Success Stories

The League of Miami-Dade County in Florida represents a diverse community, many of whom are not American citizens yet. Their recent past president, Marisol Zenteno, spoke with us about how the League educates their community on American government by teaching Civics 101 lessons to citizenship classes and speaking on the importance of civic engagement, registering to vote, and voting.

The League of Women Voters of New York has worked with its local leagues to identify areas that are underserved or have low voter turnout and find new ways to reach out to disenfranchised voters.

The League of Women Voters of Arlington, VA received the James B. Hunter Award from the Arlington County Human Rights Commission in December 2019. Their president, Joan Porte, shared with us how the Arlington League has worked to fight housing discrimination, increase voter turnout, and connect with underrepresented constituencies.

The LWV of Ohio has been working to engage the next generation of voters, equipping them with the necessary tools to resist gender bias and demonstrating the organization’s commitment to intergenerational diversity, equity and inclusion.

Joanna Lindberg is the Get-Out-the-Vote co-chairperson for the LWV of Greater Omaha. She shared with us the different ways that her League has applied a diversity, equity and inclusion lens to their voter education and voter turnout efforts has made their work more impactful and how it has strengthened the League.

Mary Buelow is the Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee of the LWV of Janesville in Wisconsin. She shared with us how her League has worked to educate its members and leadership on race-related issues in order to make their DEI work within the community more impactful.

July 15-19, 2019 is National Disability Voter Registration Week. We spoke to Leagues from all over the country about the steps they are taking to empower individuals with disabilities and to create a more accessible and fair democracy for the larger communities the League serves.

Betsy Cushman is the Voter Service Chair of the LWV of Dearborn/Dearborn Heights in Michigan . She shared with us how their League has worked to partner with local Arab-American and Muslim communities through their Youth Voter Registration Project and offered diversity training to their volunteers to assist with voter registration and engagement.

Nancy Leifer is the President of the LWV of Montana. She shared with us how DEI was the focus of their recent State Convention by highlighting three aspects of DEI work. She also shared how this inspired a focus on Native American voting rights as part of their mission impact work.

Erin Grunze and Ellen Penwell are staff members for the LWV of Wisconsin. They shared with us a series of activities their League has done to promote internal change and strengthen their mission impact work by applying a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) lens.  Erin Grunze and Ellen Penwell are staff members for the LWV of Wisconsin. They shared with us a series of activities their League has done to promote internal change and strengthen their mission impact work by applying a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) lens.  

Barb Clark is the Executive for Business (part of their League’s core leadership team) of the LWV of Greater Lafayette in Indiana. She shared actions taken at their board’s leadership transition meeting last year to help them identify how their League could move forward with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work.

Veda Florez is the Communications Director of the LWV of the Bay Area in California. Twenty local Leagues across nine counties in the Bay Area make up this ILO. During an LWV-sponsored webinar , Veda shared three actions the League has taken as part of their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work.