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Congratulations to those who received Merit Awards at our Annual Meeting.The contributions of our award-winners are an inspiration to us all.  

Elected Official Award:  Rep. Chris Kennedy, is the prime sponsor of House Bill 21-1071, a bill to require the Secretary of State and county clerks to set up processes to conduct instant-runoff (ranked) voting elections for municipalities.  The city of Boulder testified in favor of this bill and supports it because the city’s electorate voted last year to begin electing its mayor using instant-runoff voting in 2023.  Rep Kennedy and his aide Jakki Davison convened multiple meetings with stakeholders and have been very open to feedback.  

Elected Official Award:  Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis sponsored and supported legislation to benefit Boulder County and Colorado’s undocumented immigrant population, including repeal of the “public benefit” law; and supporting the ability for undocumented immigrants to obtain professional certification for essential job roles. This will bring equity and opportunity for many people who are actively contributing to our Boulder County community but who are being disenfranchised at the state and federal levels.

Community Partner Award: Sergio Angeles of Longmont Public Media made Spanish language translation possible at our 2020 candidate forums and assisted with making the candidate forums virtually available.

LWVBC Student Member Scholarship:  Jackie Alderete Urena is a LWVBC Board Member for 2020-22 who has been key in helping us hold voter registration event at Latinx sites in Boulder County even though she is also a full-time student at Metro State and a paralegal at a law firm serving immigrant clients.

Operations Team Member Award:  Shelby Bates, who is a professional webmaster, began volunteering as our LWVBC webmaster in January 2021 and has done an excellent job of improving and maintaining our lwvbc website.  Shelby is part of our Communications Team.

Operations Team Member Award:  Pat Long, Treasurer, and Dave Stemler, Assistant Treasurer, have put in many hours behind the scenes every month for several years keeping LWVBC operational accounting accurate, understandable and fiscally responsible.  They have provided the solid foundation that makes it possible for us to pursue our goals.

Issue Team Member Award:  Deborah Hayes used her experience and expertise with government and the League to assist in writing, editing, and presenting the 2020 ballot issues.  Her work was essential to explaining those ballot issues, especially those most difficult to understand.

Issue Team Leader Award:  Marcus Ogren has made their (Marcus’ pronoun is they) mark as one of 4 speakers in our July 2020 Better Boulder Governance webinar and as a featured speaker on voting methods at two different LWVCO events.  Voting Method team members describe Marcus as a great colleague who makes us think deeply about voting methods.

Board Member of the Year:  Anne Bryanhas been an important voice on the LWVBC Board for two years.  As Fund Development Director, she led her team to organize two very successful League of Women Voters Celebrations/Fundraisers, one in March of 2020 for the LWVUS 100^th year and another virtual one in March 2021 for LWVBC’s 90^th year. Under her supervision, recurring donation payments have been initiated.  

Emerging Youth Leader:  Jackson Moody, one of our student members, received State League recognition for his award-winning documentary about Dr. Justina Ford, the first black female physician in Colorado. He has participated in League Voter Registration Drives and produced content for the League’s 90th Birthday Celebration. He is passionate about helping the Boulder community.

Emerging Leader:  Lydia Linke within her first year of membership initiated a new LWVBC issue team on Climate Change which has already hosted a well-attended virtual community conversation on large scale composting with experts in the field in response to community concern about this topic.  As part of the Membership Team, Lydia helps plan, host and provide technical support for our virtual Member Coffees.

Emerging Leader:  In the “She is Me” project Hannah Rain Crowe interviewed and photographed a selection of League members ranging in age from 16 to 95 years old and constructed a visual display, as well as an inspiring video depicting their commitment to the work of the League of Women Voters, a highlight of our 100^th birthday celebration.   “She Is Me” is available to see on our local and state websites.   This year Hannah became editor of the State Legislative Action Committee newsletter.

Member of the Year:  Sylvia Bernstein, our current Action Director and Board Member, has energized our existing issue teams and organized two new ones on Gun Safety (which she leads) and Climate Change.  Most notably, Sylvia led the successful statewide campaign to keep Colorado within the Popular Vote Compact, all with cheerful calm and technical expertise.  

These members served on the LWVBC Awards Committee which reviewed your nominations:  Louisa Matthias, Jennifer Bales, Jean McGuire and Debby Vink.  

At the Annual Meeting members voted to raise dues $4 per year.  After June 30, 2021 dues will be $80 per year.  Secondary (household) members to a primary member pay half that amount or $40 per year.  Your dues covers $32 to LWVUS, $20 to LWVColorado and $28 to LWVBC.  LWVBC must pay the national and state dues totaling $52 for each of its active, non-student members regardless of any local dues adjustment.Note, that you can renew your membership as early as 30 days before your due date at lwvbc.org or by check to LWVBC, P.O. Box 21274, Boulder, CO 80308-4274.  Student members continue to be free with 20 hours of participation/volunteering.  We do not want dues to prevent anyone from becoming an active member of LWVBC.  Please contact membership@lwvbc.org to request a dues adjustment or with any questions about dues.  

NEW--Give a gift of membership

You can now buy a gift membership for a non-member or a current member.   At lwvbc.org select “Join and Support Us>Other Ways to Give” to find the following text with a link to making a gift membership or giving someone a $20 coupon toward their dues:

Gift an LWVBC Membership. Choose between a gift of $20 toward membership or the full membership dues.  Encourage your friends, family and associates to join by gifting them a membership. Give a gift membership today.

The recipient will receive a coupon with a code to use when renewing dues or paying as a new member identifying you as the gift-giver.  The code is valid until the member uses it.

Debby Vink

Membership Director