LWV OPRF August 9 Week in Preview
Historical Marker Installation
On Thursday, August 26, our League members, as well as members of the Nineteenth Century Charitable Association and The Historical Society of Oak Park-River Forest, will celebrate the installation of the National Votes for Women Trail Marker honoring Grace Wilbur Trout.

Mrs. Trout was president of the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association (IESA) from 1912 to 1920 and spearheaded the campaign for woman suffrage in the state. Once the Nineteenth Amendment had been enacted, IESA decided its work was finished and was succeeded by the Illinois League of Women Voters. Mrs. Trout signed the Illinois League's incorporation documents.
​
The marker will be situated at the site of Mrs. Trout's home, 414 Forest Ave., and the current homeowner, Elizabeth Celio, gave permission for the marker to be installed on her property. The ceremony will begin at 1:00pm on Thursday, August 26. Afterward, all are invited back to the Nineteenth Century Club building for cookies and lemonade.

Thanks to the three ladies who worked together to get this marker approved and installed: Marge Massarello representing LWV OPRF, Mary Ann Porucznik representing the Nineteenth Century Charitable Association and Rachel Berlinski, operations manager of the OPRF Historical Society. Bravo!
Great Decisions Returns
Great Decisions promises to be an exciting series of discussions about international issues. Stop by River Forest Library to get a list of the issues to be discussed and to check out a briefing book. Explore 8 issues over 8 sessions. Attend all 8 sessions in the series or come to individual sessions of interest. This program meets from 1:00-2:30pm on the first and third Wednesday of the month from September through December. The specific topics for each session are listed below. Our League is partnering with the River Forest Library to bring this program back. Thanks to Meghan O'Keefe at the River Forest Library for being our partner with this program. This schedule of discussion topics is also posted on our webpage.

9/1: Global Supply Chains and U.S. National Security
9/15: The Future of Persian Gulf Security
10/6: Brexit: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead
10/20: The Coldest War: Toward a Return to Great Power Competition in the Arctic?
11/3: China and Africa
11/17: The Two Koreas
12/1: The World Health Organization's Response to COVID-19
12/15:  The End of Globalization?
Observer Training
The League’s trained Observer Corps are a respected part of the community— they work to keep local governments accountable and community members informed. LWV IL will be holding a training session on Thursday, August 19 at 10:00am via Zoom. Our League has been woefully short of observers the past two years, even when municipal meetings could have been observed online. Won't you consider observing one meeting a month of a local governmental unit? School Board, Village Board, Park Board, and Library Board all have observer positions available and most are still doing virtual meetings. Doing this training session will help prepare you for being a observer. Contact Joan or Jane with any questions or to volunteer for your one meeting a month. You need to register for the training here.