Lexington LWV Strategic Brainstorm – April 30, 2025 by Liza Holland

2025-04-30 22:24:54 UTC

Focus on voter registration in minority communities to build on what you are doing with new Americans

2025-04-30 22:25:24 UTC

Officially re-establish the League’s essay contest for high schoolers in Fayette County.

2025-04-30 22:25:40 UTC

The LWV is doing great things, all of which make sense during "normal" democratic functioning. But if we truly understand this time as an emergency, how should that change? How do we show that we won't stand for the illegal activities of this regime?!

2025-04-30 22:26:02 UTC

Work to register voters and follow up with GOTV efforts - helping with LWVUS's work to get 8.5 millioin more voters voting in 2026.

2025-04-30 22:26:02 UTC

Advocate for transparency laws at state level

2025-04-30 22:26:13 UTC

I was pleased to learn about the new work in immigrant outreach/support. This is an important time to support this group.

2025-04-30 22:26:43 UTC

need more legal information we can give people regarding the issues of legal documents to use when voting.

2025-04-30 22:26:48 UTC

Work to register Kentuckians with past convictions who are eligible to vote but don't know it. LWVKY is working on this so you could join this effort.

2025-04-30 22:26:54 UTC

Young people tell us that they are not sure how to engage in this time. What tools could we be using to invite them in to the work?

2025-04-30 22:27:02 UTC

Do we engage with VoteRiders to provide direct assistance with those who need assistance with voter registration and voting? If not, could we?

2025-04-30 22:27:07 UTC

National seems to be amplifying other orgs rallies at times and signing on to co-sponsor at other times. As long as National has no issue, I think we should devote some budget to supporting our local rallies.

2025-04-30 22:27:31 UTC

Seeing all the work and partnerships the league is taking on for voting restoration is really exciting.

2025-04-30 22:27:41 UTC

Kentucky Student Voice Team, which partners well with youth engagement

2025-04-30 22:27:53 UTC

Encourage members to attend the state's voter registration training on June 14 in person in Louisville OR on ZOOM. Watch for announcements!

2025-04-30 22:27:55 UTC

Advocate to overturn Citizen's United

2025-04-30 22:28:02 UTC

Thanks for the LWV Lexington email about May 1 UNITE AND RISE 8.5 at Courthouse Plaza. 4p-7p

2025-04-30 22:28:04 UTC

Has the national league created talking points on the threats other than the SAVE Act?

2025-04-30 22:28:25 UTC

Partnering with CivicLex on transparency and good practices on boards and commissions - it's a natural fit since they just completed a study of this and we have observer corps to help monitor and promote best practices

2025-04-30 22:28:29 UTC

We need to get out in public and demonstrate our commitment to the Constitution on the United States which is in crisis currently.

2025-04-30 22:28:33 UTC

Work with state and national chapters to devise an emergency plan for the potential scenario where the election results are not honored, or the election is severely tampered with.

2025-04-30 22:28:36 UTC

I will do better at sharing LWV posts on my own socials!

2025-04-30 22:28:43 UTC

We are the Lexington League, but it would be helpful to find ways to reach out to other counties in the Bluegrass region and partner where appropriate.

2025-04-30 22:28:45 UTC

The transparency report was brave and got attention.

2025-04-30 22:29:18 UTC

Redistricting is coming up quickly (2031). Need to pass legislation to make this less partisan

2025-04-30 22:29:26 UTC

Partner with neighborhood association (broadly and individual associations) for civic education, registration and advocacy

2025-04-30 22:29:50 UTC

Increase civic engagement by engaging middle school students to increase civic awareness at an earlier age (maybe create a civic at play platform to make it fun and interesting for that age group)

2025-04-30 22:30:06 UTC

The League puts on wonderful candidate forums, however, over the last few years, fewer candidates are participating and more and more groups are sponsoring forums. I wonder if we should utilize the human resources devoted to local candidate forums to more directly address the assault on our democracy?

2025-04-30 22:30:08 UTC

Continue efforts to get people out to rallies! Glad to hear about May 1 event.

2025-04-30 22:30:58 UTC

Become highly visible and even more involved as a League and individually in demonstrations, rallies, and other events to draw attention to our need to protect our democracy.

2025-04-30 22:31:00 UTC

First, they take your rights, then they take your lives. I have put forward a pro-life amendment. Looking for feedback on it. It has 7 sections the first two are: Section 1:

No Mothers no babies. Mother's lives matter. Only mothers create society, because of mother's/women's unique, exclusive, and central role to our society; the right to life and health including mental health of a mother to be/women is primary and paramount in importance.

Section 2:

No law or ruling shall be made to undermine a woman’s/mother’s right to conceive or not which includes shown as reasonably safe to women Invitro Fertilization/IVF/all future augmented fertilization and all shown as reasonably safe to women and men contraceptives.

Should we not forget this?

2025-04-30 22:31:18 UTC

Continue organizing public events and rallies for visibility and engagement. Great job so far with this.

2025-04-30 22:31:25 UTC

Black Yarn might be a wonderful partner: https://blackyarn.com/

2025-04-30 22:31:45 UTC

We say that the SAVE Act is a threat. Is there direct evidence? I get pushback that these things are not happening or are not a threat.

2025-04-30 22:31:46 UTC

I just saw that the NPS had to remove Harriet Tubman from Underground Railroad webpage. How can we prevent this administration from wiping out Black History not only from schools but the Smithsonian? They are not only targeting this group but so many. I know that ACLU is doing a lot but this is truly scary.

2025-04-30 22:32:13 UTC

Advocate for mandatory civics instruction in schools

2025-04-30 22:33:01 UTC

Sponsor a youth civics “Bee” to educate the community about how our government works

2025-04-30 22:33:33 UTC

Create a presence on Blue Sky for those of us who have left Meta and X.

2025-04-30 22:33:35 UTC

Could we do a series of information sessions about how government works? Who represents us at each level of government, balance of powers, etc. The forum this winter was a good beginning. Question is how can we reach more citizens?

2025-04-30 22:33:43 UTC

Become more involved at the local level in addressing the SAVE Act and other methods being used to erode our democracy. I'm glad we are posting events and calls to action; perhaps we can even do more

2025-04-30 22:33:46 UTC

Build relationships with churches, transit and transportation companies, and other organizations to create a reliable transportation engagement network for economically challenged members of the community to get them to the polls and important civic engagement forums

2025-04-30 22:33:48 UTC

What about some kind of training for, say, UK or Transy students to take "back" to their home communities (for those whose families live in other parts of the Commonwealth)?

2025-04-30 22:34:43 UTC

Do we have a formal partnership with FCPS?

2025-04-30 22:34:58 UTC

Keep sharing information from like-minded entities so we know who else is working on what. It’s easy to miss in the media ecosystem these days

2025-04-30 22:34:59 UTC

I think we should follow up on the idea of advertising on buses. In the fall we should highlight the deadline for party registration (December 31) to vote in the spring primary, which would work to reinforce the state league goal of working toward open primaries. We could use bus ads with a QR code that leads to YouTube shorts of various civics topics to help people understand how things are supposed to work, and how they are not working.

2025-04-30 22:35:16 UTC

Help to create a collaborative mentorship program

2025-04-30 22:35:26 UTC

Are there national campaigns we could be advocating for our local leaders join?

2025-04-30 22:36:36 UTC

Local radio and TV talk shows are another good way to be more visible in the community.

2025-04-30 22:36:46 UTC

I hear from a certain party regularly that the league is actually partisan. It may make sense to meet with individual elected officials to explain what nonpartisan means.

2025-04-30 22:37:31 UTC

Increased partnership collaborations with groups serving marginalized and at-risk communities.

2025-04-30 22:37:48 UTC

I'm not sure where to put this, but our League is not very ethnically or racially diverse. I'm guessing that this hampers our ability to reach potential voters or serve as effective advocates in some circumstances. I know we have struggled with this over the years - what do successful leagues do in this regard?

2025-04-30 22:37:56 UTC

Education efforts to counter disinformation. I know you provide a lot of good info to the community, but what about countering false information?

2025-04-30 22:39:38 UTC

A lot of registered voters don’t understand the difference between primary and general elections OR the election cycle. A targeted outreach to registered voters, perhaps?

2025-04-30 22:41:00 UTC

Partner with various mission oriented theater groups to reach new people ... Act Out (LGBTQ), Antagonist Productions has a prison outreach, I think Mission Theater (?) not sure of the name focuses on productions with African American themes. Opportunities for tabling and outreach while supporting the arts as a sponsor.

2025-04-30 22:42:35 UTC

I believe education on understanding the different groups of people-baby boomers, gen X, gen Z etc is a very important place to start.

2025-04-30 22:43:15 UTC

I need to attend the next Democracy in the Distillery District. I know several local bars are doing lecture/ nerd nights. If they aren't already on your calendar, they could be a good add.

2025-04-30 22:44:26 UTC

Talk about your May 1st rally in the afternoon?

2025-04-30 22:45:55 UTC

United Way of the Bluegrass?

2025-04-30 22:48:23 UTC

I think we should pick a target group to offer free memberships if they engage with us in some way. (Download League in Action) for example. Something to activate a less represented / less engaged population. Within our budget constraints of course.

2025-04-30 22:49:24 UTC

I don't know where to put this. It seems like there are 2 levels of action we need to address. 1) Responding with immediacy and forcefulness to the present crisis, and 2) Planning for the long term to promote a fair and strong democratic system

2025-04-30 22:50:12 UTC

Host a regional democracy celebration for any other regional league chapters and their partner organizations. Maybe a 4th of July celebration.

2025-04-30 22:52:33 UTC

Invite different groups to come and talk to our group, just to tell us about themselves and what they are doing. We may find a way to help them. And then they may find a way to help us

2025-04-30 22:53:48 UTC

Another potential partner is the YMCA of Kentucky with the KYA and KUNA programs

2025-04-30 22:57:59 UTC

What if we have days of action to support some of the organizations under attack... such as the Food Bank, the Library, a museum. We could bring our folks out for a volunteer day and spread our civic materials to those who show up for food, books, whatever.

2025-04-30 22:58:02 UTC

Are there Lexington League members that want to help oppose citizen's United? I think it's one of the most important issues.

2025-04-30 23:00:21 UTC

Meet folks where they live. Libraries, churches and playgrounds maybe?

2025-04-30 23:04:11 UTC

Couple of other LWV chapters whose home pages are advocacy/current:

https://www.lwvohio.org/

https://lwvmi.org/advocacy-2025/

lizaholland — 2025-04-30 23:14:35 UTC

I feel that civic education is really critical and would like to see us find more outlets to share

lizaholland — 2025-04-30 23:14:56 UTC

Core value to the league - empower voters

2025-04-30 23:16:37 UTC

#1 state goal, transparency laws. #1 national goal, advocate to End citizens United

2025-04-30 23:16:43 UTC

Think engaging with and attending events sponsored by groups of color. More neighborhood attendance by voter services and others.

2025-04-30 23:17:19 UTC

Unions

2025-04-30 23:17:36 UTC

It doesnt really fit in this category, but I'd prioritize Sharon's comment about focusing on the immediate issues and being very clear as an organization that we oppose the attacks on democracy. Some possible approaches are letters to the editor, press releases, League groups at protests and I'm sure there are others.

2025-04-30 23:18:03 UTC

I'm not sure where to add this, but candidate forums and the functions that allow for an educated and active voter should stay strong priorities.

2025-04-30 23:18:36 UTC

Observer Corps works to ensure transparency in government and facilitate community involvement. We have lots of plans and would welcome new members. Please contact sharon.stewart@lwvlexington.com if you want to know more.

2025-04-30 23:18:54 UTC

reallly think using social media, posters and educational forums on DEI, and other topics which are really crucial to our democracy and are being taken away!

2025-04-30 23:19:25 UTC

I'd like to focus on Mary's suggestion to figure out what tools we could develop to invite youth into the fight.

2025-04-30 23:19:38 UTC

Are there members that are interested in communicating the threats to democracy? I would convene a group if there was one Richard Heine

2025-04-30 23:19:56 UTC

I’m happy to be a resource/sounding board, but unfortunately do t have capacity for committee work right now. - Anne Gay Donworth

2025-04-30 23:20:29 UTC

Yes, like the Voter's idea of putting more advocacy/current information on our website!

2025-04-30 23:21:07 UTC

I'd prioritize immigrant outreach and support.

2025-04-30 23:21:42 UTC

also believe we need to double down on civics literacy for students on all levels partnering with CivicLex and other groups

2025-04-30 23:22:02 UTC

To the point that Mr Whit brought up? Trust is developed. I believe Dr King has an open church at Shiloh Baptist and all are welcome, am I correct?