At our last Leadership Conference held at High Point in October, Mary Peterson and I gave an overview of the advocacy toolkit and distributed more toolkits to branch presidents (Marty mailed some with an issue of the Tar Heel News earlier). We requested that the tool kits be taken back to your branches and that colleges/university reps or directors of student affairs be contacted so that student leaders could use the kits and learn about advocacy skills.

We are half way through our timeline and would like to evaluate the impact of the tool kits thus far.

Please answer the following questions:

1. How is your branch using the advocacy tool kits?

2. What university or college has your branch approached?

3. How were the advocacy tool kits received by the colleges or universities?

4. How were the tool kits received by your branch?

5. What would you do differently to promote or publicize the kits?

6. What other methods would you suggest to promote the development of advocacy skills?

Thank you for responding to these questions.

Sheila (see aauwnc.org/contacts/state for Sheila’s contact information)

The following is from this week’s Washington Update
an electronic public policy newsletter from the Association.
The Political Engagement of College Students
Today’s college students want to improve the world, are tired of partisan politics, and are wary of the political process in general. They are idealistic and believe they can make a difference, but they are more likely to do so by rallying around grassroots causes and locally organized volunteer efforts that provide more tangible, immediate results. So says Millenials Talk Politics: A Study of College Student Political Engagement, a new report from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). The group, which studies civic engagement among young people, points to schools’ community service requirements as one possible reason for the shift away from Generation X, who were generally considered to be more apathetic when it came to outside causes.

See also the Toolkit which you can download from www.ncchild.org.

• A Women’s History Quiz (with answers)
• Information on the Young Advocates Toolkit project
• A directory of state and branch leaders (available to members)
• Information on the Fall meeting in High Point, October 19-20

Versions are available for members and non-members:

• Version without directory (PDF, 700K, missing pp 8-9)
• Directory (pp 8-9, password required)
• Directory info for nonmembers: officers, branches
• Public version of pp 8-9 (with pictures from Phoenix)

Here’s a brochure that branch members can use to help explain this program to the campuses:

Advocacy Skills Training Project brochure

Here are some answers to other questions you may have as you start this project:

Advocacy Skills Training Project Q&A (8.5×14″ PDF - use the “shrink oversized pages to paper size” option to print at 8.5×11)

For more information, see

• www.ncchild.org, the Action for Children NC website
• astp.aauwnc.org, related postings on this site
• AAUW NC newsletter articles:
  • Fall 2007, page 1
  • Summer 2007, page 2

You can find additional information about the college/university partnership program at www.aauw.org:

• Benefits of membership for the institutions
• Membership form (including costs of membership)

Each C/U member institution may name a “representative” who receives national and state mailings and may join a branch to forge stronger connections with the community. In North Carolina, state dues are waived for such a representative joining a branch, and some branches also waive state dues.

The current list of C/U member institutions and their named representatives is:

Duke University: Margaret Riley
Louisburg College: Stephanie Buchanan
Martin Community College: Ann Britt
Meredith College: Susan E. Adams
North Carolina State University: Joanne G. Woodard
Peace College: Valerie G. Hall
UNC-Chapel Hill: Elmira Mangum
UNC-Wilmington: Susan Bullers

For updates on the list of C/U partners, see www.aauw.org.

We hope this answers some of the questions that were raised at the AAUW NC summer meeting.

Here are the slides that accompanied the discussion of the Young Advocates Toolkit project. Branch presidents will receive more information about the toolkits by early August. Please contact Mary, Sheila or Nancy for information about a teleconference to answer questions about the presentation and to share the information about the project with those who weren’t in Gastonia.

PDF (2-slides per page)

PPT (the PowerPoint file — you may need to download a viewer)

Flash (an alternate format for the slides that your computer may find easier to view)