APRIL 2023
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER | LWVCC Annual Meeting
April 10, 10:00 a.m.
(before General Meeting)
Tiburon Golf Club
| Please join us for the LWVCC’s Annual Meeting on April 10th at 10 a.m. During the Annual Meeting, we elect a new Board of Directors and Officers, vote on Committee Program Plans and conduct other important League business.
This year, we will honor Dr. Kamela Patton, recently retired Superintendent of Collier County Public Schools, for her many contributions to our school district, our community, and our students. We will also recognize Eric Strachan of Florida Weekly as the LWVCC’s Outstanding Community Partner. There is no cost to attend the Annual Meeting, and we hope to see you there!
Registration is required
| Luncheon and General Meeting
April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. |
Celebrating Collier County's Centennial
Presented by
Crystal Kinzel
Collier County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller
2023 marks Collier County’s Centennial Celebration! And what better way to mark the occasion than to have our own League member and Collier County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, Crystal Kinzel, share her love of our community’s history. As Clerk of Court & Comptroller, she performs an array of record keeping, information and financial management tasks for the 20th Judicial Circuit of Florida and the Collier County Government. Her position gives her a unique “behind the scenes” perspective on Collier County’s history that she will share with us, as well as stories about the Board of County Commissioners, law enforcement, the courts and the Clerk’s office. You will not want to miss this rich history of our county!
Registration and Payment Must Be Made Online
by 3:00 p.m., April 6
Late registration/walk in price will be strictly enforced
More information and registration
Help build our League and educate the general public! Our most effective method of membership recruitment is the General Meeting! Invite a guest to our next General Meeting and support LWVCC!
| Message from the President
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LWVCC President
Diane Preston Moore
It may April Fool’s Day, but the LWVCC’s work ethic is no joke! March was filled with a whirlwind of League activities, not the least of which included:
- Chaperoning the final two days of field trips for Know Your County Government with 45 high school students;
- Watching highlights of the KYCG program in a segment on Channel 7 News;
- 5 Leaguers attending Lobby Days in Tallahassee and meeting with Representative Rommel and Senate President Passidomo to advocate for the League’s positions on school vouchers, affordable housing, and reproductive rights bills;
- Voter Services’ sponsoring another well-received “Transparency Tour” of the Supervisor of Elections Office;
- Plastics Task Force’s presenting the dangers of plastics and how to reduce plastic consumption at a Wine & Wisdom generously hosted by Tina Palmese at Altavilla Pizza & Trattoria;
- Graduating nine members of League Leadership Class 4;
- DEI’s organizing a trip to Immokalee to learn about Immokalee Fair Housing Alliance, the Coalition of Immokalee Farmworkers, the Fair Food Alliance, among other organizations.
Looking ahead to April, we look forward to seeing you at our Annual Meeting on April 10th at 10 a.m. at Tiburon Golf Club. In addition to conducting LWVCC business, we will honor Dr. Kamela Patton, former Superintendent of Collier County Public Schools, and Eric Strahan, publisher of Florida Weekly. Immediately following the Annual Meeting, at 11:30 a.m., we host our April General Meeting. We look forward to hearing Crystal Kinzel, Collier County Clerk of Courts & Comptroller, speak to us about Collier County’s 100th Anniversary. See above for more information on both important meetings.
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Environmental Affairs Committee
Lynn Martin and Patti Forkan, Co-Chairs
On March 9, 2023, the Environmental Affairs Committee hosted Michelle Arquette-Palermo, Water Policy Manager for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida to update the committee on Everglades Restoration.
Beginning with an historical perspective, she recounted the 1880s construction of the connection between Lake O. and the east and west coasts, which has led to problems now being addressed through restoration work. She discussed the recent Army Corps work to strengthen the dike surrounding the lake, allowing the lake to hold more water, and the new LOSOM (Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual) plan which has more flexibility built into it. However, right now, we are still operating under the old plan (they have been sending water into the Caloosahatchee since October).
Since 2016, $9 billion have been spent on restoration; speaker Palermo reminded the group that preventing mistakes would save a lot of money! Michelle also spoke about the Red Tide we are experiencing, noting that nutrients from stormwater runoff “fuel the fire” and as a result, in addition to all the dead fish, we are seeing an increase in toxicosis in birds. She noted the longer it takes to institute the new LOSOM plan, the more problems we are likely to experience with red tide and blue-green algae.
Following Michelle’s presentation, April Olson reported on the imminent return of a Coastal Storm Risk Management Study from the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE). The previous study was very unpopular and rejected. The ACOE is expected to hold public meetings to present the current study in April and May. The Environmental Affairs Committee is planning to actively participate in the upcoming meetings. We will keep the League membership updated.
PLASTICS SUBCOMMITTEE - WINE & WISDOM
Over wine and delicious appetizers, 40+ League members gathered at Altavilla Trattoria on March 22nd to learn how plastics have become ubiquitous in our lives, polluting oceans, damaging wildlife and making their way into our bodies. Loralee LeBoeuf made a compelling case for why we all need to do our part to remove as much plastic from our lives as possible.
A copy of the presentation and additional information about plastics can be found on the website. At the end of the meeting, League members were asked to make a pledge to list up to 5 ways they will reduce plastics in their daily lives. Members will be able to report on their progress at the April 2023 annual meeting. If you want to join in, download a plastics pledge card.
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Voter Services Committee
Susan Housel, Chair
voterservices@lwvcolliercounty.org
Every Voice Counts
The Voter Services Team submitted a grant application to the Florida Philanthropic Network and we are happy to report that we received a $10,000 grant. Our grant application is titled Every Voice Counts with the goal of improving 2030 census count participation in Collier County in minority communities. Because we were very active with the Collier County Complete Census Count Committee in 2020 as well as with election participation, we proved we have the expertise and energy to do this important work.
Focus of our work for this grant will be in the following areas:
- Census
- Civic Education
- Communications
- Get Out the Vote
- Voter Education Engagement
- Minority/Youth Outreach
We were able to prove our success in partnering with foundations, and are required to work with other organizations to share our knowledge and learn from them.
What will success look like for this grant? If we can close the gap between non-minority and minority areas of the county for participation, we will consider our efforts to be successful.
Why is this work important? Because our county receives funding from the federal government for many critical programs and infrastructure based upon our census count. In Collier County in 2010, the population was counted at 71%. Because of this undercount of the population, the county may have received up to $155 million per year in lower federal funding ($1440 per person). This is another reason why ensuring the count is as accurate as possible is incredibly important.
Want to know more or participate in this important work? Please join the Voter Services team via our website.
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Juvenile Justice Committee
Libbie Bramson, Chair
Our Kids Are Our Future
SDLC Model School Program. The Juvenile Justice Committee hosted the March 13 General Meeting with Chuck Bradley, Director of Positive Prevention in the School District of Lee County (SDLC), as our guest speaker. In 2017, the NAACP and other Lee County community organizations were concerned about the high suspension rate and racial/ethnic disparity of kids receiving suspensions. Chuck joined the SDLC and created a Model School program that combines the principles of Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS) with those of Restorative Practices. After six years, leveraging of learnings, ongoing teacher and staff training, and expansion of the program to 69 schools, these schools have reduced office referrals and student suspensions, increased school safety, and increased academic achievement. Equally important, there is a more positive climate in these schools among students, staff, and families.
Guardian ad Litem. On March 27, the JJC met with Donna Kordek, a Guardian ad Litem volunteer for the past twelve years in the 20th Judicial Circuit (Collier, Lee, Hendry, Glades, and Charlotte Counties). When we visited the Family Unified Court last December, we were especially impressed by the Guardian ad Litems (GALs) who appeared in support of some of the kids. Donna explained the role of a GAL in representing and advocating for children who are caught in an over-burdened legal system, often a world of temporary living situations, and a caseworker system with a high turnover rate. GAL helps kids with legal proceedings, family visitations, educational support, medical and mental health needs. The GAL stays with each child until they are placed in a safe home, and their case is closed.
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Education Committee
Pat Plummer, Chair
Know Your County Government in its 40th Year
Know Your County Government (KYCG), a program that exposes high school students to Collier County Government departments and agencies, is now in its 40th year. The program objectives are two-fold: to develop a cadre of informed young voters who will become active civic participants; and to show students that there are a variety of career pathways within county government for high school graduates. This year, 48 high school students participated - almost doubling the number from past years – visiting Water Treatment, Emergency Operations and 911 Call Center, Solid Waste, Supervisor of Elections, Traffic Management, and a range of other departments. On the second day of this year’s program, a news crew from ABC-7 tagged along, resulting in a 3-minute segment that aired on June 10. The program is a collaboration between LWVCC, 4-H, and CCPS.
Visit the LWVCC website to watch the segment and view photos from the visit.
KYCG students visiting Water Treatment
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Membership Committee
Jan Eustis and Julie Wade, Co-Chairs
The Board of Directors reviewed the results of our General Meeting Survey. It was concluded that the current format (lunch, meeting, and speaker) meets the needs and expectations of a significant number of our members. General Meetings will continue to be held on the second Monday of the month (generally). More information will follow.
Additionally, it is apparent that LWVCC should offer more educational, social, and advocacy events at times other than the traditional “work day.” We will be working to address this issue.
Wine and Wisdom was held at AltaVilla Pizza and Trattoria. Over 40 members and their guests participated in LWVCC’s Plastics 101 presentation. We all learned so much, and are motivated to change our behavior and advocate for legislation that can address the problem at its source.
Please welcome the newest LWVCC members!
Christine Basier
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Lisa Marciano |
| Susan Button |
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Kathy McQuarrie |
| Cori Craciun |
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Gloria Moorman |
| Ingrid Echemendia |
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Christine Noonan |
Beth Finn
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Chris Schmeckpeper-kobzina |
| Ursula Lynch |
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LWVCC is now 294 members strong!
| League Leadership Program
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Graduation Day for Class IV of the League Leadership Program
The League of Women Voters of Collier County has established the League Leadership Program to identify and mentor individuals who will assume future key leadership roles. Those individuals attend five sessions where they learn more about the local league, the state league, as well as the National league. We are pleased to announce that Wednesday, March 15th was graduation day for the nine members of League Leadership Program Class IV. Those nine members are: Alexandria Beightol, Cynthia Cave, Susan Golden, Yvonne Hill, Joanne Huskey, Ida Margolis, Tina Palmese, Laura Hansen Reynolds, and Sue Savage. Cynthia Cave could not be present in person, but didn’t want to miss it and attended via Zoom. The class members were asked to create their own quotes about leadership, which have been collected in this document.
Smiles and a Toast for our new Leaders!
| The State of Florida convened its annual 60-day legislative session on March 7, 2023, and five enthusiastic Collier County Leaguers (Diane Preston Moore, Libbie Bramson, Laura Hansen Reynolds, Susan Housel, and Beth VanDamme) headed to Tallahassee to attend LWVFL Lobby Days and meet our legislators, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and Representative Bob Rommel.
On our first day, we joined League members from across the state to attend a presentation on the LWVFL’s top priorities: Voting Rights & Election Reform, Reproductive Health, Education and Natural Resources. (The LWVCC also considers Affordable Housing a key priority.) We also learned that the State of Florida had just withdrawn from ERIC, a database program used by 29 states to help ensure the integrity of voter registration lists.
The next day was LOBBY DAY! We expressed our appreciation to Senate President Passidomo for her Live Local affordable housing bill (SB 102) now on the Governor’s desk, support for Wildlife Corridors (SB 106), and the David Lawrence Center expansion. We advocated for the Supervisor of Election offices to have sufficient budget to educate voters about the many recent changes in voting laws and advocated against Reproductive Health bill (SB300/HB7) that prohibits abortion beyond six weeks.
In meeting with Representative Rommel, we advocated against expanding School Choice via universal school vouchers (SB 202) and making school board and county judge elections partisan via amendment to Florida Constitution (HB 31).
Additionally, we observed: 1) the House Ethics, Elections & Open Government Committee vote favorably on HB 31, 2) the Florida Senate unanimously pass expanding access to Wildlife Corridors (SB 106) and Live Local (SB 102) bills.
More information about the visit is available in the News section of the LWVCC website.
| League News From Across the Country
| National League News
For more information, visit LWV.org.
State League News
For more information, visit LWVFL.org.
| Please refer to the LWVCC Weekly Update for a complete list of upcoming events or visit the LWVCC website: lwvcolliercounty.org.
Members should log in to ensure they see members-only events and registration options. | 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 9883, Naples, FL 34101
Sent by lwvcc@lwvcolliercounty.org
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