by Dawn Smith, President Welcome to General election season, friends! This time of year, especially on even-numbered years, is always super busy, and I’m getting slammed at work, so I’m working hard to find balance in my life. As someone who raised two girls while working full time, I’ve spent the last 28 years trying to find balance between my family, my job, and those things that were important to me. You’d think by now I’d be better at it, but I’m still learning. So if you

by Dawn Smith, Chair After taking the summer off from meetings (while remaining very active), Voter Services met again, in person, on Thursday, September 3, at the Brown County Central Library, with a packed agenda. Dawn Smith & Lynn Meshke spoke with St. Paul’s United Women of Faith on the upcoming Constitutional Amendments on September 14. Members of Voter Services tabled at a back-to-school event, “Sample the City,” at UWGB on September 15. Lynn Meshke designed and create

by Terri Gulyas, Chair Reflection on James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time The question at the heart of James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time is whether we Americans can face the truth about racism deeply enough to change our country. Baldwin shows how racism harms Black Americans directly, while also trapping white Americans in false ideas about our history. For Baldwin, progress takes more than promises or changes in the law. We white Americans must examine our beliefs and the sy

By Jean Marsch, Co-chair The next meeting of the Healthcare and Environment Committee will be Wednesday, October 14 at 10:30 am via Zoom. All are welcome. Please contact Jean Marsch at jean.marsch@gmail.com to request the Zoom link. Here are three excellent resources we recommend: One in 10 Wisconsinites Skipped Needed Health Care Due to Cost. From Wisconsin Public Radio, this article summarizes the latest State Health Assessment from 2025. From the Press Times, local legi

Earlier this year, we published our first poetry anthology, Democracy’s Urgent Call, which has over 1100 copies in circulation. Our 2027 volume, The Arc of Justice, is again inspired by artist/activist Niki Johnson’s four-part series, Pillars of Democracy (click here to view.) As poets and members of the League of Women Voters, we recognize the power of language to connect people, to stir hearts and minds, and to reaffirm the enduring promise of this nation. Together, we li

Denise Gaumer Hutchison, Chair. The next meeting of the Education Committee will be announced soon; stay tuned. In the meantime, we offer below an opportunity and an update. Back to School Virtual Town Hall Back-to-school should be exciting: kids reuniting with friends; teachers prepping classrooms; families imagining fresh starts and new possibilities. But there’s also a lot to be nervous about. School funding cuts, censorship, ICE threats, layoffs and closures have many p

Dawn Smith, President It’s almost fall, friends (although it’s 80 degrees outside as I type this), and that means General Election season is right around the corner. I like to encourage our committees to take it a little bit easy over summer. We spend all winter inside; summer is a time to get outside and spend time with your families. And, while many of our committees took a break from meeting over the summer, this is the busiest summer for the League I can remember. Our p

Jean Marsch, Chair The next meeting of the Healthcare and Environment Committee will be Wednesday, September 9 at 10:30 am via Zoom. All are welcome. Contact Jean Marsch at jean.marsch@gmail.com for a Zoom link. Social Media Concerns and Claims Wisconsin was one of 47 states that filed claims against social media giant Meta, alleging the company harmed children and designed their platforms to be addictive to children. Read the article by Wisconsin Public Radio. Food Addi

Dawn Smith, President After a sweltering picnic at Bay Beach last year, the LWVGGB decided to move our Annual Picnic indoors, at the ADRC, on August 6, following the reading at City Hall of our proclamation for the 61st Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. About 25 of our members and guests gathered at the ADRC’s Grounded Café to visit, enjoy dinner, get an update on our League, and learn from our guest speaker, H. James Smet, representing Migration Advocacy (COMSA). With

Terri Gulyas, Chair September: A Season for New Beginnings—and Action For me, September has always felt a little like the beginning of a new year. Perhaps it is a lingering memory from my school days: a new academic year, new teachers, new classmates, and new opportunities to learn. As we enter September during an important election year, it seems like an appropriate time to reflect on how far our country has come in expanding participation in our democracy—and how fragile th

By Lynn Meshke, Vice President League volunteers were excited to be part of the Green Bay Area Public Schools Welcome Back Celebration 2026! Our booth gave students a fun introduction to voting through our “Principal for a Day” election, while parents received useful, nonpartisan voting information. And, as always, our temporary tattoos were a BIG hit! We also had a great conversation with new Superintendent Michael Hernandez about the importance of encouraging civic en

by Lynn Meshke, Vice President On August 6, elected officials, community members, and members of the League of Women Voters of Greater Green Bay gathered in the Council Chamber at City Hall to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 - one of the most significant pieces of voting rights legislation in our nation’s history. The event was part of the League of Women Voters of the US’s Unite & Rise Day of Action during which chapters across the nation

Lynn Gerlach, Member For more than 15 years the League of Women Voters has actively supported passage of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC). Both the LWVWI NPV Task Force and our local LWVGGB NPV committee will get back to work this fall following a summer hiatus. Our goal is to get the state of Wisconsin to sign onto this interstate compact, adding our ten electoral votes to the national effort to make the electoral college acknowledge the will of the natio

Lynn Gerlach If someone asked you to help prohibit discrimination against people on the basis of race, sex, ethnicity, and so on, you’d jump right onboard, wouldn’t you? We all would. We want all public, government-sponsored actions – employment, education, contracting, administration – to be unbiased and non-discriminatory. However, a proposed amendment to our state constitution that you’ll be asked to consider on your November ballot might require a second look. Here’s w

Denise Gaumer Hutchison, Chair The next meeting of the Education Committee will be announced after I have a chance to poll the members as to their availability. Stay tuned. Wisconsin Public Education Network (WPEN) held its twelfth Annual Summer Summit in Superior July 24-25, 2026, at Superior High School and UW Superior. On Thursday evening, the League of Women Voters of WI joined the Network in co-hosting an education forum with four of the candidates for governor. All c

Dawn Smith, Chair Voter Services did not meet in July, with it being so close to the Fourth of July, but we’ve stayed busy. In recognition of the League’s Unite and Rise Day of Action, and the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, we will be hosting a Proclamation from the Mayor and the County Executive on Thursday, August 6, at 1:00, in City Hall’s Council Chambers. Local community organizers have been invited to speak, and an invitation has been extended to local and state

Jean Marsch, Co-chair The next meeting of the Healthcare and Environment Committee will be Wednesday, August 12, at 10:30 a.m. via Zoom. All are welcome. Contact Jean Marsch for the Zoom link: jean.marsch@gmail.com. We’re taking a close look at two health/environment issues in the news today, sharing some reliable sources with you: Cyclospora: Are even worse foodborne outbreaks ahead? Across the U.S. concern grows because federal cuts are making it harder to detect and st

Terri Gulyas, Chair Connect, Learn, and Build Community One of the best ways to strengthen our community is by learning from one another—and our friends and allies have some wonderful opportunities to do just that! Migration Advocacy (COMSA) is launching a new virtual book club, and League members are warmly invited to participate. The first discussion will be held Monday, September 21 at 3:00 p.m. via Zoom and will feature Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jo

Dawn Smith, President Happy August, League Friends. I hope you’re all surviving the wacky summer weather we’re having this year. This morning Chad and I had to have someone come and take down one of our huge trees in the back yard that was damaged in a storm last month. The tree guy estimates that tree was 120 years old. Full disclosure – I did cry a little bit as they cut it down. We’ve lived in our house for 26 years, and that tree has been a part of the landscape. My back