Fundraiser sponsored by the Charlotte branch.
Author’s Lunch in Charlotte
Reply
Category Archives: Musings
What do women want?
As we think about AAUW’s competition, it’s clear that some “women’s groups” are doing better than we. The explosive growth of the relatively new Red Hat Society has been noted in many conversations. Federated Woman’s Clubs and Junior Leagues are much larger than we in some areas of the country.
This week’s Raleigh News and Observer highlighted two different groups that I wasn’t aware of but which are much bigger (at least locally) than we:
March 15, 2007: Wake County Extension and Community Association
The group, formed in the 1920s as a social network for women, wants to reach out to younger women looking to learn how to can fruit and vegetables, sew, quilt and do other handicrafts that once were commonplace in Wake County households. …
[There are] nearly 200 … members of Wake County’s 12 ECA clubs. … The ECA used to be an integral part of the social fabric of Wake County and North Carolina, Laymon said. Statewide membership was nearly 17,000 in the 1960s; it now stands at 5,000.
March 13, 2007: Two (!) stories on the Sweet Potato Queens – Overview with background on national organization, Highlighting one of the local groups
“We’re like the Red Hat Society with a libido,” author Jill Conner Browne said from her home in Jackson, Miss. Browne has built a royal empire based on her best-selling Sweet Potato Queens books, which offer everything from advice to recipes.
Since Browne started the first SPQ club more than two decades ago, more than 5,000 chapters have sprouted around the globe, including about 100 in North Carolina and a dozen in the Triangle area. … Most of the Carolina SPQs are women in their 30s and 40s. They are teachers, nurses, lab techs, stay-at-home moms and school administrators. … Having fun is a major component of the chapters. But, more important, members say, the clubs are an ideal way to celebrate womanhood and sisterhood, as well as support charitable causes.
For context, AAUW has two branches in the “Triangle,” and one in Wake County. The Chapel Hill branch has had 70-100 members recently, and Raleigh/Wake County ranges 40-65. There are about 1150 members in 21 branches in North Carolina with another 500-600 members-at-large.
Branch certification
Would it be possible to come up with a process to “certify” branches? Initial thoughts –
- Branch would demonstrate commitment to mission appropriate for its size and its community
- Branch would demonstrate technology expertise to allow Association to make assumptions about how it can deliver information to the branch.
- Financial reports in a standard form
Would phasing this in over, say, five years be possible? Would it make sense to charge a per-branch fee to those who cannot receive information electronically? Who, exactly would administer this? Who would “sell” it to the branches?
Is a branch like a classroom?
In the UFT column this morning, Randi Weingarten talked about different philosophies for changing schools:
- Change to how it looks — ala NYC chancellor Joel Klein, centralization of control
- Change to how it works — ala NY Gov. Elliot Spitzer, emhpasis on smaller class sizes, more resources
In another note this morning (sorry, I’ve lost the reference, but will post if I find it), there was a reminder that it’s fruitless to “tell” people to change. Leading change means providing motivation — a reason for change.
It got me thinking about how we’re pushing AAUW change. Are we looking at a centralized model — “telling” the branches that they need to change. We’ve been watching (what? 20?) years of declining membership that “should” be motivation enough. But why hasn’t change happened before?
What are we giving the branches that is a clear “we are changing so that you can reach _____” message? What’s the goal that they are changing towards. It must be more than mere survival.
If the change that’s in progress is perceived as “change at the top” then that’s where it’ll stay. Enough of our members spent their careers in the classroom — and how many “changes at the top” have they learned to ignore?
How do we share our good ideas…
I had a letter to the editor published in the Fall, 1996 Outlook responding to an article in the previous issue announcing the launch of www.aauw.org.
My point was that www.aauw.org should list branch home pages (there were a few out there) “to encourage sharing of information among geographically dispersed branches by enabling position papers, project plans, and program ideas to be available online.”
I’ve tried to implement that vision from the “information sharing” side — see, for example,
- 2004 Expanding Your Horizons Workshop
- 2002 New Faculty Orientation booth
- 2002 Workshop on Selling AAUW
However, it wasn’t until this spring that a full project description took shape — see www.turntolearn.org.
On the other hand, I really don’t think that’s sufficient. Other ways to share ideas include the branch/state recognition programs (where the info really reaches very few), newsletters, displays at conventions (“Taste of Success”), state/regional/national visits to branches to pick up and pass along ideas, inter-branch meetings (and conventions) where people can simply talk to each other…
This posting was prompted because the Association is dropping the state recognition program (apparently focusing on its “award” value and ignoring its information sharing component) as of July 1, 2007. While that program was certainly flawed, I’m wondering what else could replace it. If you’re not familiar with the state application (and how much info can be crammed into it), see the AAUW NC 2006 application.