. ”

Donated books will be categorized as fiction, non-fiction, children’s and other books. They’ll be available for reading on-site or check out, using an honor system, during the coffeeshop’s normal business hours of 6:30 AM – 5:00 PM Monday through Saturday. “We may just trust that folks return items or have something as simple as a clipboard to sign out things for a couple weeks,” Ross said. “That’s all being worked out. It’s got to be simple, easy and low stress for everyone.”

The LRAT wanted to collaborate with a downtown business, and Cascadian Coffee had the interest, as well as a well-lit, welcoming space that also offers food, beverage, art and music. Business owner Courtney Dillon said, “We look forward to hosting a small Roseburg library to support education, literacy, knowledge and economic development within our community.” Using donated funds, LRAT purchased shelves from another supportive downtown business, Roseburg Resale, owned by Curt Smith.

Roseburg City Council was told about the library rescue efforts on 8 May. Three local library boards were briefed about plans on 16 May, including Friends of the Douglas County Library System, Douglas County Library Foundation and Douglas County Library Advisory Board. All were supportive. Although the latter is being disbanded by County Commissioners, the other two groups will continue supporting County public libraries. The Friends of the Library will ask their members to help with maintenance of the new Roseburg Cascadian Library. Some friends, like Marcy Tasso Belzner, have already provided great encouragement, advice and guidance.

The Roseburg Library Rescue Action Team has put out a call for community fundraising, book donations and volunteers. They hope to obtain non-profit 501(c)3 status. To provide books, magazine subscriptions, or audio/visual material to the Roseburg Cascadian Library’s collection, simply drop them off during open hours. Cash donations will be used to order items that people want, maybe even some computers. Checks payable to “Library Rescue” can be dropped or mailed to LRAT, c/o Cascadian Coffee, 732 SE Cass, Roseburg, Or. 97470. Any unused funds will be given to the Friends of the Library and/or Douglas Co Library Foundation.

The Library Rescue Action Team is an all-inclusive community effort, and all are welcome to attend their weekly Thursday meetings at 12:15 PM at Cascadian Coffee Co. The team welcomes your personal involvement, encouragement and support. An official ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Roseburg Cascadian Library will be announced soon. Grand Opening is expected about the time that the main branch closes (June 1). The actual date will depend on acquisition of books and development of an easy, informal system for book circulation.

Updates can be found here on Facebook here.

Thank you, Cascadian Coffee & Joe!

Photos of the Electoral College Discussion

The Electoral College and the National Popular Vote

Charles Young of Umpqua Community College, professor of history and government, spoke last night, 4/18/17, at the (soon-to-close) Douglas County Library in Roseburg, Oregon. He spoke eloquently about the formation of our early government and the Electoral College. The founding fathers were careful and thoughtful about including all of the states, large and small, while developing our constitution which led to the inclusion of the Electoral College.

We would like to share photos from last night’s presentation and discussion on the Electoral College and how we elect our nation’s presidents. Thank you to all who attended. Please visit our new webpage dedicated to the National Popular Vote webpage, which the League of Women Voters supports.

You probably know that it takes 270 electoral votes for a presidential win. But why that number, 270? If you add up all of the Senators (100) and all of the House of Representatives members (435) and the Washington, DC, representatives (3), the total is 538. Divided in half equals 269, therefore the number needed to win the election is 270. And there was much more about the country’s constitution, and how and why it was set up that way 230 years ago in 1787.

A current subject related to national elections, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, was also discussed, which is a proposal that would go around the constitution by states voting to instruct their electoral college voters to vote for the person who wins the national popular vote. Right now 11 states with 165 electoral votes have passed NPV, and the Oregon House has passed it in May 2015 for the third time, also failing in the Senate three times.

Currently HB2927 is in the House but isn’t out of committee yet. Contact your legislators about this bill and SB824 in the Senate.

Local Ballot Measures Forum – Library & Cannabis Issues

Please attend a free and unbiased local Ballot Measure Forum covering the library taxing district and the cannabis measures.

Thursday, Oct. 6, 2016
7PM to 8:30PM
@ The Douglas County Library

In the upcoming election, Douglas County voters will be making decisions about important issues in our county. How will our library system survive in the future? Will marijuana businesses be allowed in the unincorporated parts of Douglas County? Both of these issues will have financial consequences for our county.

The League of Women Voters of Umpqua Valley invites the public to an opportunity to learn more. At this forum you will have a chance to ask your questions.

Douglas County Library — Douglas County, OR Library

The Local Ballot Measure Forum will feature a panel of speakers to provide information about local ballot measures pertaining to a library taxing district and the location of marijuana businesses in Douglas County.

Bring your questions with you!
Download a Ballot Measure Forum Flyer to post around town! Thank you!

Important League Meeting on 9/27/16

There will be an important meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 27th at the Library at 6PM before the Candidates Forum. Please arrive on time!

Members will be asked to vote on an important matter that your Board of Directors recommends membership approve to convert our organization from a non-tax-deductible organization, a 501(c)(4), to a 501(c)(3), which would be tax-deductible. Below is more of an explanation and we have listed the documents you were mailed physically in August.

Please attend the meeting on 9/27/16. In order to pass this we need a quorum of one-third of our membership which is 19.

The following is the content of the letter sent to you. Also see the documents listed below. They are the ones that need to be changed to allow the conversion.

Dear League Members,

We ask that you are sure to attend our September 27th meeting at 6PM at the Douglas County Library, 1409 Diamond Lake Blvd, Roseburg, as we need your approval to convert our organization from a 501c4 status to a 501c3 status. As we are now a c4, donations are not tax-deductible. If we convert to a c3, both donations and member dues would be tax exempt.

Also, the state League is encouraging us to sign on as a local League, as they are submitting paperwork to the IRS to convert 7 other local Leagues.

As a 501c3 there are limitations to “lobbying” according to the IRS, but our organization does not come close to the ceiling which is 20% of our expenses in a year or averaged over a four-year period. Usually, we do education or advocacy, which we can do with no limits. Advocacy is speaking up about issues. Lobbying has to do with advising people to vote in a specific way regarding specific ballot measures. Rarely, do we do that. And when we do, it usually doesn’t cost anything or not very much. If we convert, we will have to track how much we spend on lobbying each year and report to the IRS once a year. This is part of the treasurer’s job.

We will take four votes:

One to suspend the rules to allow this membership meeting to proceed.
One to approve the overall plan of converting from a 501c4 to a 501c3.
One to approve the new bylaws. We added language from the national League regarding Article II Purposes and Policies, and 501c3 language that has been reviewed by a 501c3 attorney (by the state League), and a change to the dates we can hold annual meetings (Article VII, Section 2).
And a final vote to accept the new Articles of Incorporation.

Here are the related documents as PDFs:

•Letter to Members regarding 501c3 Conversion
• LWVUV Bylaws Proposal
• LWVUV Bylaws Draft Revision 8-11-16 with 501c3-language
• Draft LWVUV Articles of Incorporation 8-11-16
• Articles of Incorporation from 1989

These docs were mailed to each member at their physical mailing address in August 2016.

Any Questions? Please contact Jenny Carloni at jennifer.carloni at gmail.com or 541-672-1914 or Robin Wisdom at rwisdom at jeffnet.org or 541-672-6982.

Important League Meeting 9/27/16

There will be an important meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 27th at the Library at 6PM before the Candidates Forum. Please arrive on time!

Please attend the meeting on 9/27/16. In order to pass this we need a quorum of one-third of our membership which is 19.

The following is the content of the letter sent to you. Also see the documents listed below. They are the ones that need to be changed to allow the conversion.

Dear League Members,

Also, the state League is encouraging us to sign on as a local League, as they are submitting paperwork to the IRS to convert 7 other local Leagues.

We will take four votes:

One to suspend the rules to allow this membership meeting to proceed.
One to approve the overall plan of converting from a 501c4 to a 501c3.
One to approve the new bylaws. We added language from the national League regarding Article II Purposes and Policies, and 501c3 language that has been reviewed by a 501c3 attorney (by the state League), and a change to the dates we can hold annual meetings (Article VII, Section 2).
And a final vote to accept the new Articles of Incorporation.

Here are the related documents as PDFs:

These docs were mailed to each member at their physical mailing address in August 2016.

Any Questions? Please contact Jenny Carloni at jennifer.carloni at gmail.com or 541-672-1914 or Robin Wisdom at rwisdom at jeffnet.org or 541-672-6982.

You and Me Reading!

Check out our brand new webpage all about the importance of reading with your child – You and Me Reading.

The Umpqua Valley League of Women Voters announces ndc8LXeTe a new program that improves the quality of reading time with your child. This project is an extension of the Children At Risk statewide study that was championed by the Umpqua Valley League of Women Voters.

Find out how important reading with your child is. Or perhaps you’d like to help a grand child. We offer a personalized introduction into this effective and fun process. Just contact us.

See our web page. Find out more here.

Early Teaching Project Gets Underway

The first training opportunity is 10 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, and the second is from 6:30 to 8 p.m. March 15.

Both trainings will take place at the Martha Young Family Service Center in the United Community Action Network Conference Room, 280 Kenneth Ford Drive in Roseburg.

For more information read The News-Review article here.

For even more information, contact the League at [541] [672] [1914].

Have you heard about ETP?

Last night community members met to learn about ETP. What’s that? It is the Early Teaching Project that is now being offered in Roseburg and Douglas County.

The Early Teaching Program (ETP) teaches parents to read effectively with their children thereby enabling their children to exceed in life. There’s strong evidence shown in several studies pointed out in the film shown this evening called “Are We Crazy About Our Kids?”

There’s more if you missed this. There will be two trainings at UCAN’s Conference Room. Thank you to the panelists present at the meeting who explained their roles in assisting young families and children, helping them with life skills, and reading, and just getting through life. One of the main points was there’s just not enough resources to cover all needs, and poverty is an issue in Douglas County.

Panelists were Tatum Stedman, Roseburg Public Schools Early Learning Coach, Amelia Roth, Roseburg pediatrician, Kat Cooper, Learning Hub; Pat Sublette of ESD, Shawn Lyberger of Head Start.

Upcoming Trainings to be held at UCAN’s conference room at the Martha Young Family Service Center, 280 Kenneth Ford Drive, Roseburg

March 8, 10AM to 11:30AM
March 15, 6:30PM to 8:00PM

For more information, contact Jenny Carloni at [541] [672] [1914].

Annual Program Planning Meeting

Join us for the Annual Program Planning Meeting on Thursday, Jan. 28 at 6PM to 7:30PM at the Mercy Education Center, Room 2, at 2459 Stewart Parkway in Roseburg, OR.

Annual program planning is a routine event for League members, but it is also for new members and friends of the League. Also at this time we look at existing studies and ask for ideas for new studies which could be proposed at our upcoming annual membership meeting in April.