AAUW Manhattan Branch Retreat Minutes
Manhattan Public Library
July 22, 2023, 9:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Members present: Anisah Ari, Dede Brokesh, Barbara Gatewood, Chris Herald, Claudia Jones, Tresa Landis, Sujatha Prakash, Usha Reddi, Paula Ripple, Susanne Siepl-Coates, Mary Stamey, and Marlene VerBrugge.
President Usha Reddi opened the meeting with welcoming remarks, updates, and self-introductions by attendees.
REVIEW OF GOALS AND PRIORITIES
Highlights of the AAUW Kansas Star Branch report were reviewed. Usha discussed the branch’s progress on the 2022 AAUW Five-Star National Recognition Program, based on AAUW’s strategic plan. The report lists branch progress on achieving the criteria within each of the five categories (advancement, public policy and research, governance and sustainability, and programs). Goals and priorities for 2023-2024 were discussed. Key areas needing work are developing succession and strategic plans and appointing a diversity officer or including the duties in an existing position.
BRANCH MEETINGS
The 2023-2024 branch meetings will be held at the Manhattan Public Library in hybrid format. Meal options to be explored are HyVee, Mr. K’s, El Patron, and an expanded McAlister’s menu.
MEMBERSHIP
Chris Herald, Vice President for Membership, reported that branch membership is up by 11 members to 63, as a result of members bringing guests who joined and people learning about AAUW from the minutes in the Manhattan Mercury. New members who enroll under the Shape the Future program generate one free membership for each two new members, limited to three free memberships in a fiscal year. Our branch has two free memberships; the prevailing idea is to offer these to our speakers if they are interested in joining AAUW.
Chris believes the best way to increase AAUW numbers is for members to bring prospective members with them to the meetings. Mary Stamey concurred that “word of mouth” is the best way to increase our membership. Other ideas were to reach out to educators in USD#383 and K-State in an organized campaign to gain members and circulate a suggested member sheet at meetings. Chris’s goals for the 2023-2024 year are to use the free memberships available to us and to increase membership in the Manhattan Branch by at least five members.
Chris believes the branch may need an appointed fundraising person. The group discussed sponsoring some organized groups of young girls and women who are interested in STEM education. Usha asked about the presence of AAUW in parades, and the group agreed that it will continue to join with the League of Women Voters for one or two parades.
PROGRAMS
In discussion of programs for the upcoming 2023-2024 year, these ideas were suggested:
–Visit the new physician assistant (PA) program of which AAUW’s Sujatha Prakash is in charge. Anisah Ari, president-elect, suggested programs on women’s health, both mental and physical. Pawnee Mental Health Services could present on women’s mental/emotional health. Sujatha suggested a professor in the PA program, Brad Dirks, who could speak to these subjects also._–
–Visit the Mariana Kistler Beach Museum of Art at K-State.
–For September: Girls on the Run, a program for 3rd – 8th grade girls that focuses on building their confidence and life skills.
–For October: Local Election Updates, Rich Vargo
–For November: Meeting with Legislators
–For December: Sujatha also suggested having a fundraiser and then inviting the Afghan resettlement community to donate the proceeds to them.
–For January: A program with Brian Peete, Riley County Police Department Director and Ronnie Grice, Police Chief, K-State Police Department. The branch would suggest topics of concern to us, such as treatment of victims of sexual assault and the Your Option idea, which offers a list of options for victims of sexual assault, beyond reporting only. Also suggested was a possible visit to the Riley County jail and/or on-site visit to K-State’s police headquarters.
–For February: Invite four downtown women business owners to participate in a panel.
–For March: International Women’s Day
–For April: Rana Johnson VP of Diversity Equity Inclusion and Belonging
-For May: Year-end Celebration and dinner together
All of these ideas fit with the national AAUW’s theme of women’s impact in the world.
FINANCE
Sujatha Prakash discussed the AAUW Treasurer’s Report. The beginning and ending bank balances for fiscal year 2022-2023 were $67,741.30 and $8,010.50. The expenses for April were reviewed. Recommendations by the outgoing treasurer were revisiting the discretionary fund, establishing a fundraising position, and ways to allocate the free membership from national.
Tresa Landis stated that the Dillons Community Rewards donation program where individuals may designate funds to AAUW is still intact, but the program will be discontinued. The budget for the 2023-2024 program year should be ready to present for vote in September. The branch will pay for the presenters’ meals before the meetings. Usha asked that part of the costs for two members to attend state and national conferences be provided by the treasury. The finance committee will dedicate a certain amount for chosen members to attend the conferences.
In the past year, the AAUW Manhattan Branch has awarded up to four scholarships through the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation (GMCF). Claudia Jones and Tresa Landis distributed writeups on the 2023 recipients: Destiny Serrano ($1,500) and Theresa Quintana, Nancy Smith-Watson, Mihwa Gassett, and Olawumi Adekunle ($1,000 each). Although we have $16,051 to give in scholarships, the branch has not had as many applications as expected. Ideas to gain more applicants were to contact more teachers at the secondary and higher education levels to encourage young women to apply and increase all scholarships to $1,500. Tresa noted that definition of non-traditional student has changed over the years and now includes students who attend part-time or work full time while enrolled, students who are financially independent of their parents, students with family dependents other than a spouse, and students who are single parents. Perhaps the branch will consider including traditional students to be eligible for scholarships and reducing the time lapse in education to one year. Applications are now due after spring break in March, with the interviews on the first Sunday in May. The timing of this was questioned as being too busy. Chris suggested bringing scholarship recipients to the September meeting. Usha noted decreasing governmental help, rising tuition, which both demonstrate the true need for AAUW’s scholarships.
Other fundraising ideas discussed included selling jewelry donated by Sujatha at the May meeting or at a Third Thursday event on Poyntz and applying for grants to support IWD.
STEM REPORT
STEM Coordinator Chris Herald announced that she will continue creating the monthly STEM newsletter. Giving funds to K-State’s Summer STEM Institute provided by USD#383 and the KSU College of education hasn’t worked well because of few applicants (none this year). The amount available is $250 or $125 each of two girls. She suggested donating to classroom teachers who teach STEM classes. The branch could contact all math and science teachers at elementary schools, their secretaries, and use social media to promote use of these funds. A further suggestion was to sponsor groups from middle school or elementary school students to go to math or science contests. Mary Stamey’s idea is for the money to go to the YES fund, but it can’t be specified for girls only. Chris recommended the link A Mighty Girl that’s on AAUW’s website. A suggestion was made to purchase “women in science” books for local elementary schools.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Barbara Gatewood manages the local AAUW Facebook page and website. She hopes all members will join in to make our presence felt on social media.
YESARBOOK
Marlene VerBrugge noted that the AAUW yearbook is cumbersome and difficult to produce in print; it is now 19 pages in the short version and needs a revamp. Tresa said much of the information is on the website and is perhaps not needed in book. The website makes it easy to update the yearbook information online. Dede Brokesh noted that it is important to have a printed copy for the branch archives at the Riley County Historical Society that has been kept for 100+ years. The yearbook online can be archived there to save for historical purposes as well.
Usha and Sujatha are interested in going to Regional Conference October 19-21, 2023 in St. Louis. Anisah says perhaps we could include other women’s conferences. She worked with women’s rights in Nigeria and continues in her job here at the university to promote the rights of women.
Respectfully submitted,
Paula Ripple
Branch Meeting Secretary