League of Women Voters of Oak Park & River Forest Newsletter April 2024 Volume 11 Issue 9

From Study to Position: How Does it Happen and Why Do We Care?

You may know that the LWV of Illinois State League is engaged in a formal study of gun violence prevention. While the study is being led by the League’s state policy specialist on gun violence issues, all local Leagues are encouraged and expected to participate. The state committee is selecting and preparing questions and providing information to local chapters. Local leagues then will then form committees to examine the issues and seek additional background information relevant to their own region. It is important to represent a variety of viewpoints and a multifaceted picture of the issues involved.

Before any League—local, state, or the national—can take action, members must largely agree on what they think about that issue. Consensus is the process of discussion based on education and study related to the topic. The discussion should be broad based and involve an exchange of ideas and thoughts about the topic. This happens at Consensus meetings specific to the topic under study. The material being considered must be presented in a balanced and unbiased way. The discussion leader is neutral. Committee members must present all sides without bias, clarify points, and answer questions.

Once the questions have been examined from a variety of viewpoints, local League

committees hold meetings with their membership to arrive at Consensus. The state

committee compiles responses from participating local Leagues and submits the conclusions to the Illinois State League for adoption. This happens at the annual state convention. Once a position is adopted, and in coordination with the state Issue and Advocacy Committee, local leagues can advocate with their legislators, make public statements, participate in media interviews, and post about their positions online.

While League members can support positions as individuals, when representing the League or speaking using the League’s name, they must present the official League position on the topic that’s been reached by Consensus.

Another option for adopting an official League position is Concurrence. If a League sees that another chapter has studied an issue and adopted a position that’s relevant and compelling, the other League can adopt the same position, piggybacking on the work of the sister chapter and adding support. In this case, the position is presented to the relevant board for approval and membership votes to adopt the position through Concurrence at a state or national convention. This allows the work of the originating League chapter to be used on a broader scale. It streamlines the process of reaching a position. For example, board member Barbara Paterick recently alerted fellow board members to a request from the Washington State League to support its request for Concurrence on its study, The Decline of Local News and Its Impact on Democracy. With the U.S. League’s National Convention coming up, delegates from state Leagues will have opportunities to consider this and other studies. By alerting local and state Leagues in advance, voting delegates will have the opportunity to read the study, ask questions and make an informed choice.

It’s the League way—labor intensive but fair and fact based.

Tina Birnbaum

Vice-President

Our next Second Tuesday presentation will be on April 9. Oak Park Village President, Founding Mayor and Executive Team member for C4 President Vicki Scaman and Seven Generations Ahead Director Colleen Feeny will present on the Cross Community Climate Collaborative (C4). They will give an overview of C4 and the involved communities and will lead a discussion on the successes and challenges within C4 and the associated sustainability initiatives of all 14 participating communities.

C4 is a project of co-leading organizations Seven Generations Ahead, the Urban Efficiency Group, and the mayors of Broadview, River Forest, and Oak Park. It is designed to bring together BIPOC and non-minority communities across income lines to share ideas, secure resources, and drive large-scale projects within and across communities that can achieve greenhouse gas emissions reductions as well as equity and sustainability goals. Currently, 14 disinvested and under-resourced communities in Illinois are involved.

Please join us on Tuesday, April 9 from 9:30-11:30am at the Nineteenth Century Association, 178 Forest Avenue, Oak Park. Free and open to the public, bring a friend!

CiviI discourse is possible, isn't it? These two dads say they have the model on how to come together even when you’re at opposite ends of an issue. Join GCM for this special conversation with the conservative former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh and activist Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter died in the Parkland shooting. Two Dads Defending Democracy: Bridging the Gap During Divisive Times will be moderated by veteran reporter, editor, and GCM Board member Sheila Solomon. This conversation event will take place on Tuesday, April 9, 7:00pm at the Lund Auditorium, Dominican University, 7900 W. Division Street, River Forest. LWV OPRF is one of the sponsors of this evening, and our members are being offered a discount of 25% on each ticket you buy. The cost per ticket will be $30 for League members, not $40, with reserved seating at the front of the Lund Auditorium. Purchase your tickets here using the coupon code Donor30. This discount is just for League members.

The AAUW will host a virtual conversation on Thursday, April 11, 1:00pm CDT, around legal paternalism and enslaved women's articulations of justice. Join CEO Gloria L. Blackwell in conversation with AAUW American Fellowship alumna Tamika Nunley, Ph.D., as they discuss her recent book, "The Demands of Justice: Enslaved Women, Capital Crime, and Clemency in Early Virginia" covering the period 1662-1865. The book examines clemency in legal cases that involve enslaved women accused of capital crime in early Virginia. In these legal encounters, we not only see a system that worked to define and affirm a commitment to legal paternalism that upheld the rule of law, but also the decades of responses made by the countless enslaved women accused of capital offenses.

 "The Demands of Justice" examines how these responses constituted the makings of an intellectual history of enslaved women’s articulations of justice. Register for this event here.

Illinois became the first state in the nation to eliminate cash bail last year. Reform for Illinois will host a panel discussion on Tuesday, April 16, from 1:30-2:30pm, that will explore the implementation of the reform, confront myths and realities around the law, and consider broader implications for the justice system in Illinois and the nation. Panelists include: Sharone Mitchell, Cook County Public Defender; Insha Rahman, Vera Institute for Justice; and Joe Tabor, Illinois Policy Institute. The panel will be moderated by Raff Donelson of the Chicago-Kent College of Law. You can register for the virtual program here.

Diane Chang, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Brown Institute for Media Innovation at Columbia Journalism School and the former head of Election Integrity and Product Strategy at Meta, will speak about how to protect and secure democracy in an age of threats from social media and artificial intelligence at a virtual meeting of the League of Women Voters of Illinois on Wednesday, April 17, 7:00pm via Zoom.

Organized by the LWVIL’s Misinformation and Disinformation Task Force, the event is the second in a series of presentations in which noted authorities will discuss topics that will inform and educate voters in advance of the 2024 General Election in November. Ms. Chang has ten years of experience building artificial intelligence and consumer technology products to connect people to information, safety, and sustainability. She led Meta’s election strategy integrity and product strategy from 2021-23. 

The LWVIL webinars are free and open to the public. To register, click here. All programs are recorded and are made available on LWV IL's website.

The Environment Committee will be following up on the Oak Park Styrofoam Ban by visiting local restaurants to provide further information to the Village with regard to compliance. Some upcoming environment events offered in the area include the Saturday, April 6, ECO Extravaganza at the Oak Park Library; the April 17-23 One Earth Film Festival; and the May 18 and May 25 Go Green Days at the OP Farmers Market. At the Farmer's Market, we will share information about composting and how to avoid the purchase and use of plastic.

On Sunday, April 14, from 1:00-4:00pm, there will be a Celebration of Life gathering for Mary Haley at the Carleton Hotel, 1110 Pleasant St., Oak Park. Mary was a valued member of our League who passed away in March.