Events and Speakers (2020-21)

ANNUAL MEETING

Friday, May 7, 2021
9:30 am via Zoom
Meeting ID: 880 8597 7845
Password: 741583

Events from Earlier this Membership Year

FALL MEMBERSHIP EVENT

Sunday, September 13, 2020
7:30 PM via Zoom

Please join us to learn about the League. Our Membership Event will feature special guests:

Regent Frances Wills
County Executive George Latimer
Mayor Marc Samwick

  • Regent Frances Wills, NYS Board of Regents, 19th Judicial District
  • Westchester County Executive George Latimer
  • Scarsdale Village Mayor Marc Samwick
LWVS Fall Membership Webinar, Sunday September 13, 2020

LWVNYS PROGRAM ON VOTING, GEARED FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES AND THEIR FAMILIES/CAREGIVERS

Thursday, October 8, 2020 at 6:30 PM via Zoom
Tuesday, October 13, 2020 at 1 PM via Zoom
Friday, October 23, 2020 at 10 AM via Zoom

The League of Women Voters of New York State has partnered with Disability Rights NY to organize interactive Zoom meetings on educating individuals with disabilities on how to vote safely in the upcoming General Election.

Items to be discussed include:

  • Ways you can vote
  • Tips and tricks to make voting an easy experience
  • What you can do if you face barriers to the polls before, during, or after you cast your ballot

Please encourage anyone who may benefit from these meetings and any organizations who serve this population to join these Zoom meetings. All three meetings will be the same but are offered at different times to encourage more participation. Follow the Zoom link by the meeting date and time above to attend.

PREPARE TO VOTE 2020: THREE WAYS TO VOTE

Thursday, October 15, 2020
7:00 PM via Zoom

Are you prepared to vote in the 2020 General Election? Have you decided HOW you plan to vote? With the challenging environment that we face due to the COVID-19 pandemic and election law changes, learn everything you need to know about the three ways to vote:

  • Absentee Ballot
  • Early Voting
  • Election Day.

Organized by the LWV of Westchester and facilitated by LWVS in collaboration with the Scarsdale Public Library, this workshop will explain the steps to take and the important deadline dates to determine which way to vote is best for you. Register by providing your name and email address on the Scarsdale Public Library program page for this event to receive the Zoom link.

The League of Women Voters of Westchester is a nonpartisan organization whose purpose is to promote informed and active participation in government. The League neither supports nor opposes candidates or political parties. The League is supported by public-spirited individuals, businesses and organizations.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT SPEAKER EVENT

Action Civics: Empowering Students to be Engaged in our Democracy
Featuring: DeNora Getachew*
Additional Panelists: Martin Mintz** (current New York Program Director of Generation Citizen), John Harrison (SHS Social Studies Department Chair), Steven Goodman (SMS Social Studies Teacher), and student representatives from the SHS School Government
Thursday, November 12, 2020
7:30 pm to 9 pm via Zoom

LWVS Food for Thought: Action Civics, Thursday, November 12, 2020

In this moment, when citizen and voter participation in our democracy is essential, how may we best equip our youth to carry that awareness through their lives? Learn how experiential civics education can enable and prepare our students with the skills, knowledge, and dispositions for lifelong civic participation in our 21st century democracy. 

Educating and empowering youth about how democracy works is vital to maintaining a strong, inclusive democracy, and the League of Women Voters supports programs that provide students with the information, motivation, and skills to become informed voters and engaged citizens.

*DeNora Getachew is the former New York Executive Director of Generation Citizen, a nine-year-old national nonprofit transforming how civics education is taught in schools. One initiative of that organization is a Beyond the Ballot collective of resources, civic action prompts, and skill-building lessons designed to encourage sustainable participation in our communities and our democracy.

She is currently an appointee to the New York State Civic Readiness Task Force, New York State Public Finance Reform Commission, and a NYC Community Education Task Force. She also serves on the board of Planned Parenthood NYC Votes and the New York Junior League, and is a member of the Greater New York Chapter of the Links, Inc. and the Metropolitan Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc. Getachew was an appointee to New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams’s Transition Team and formerly served on Manhattan Community Board 7.

She has over a decade of legal, fundraising, and policy and advocacy experience. Getachew began her career at the New York City Council and has worked at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, for Bill de Blasio when he was a Public Advocate, and at Citizens Union, shaping state and local law and policy on a diverse portfolio of issues, including campaign finance, education, ethics, police accountability, and voting reform.

Getachew is an alumna of John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Fordham University School of Law. She has contributed to the Des Moines Register, Gotham Gazette, Huffington Post, the New York Times’ City blog, and Newsday, and has been featured on WNYC and NY1, among other media sources.

**Martin Mintz is the Program Manager for Generation Citizen New York, where he supports educators implementing GC’s Action Civics curriculum in their classroom. Prior to joining Generation Citizen, he spent seven years in the classroom as a middle school Social Studies teacher in The Bronx. Through his work in the classroom and a special focus on the connection between education and social justice, Mintz fostered youth engagement in local government and their communities.

CENTENNIAL EVENT

100 Years of Progress: Women in New York Politics
Sunday, January 24, 2021
7 to 8:30 pm via Zoom

Attendance is free.
Follow this link now to register for the Zoom webinar.
You will receive an automatic email confirmation with a link to join the webinar.

In honor of LWVS’s 100th year, this special program features an all-female panel of elected officials in a discussion to be moderated by LWVS member and immediate past president Janice Starr.

Please use this form to Submit Questions for any of our speakers.

Meet our Panelists (links open to their professional bios):

  • NYS Majority Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins
  • NYS Assemblywoman Amy R. Paulin
  • Westchester County District Attorney Miriam (Mimi) E. Rocah
  • NYS Attorney General Letitia (Tish) James

AUTHOR VISIT WITH ROBERT MARCHANT

Westchester: History of an Iconic Suburb
Sunday, March 7, 2021
3 pm via Zoom

Join us for a conversation with author Robert Marchant to hear about his new book, Westchester: History of an Iconic Suburb. This live virtual event will provide an informative and lively dialogue on Westchester’s fascinating and often surprising past, moderated by Jordan Copeland. Marchant’s book examines four centuries of development in Westchester, uncovering “a complex and often surprising narrative of slavery, anti-Semitism, immigration, Jim Crow, silent film stars, suffragettes, gangland violence, political riots, eccentric millionaires, industry and aviation, man-made disasters and assassinations.”

Robert Marchant

Robert Marchant is a staff reporter at Hearst Media in southern Connecticut and the Greenwich Time newspaper. He lives with his family in Croton-on-Hudson, NY.

Jordan Copeland is a Scarsdale resident and member of the SPL and SHS Board of Trustees who has researched extensively and given many presentations about the history of Scarsdale.

This event is co-sponsored with the Scarsdale Forum, the Scarsdale Historical Society, and the Scarsdale Public Library.

All members of the public are welcome. Admission is free. Registration required: https://www.scarsdalelibrary.org/events/westchester-history-iconic-suburb