JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION POSTPONED
UNTIL JUNE 22 DUE TO FLOODING
| NAACP’s JUNETEENTH 2024 CELEBRATION
POSTPONED TO JUNE 22 @ 10:00-4:00
River Park Community Center
LWVCC will join the NAACP’s Juneteenth Celebration at River Park Community Center from 10 AM to 4 PM. We will be sharing information on League priority issues. For more information contact Cynthia Cave. | GET READY TO VOTE IN THE AUGUST 2024 PRIMARY
July 12 @ 10am
ZOOM
Sandy Parker of Sparker's Soapbox will review the state and local offices and candidates that will be on the ballot for Collier County. Voters will have a jump-start for becoming more informed voters
REGISTER FOR ZOOM LINK
|  HELP SEND THE MESSAGE:
WEAR A LEAGUE SHIRT!
Since early February, the LWVCC’s social media campaign to engage younger voters (“Get in Line, or Don’t Whine, VOTE”) has been viewed nearly 40,000 times, targeted at Gen Zs and Millennials in southwest Florida. We are constantly creating new posts, and the number of viewers continues to increase daily! You can follow the campaign on Instagram (#LWVCC), TikTok (lwvcolliercounty), and Facebook (lwvcolliercounty). To see the posts, view them on YouTube.
We are using themed t-shirts as giveaways for those we interview, but we also wanted to make the shirts available to members and friends. Ordering is easy; shirts, hats, or mugs will be sent directly to your home. The shirts are $15 plus tax and shipping and are available in multiple sizes for women and men.
ORDER YOUR SHIRT/HAT/MUG
Order your shirt now to support our League and the efforts to get out the vote! For questions or to join the Engaging Younger Voters subcommittee, contact Stacy Vermylen. | FLORIDA LEAGUE FOUNDER HONORED
 On June 7, 2024, Governor Ron DeSantis announced the selection of 3 notable women to the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame. Each year, the Governor selects three nominees from recommendations presented by the Florida Commission on the Status of Women.
According to the Governor's website, one of the 3 women selected was May Mann Jennings. Jennings was the First Lady to Governor William Sherman Jennings, who served as Florida’s 18th Governor. She was a founding member of the Florida State League of Women Voters, the precursor to the League of Women Voters of Florida, and served as President of the Florida Federation of Women’s Clubs. Jennings is known as the “Mother of Florida’s Forestry” due to her efforts to lobby the Florida Legislature for the establishment of the State Board of Forestry, which today is known as the Florida Forestry Service. She also spearheaded the effort to have Royal Palm State Park established in 1915, which later became part of the Everglades National Park. Her legacy has earned her a reputation as one of Florida’s original suffragettes and conservationists. Jennings championed causes for women’s suffrage, better treatment of children and prisoners, education funding, historic preservation, and highway beautification which still leave their mark on Florida today. The Collier County League is proud that May Mann Jennings' accomplishments have been recognized in Florida. | SAVE THE DATE:
KNOW YOUR BALLOT QUESTIONS
On August 14, 2024 at 2 PM by Zoom, the Education Committee will host an informative meeting for all members of LWVCC and guests on three important questions on your November ballot. A panel of experts will discuss Collier County Public Schools’ tax neutral referendum on budget flexibility and two state amendments: Question 1 on Partisan School Board Elections and Question 4 on Reproductive Rights. More information and a Zoom link to come. Questions: email education@lwvcolliercounty.org. | UNDERSTANDING OUR FLORIDA GOVERNMENT
Understanding Our Florida Government is a series by League ambassador Sandy Parker. Sandy is the founder and publisher of Sparker's Soapbox, whose mission is to encourage and facilitate informed voting in Collier County. Learn more at sparkers-soapbox.com
An informed voter needs a basic understanding of the judicial branch of Florida’s government because Florida voters elect all judges. This Sparker's Soapbox primer reviews the Florida court system and the jurisdictions, qualifications, terms of office, and compensation of judges at each level. You will also learn about the people currently holding judicial office and gain tips to help you make informed decisions when voting for judges.
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DID YOU KNOW THAT THE LWVCC WEBSITE IS MULTI-LINGUAL???
The LWVCC website presents in English. But when you are on the LWVCC website look below the donate/join/login buttons in the upper right corner. Click on the box that says “select language.” Logged in or not, when you select a language, all the web pages will appear in that language; however, linked documents and graphics are not be translated. There are over 125 languages to choose from, including Spanish and Haitian Creole.
This is another example of LWVCC’s efforts to reach out to our diverse community!
| LWVCC at NAPLES PRIDE ‘24
The League of Women Voters of Collier County hosted a booth at Naples Pride in Cambier Park on Saturday, June 8th. What a fabulous day and an outstanding community event! The League was able to engage with the community and share resources. Due to our convenient placement near the Supervisor of Elections booth, we were able to direct citizens to their booth to check registration status, register to vote, etc. Our trivia wheel was a fun, educational experience for lots of kids!
| NEW LWVFL OPERATIONS & PROGRAM MANAGER
Julia Cervantes has recently joined LWVFL staff as Operations & Program Manager for the League of Women Voters of Florida. She comes from the Orange County LWV. Her goal is to provide a little more cohesion among the local Leagues and with the State and National League, as well. I spoke with her this week, and Julia is excited to contribute to the mission of an impactful and necessary organization like LWV. Welcome to LWVFL, Julia!—Diane Preston Moore | RETURNING CITIZENS POSTCARD PARTIES
June 20 @ 1:00-300
Returning Citizens and GOTV Postcard Writing Initiative
What a great time we had June 6 writing postcards for Returning Citizens and Get Out The Vote (GOTV) ! We plan to continue postcard writing parties throughout the summer. If you have some time on a Thursday afternoon please come join us ~ it’s a great way to spend some time with other League members and get some good work done! You can register on the Event Calender.
The League of Women Voters of Florida is committed to helping Returning Citizens regain the right to vote after completing their sentence. Our League is assisting LWVFL in mailing postcards to returning citizens with the information to call the legal assistance hotline to receive pro bono assistance to learn their voting status. This year we have completed 2500 cards through our postcard writing parties, a big Thank You to all who participated.
We are also writing postcard for our GOTV initiative to remind voters who have not participated in recent elections the importance of voting ~ we 4000 thousands to do! Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact Tina Palmese or Paula Schwerin.
For those of us that have been part of this, it is truly a rewarding experience!
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The League has formed a partnership with Florida Weekly, a free local newspaper published once a week, to further the education of voters as part of the Get-Out-the-Vote campaign. The paper will print regular non-partisan articles, using the LWV logo, about upcoming elections, registration, voting options, and forums, culminating in a four-page Voter Guide in August for the Primary Election and again in late October for the General Election. Links to recent articles will be provided here in the LWVCC Update.
Don’t forget the key summer election |  PLASTICS POINTERS
Plastics Pointers is taking the summer off and will resume in the fall. In the meantime, you can find lots of ideas at Plastics Free July, an international movement with over 100 million participants to reduce your use of plastic during the month of July. Their website is loaded with information and their frequent Instagram posts are inspirational. You can sign up online to take the challenge and be counted in their statistics on the impact of the challenge. Or you can just go to “Resources” then “Assets” to download an Action Picker to keep track of some strategies. Happy summer, and don’t forget to keep thinking of creative ways to reduce your use of plastics! |
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UPCOMING EVENTS |
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June 22 @ 11:00
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Juneteenth Celebration
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July 12 @ 10:00-11:00
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Get Ready to Vote:
August 2024 Primary
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August 14 @ 2:00
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Know Your Ballot Questions
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Visit the LWVCC Calendar for event details
| ONLINE REIMBURSEMENT FORM IS NOW AVAILABLE
Board members, committee chairs, and others who need to submit reimbursement requests can now do so via our Submit Online Forms page. | UPCOMING COMMITTEE MEETINGS
Because LWVCC committee meetings are for members and their invited guests unless stated otherwise,
members should log in to the website to register
to get the Zoom links for committee meetings and other events. | Reproductive Health Subcommittee Meeting
June 20 @ 4:00-5:00
Zoom | Board Meeting
August 7 @ 9:30-12:00
Zoom | MISSED AN ISSUE OF THE VOTER?
NEED TO CATCH UP ON THE NEWS?
Check out our updated News & Newsletters page, which has all our latest news and links to current and back issues of The Voter and The LWVCC Update.
| Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy.
The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in Government. We influence public policy through education and advocacy. Our goal is to empower citizens to take an active role in shaping better communities worldwide. The League of Women Voters of Collier County does not support or endorse any candidate or political party.
| League of Women Voters of Collier County
P.O. Box 9883Naples, FL 34101
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