September 1983 Home   Newsletters

October 1983

November 1983

Annual Fund Drive - [The Dining Room]
President's Message (Arlene Woo)
General Membership Meeting - The Legislative Process...
Lush Green Open Spaces or Wall-to-Wall Concrete?
Vote Count News
Arms Control Consensus Report
Dr. Werner Levi's Speech Aids Consensus Deliberations
Two Resign from Honolulu Board
Gold C Values
Frank's Videotapes to Be Shown
Recommended Viewing
UN Decade for Women Nearing End
On the Interim Report of the National Long-Range Planning Committee
An Unwanted Phone
Membership Update
Neighborhood Board Study Committee Seeks More Members (Mildred Walston)
Calendar
They Have Given Us Their Support - Let's Give Them Our Support

On the Interim Report of the National Long-Range Planning Committee

Did you know that while League's overall membership is now at roughly the same level as it was in the early 1950s, there are now 50% more Leagues(approximately 1,222), with the consequent increase in the leadership positions that need to be filled and a significant increase in the cost of providing services by national?

Among the reams of reading matter found in our League office that may be of interest to you is the interim report of the national Long Range Planning Committee. (Our Pat Shutt is one of its members.)

The report begins with the proposed mission statement:

"THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS IS A NONPARTISAN POLITICAL ORGANIZATION THAT INFLUENCES PUBLIC POLICY THROUGH EDUCATION AND ADVOCACY."

It lists and discusses the proposed general objectives.

GIVING LEAGUE DIRECTION

The committee is now involved in developing "strategic directions, specific objectives, resource plans, and implementation and monitoring strategies. Strategic directions for the League will raise issues about national, state and lo-cal relationships; about the balance between education and advocacy at all levels of the League; about internal communications; about membership growth; about financial resources; about external communications; and about decision-making processes and administrative procedures."

The report discusses at some length the trends --- economic, political, and demographic --- that will affect League membership and must, therefore, determine our activities and mode of operation.

Another part of the report that war-rants your attention lists the assumptions that the committee arrived at after analyzing the research data gathered and those made available from other sources. These they have organized into three categories: 1) External factors affecting League, 2) League's membership, and 3) Internal factors affecting League.

In the third category, for example, are these two assumptions that your Honolulu Board has given much thought to:

  1. The League's basic structure and the relationship among its three levels are not satisfactory as currently designed and are operating ineffectively. In the future, all organizational levels in the League will increasingly need to rely on paid staff if the League's objectives are to be achieved.

A full report on the plan that will be presented to Convention 84 for action will be coming late this fall, but some of you may be interested in reading the full text of this interim report. A copy of the September Prospectus #3 (red cover) may be found on the desk in the front room, and another copy may be found in the Board Reading File. (Green 3-ring binder)

LONG-RANGE PLANNING TO BE TOPIC OF JANUARY MEETING.

"League Looks Ahead" will be the topic of our January meeting which will feature Phil Kuehl, long-range planner for LWVUS and Pat Shutt, National Board member and member of the Long Range Planning Committee.

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