News Archive

The Scholarship Committee, Carol Kouba, Ann Wacholder and Karin Drury, met on May 22, 2017. BPWEV received 17 scholarship applications, definitely an increase in applicants compared to the last few years.

The lucky recipients this year are: Elizabeth Capell Wright (2nd time), Nathalie A. Barr and Frances E. McHale. You will meet them at the June 20 or July 18 dinner meeting. Please join the Scholarship Committee in helping to welcome them.

All of the BPWEV members, but especially the Wine Tasting Committee, worked hard to procure the funds that allow us to pay for three $1,000.00 scholarships each year. As demonstrated this year by the amount of applications received, the need for Adult Learner Scholarships is great. It would be wonderful, if in the future, BPWEV could award more scholarships. Reading their essays, as well as the letters of recommendation, sending Letters of regret to the majority of the applicants, is always sad.

Who will join me this year in paying for the dinners of the awardees? In the past many generous BPWEV members have volunteered to pay for the dinners, so that the BPWEV  budget is not stretched too far.

Thank you all for making this important project of BPWEV possible! Mark your calendars for October 13, 2017, for the next Wine Tasting at the Venice Art Center.

Karin M. Drury
Scholarship Chair

A beautiful ceremony, conducted by Irene Slattery, installed the new Board of the Business and Professional Women of Englewood and Venice (BPWEV) at the April 18, 2017 dinner meeting.

Carol Kouba assisted as the new Board was presented to the membership and guests. Judy Braham will serve again as President, Joyce McCuffrey and Katie Malloy (not pictured) will continue as 1st Vice Presidents, Morina Chmielak is the new 2nd Vice President, Heather LaBeau (not pictured) will continue as Treasurer and Maryann Terry will serve as Secretary. The new Board is committed to promote the BPWEV Mission: To achieve equity for all women through Advocacy, Education and Information.

BPWEV meets every third Tuesday of each month at the Left Coast Seafood Restaurant in Venice.
Area women are invited to attend.

l to r: Carol Kouba, Maryann Terry, Morina Chmielak, Joyce McCuffrey, Judy Braham, Irene Slattery

By Patricia Schaefer, NonProfit Quarterly

Hound your U.S. legislators. Shortly after the women’s marches, organizers published “10 Actions for the First 100 Days” to mobilize participants, the first of which is sending branded postcards to elected officials on specific issues and tying these actions to social media.

• Get local. The old adage, “think global, act local” couldn’t be more true today. People start entering politics through school boards, town or village boards, and citizen action committees. Know where your local lawmakers stand and, if their values align with yours, do what you can to support them. If not, run against them.
• State politics are critical too, whether it’s education, housing, environmental or health care policy. In addition to letting them know where you stand on issues, the men and women in your state house often have money available to support your nonprofit efforts. Their offices are always open and the squeaky wheel really does get the grease.
• Participate in conference calls and webinars when they’re offered by groups that resonate with you. These are good opportunities to listen in on upcoming strategies among activists and learn what everyone can do to support their efforts.
• Volunteer, donate, host events, and campaign with local NGOs and charities. Whatever your passion, there’s an organization for that.
• Try, wherever possible, to present a united front. Keep the mission front and center and keep the squabbles and inside baseball inside the organization and work it out amongst yourselves.
• Remember, it’s not just the Supreme Court that matters. Informed citizens need to pay attention to their state and local courts, too. The Leadership Conference hosts an excellent website where you can learn more about this most misunderstood of the three branches of government, as does the National Constitution Center.
• Be respectful. Don’t get bogged down in the trivial. Don’t post or share negative memes. No one is going to be turned around by a mean-spirited meme. Don’t be ugly or hateful and don’t give people ammunition to use against your organization or cause. And, as a writer on Saturday Night Live recently learned, kids are off-limits. Enough said.
• Be dignified yet creative, and value quality over quantity in oration. We need to consider the valuable role of curation from the podium in events like this going forward. Finally, for NGO leaders, defend your ground. There is a lot of bad information making the rounds about nonprofits, and some or all are likely to be targeted under this new administration.

Source:  Excerpt form Patricia Schaefer's Article January 26, 2017, Nonprofit Quarterly