Two local Leagues recieved Scharfman Grants in June 2023:
LWV Hingham: LWV Hingham was a partner in the first, Third Grade Mock Open Town Meeting on Monday June 5th and Tuesday June 6 in collaboration with the Hingham Public Schools, Hingham Education Foundation, and Friends of the Old Ship Meeting House. The Meeting House is the only surviving Puritan church built in 1681. It served as a meeting place for Hingham’s original Town Meetings. The League provided the 15 third grade teachers and chair of the Hingham schools history department with their Citizen’s Guide to Open Town Meeting. Leading up to the day, students had lessons on the role of a citizen in the legislative process. They created a Warrant and classes wrote the Articles. They then prepared pro and con arguments. After the Mock Town Meeting finished, the League gave each of the students a Future Voter sticker. The League’s gavel bequeathed to us in 1966 was used by the meeting Moderator. Multiple League members were there in other capacities such as School Committee members, Advisory Chair, and facilitators.
LWV Westwood/Walpole/Dedham: LWVWWD will provide a “Birthday Bag” for students on or near their 18th birthday to encourage them to register to vote and to vote. They will seek to build partnerships with a pre-existing high school clubs that best match the citizen education goals (legislative and social studies clubs) in the three towns including public, private, and vocational/agricultural high schools within the three towns. Some of the birthday bag contents will include: A voter registration sheet with bar codes; LWVMA voter registration cards; Mini US constitutions; Patriotic-themed “fun” items; Candy (Red starbursts, blue dum dums, etc); Letters from State Senator Michael Rush and State Representative Paul McMurtry who represent all three towns ; Letters from community members about “Why to Vote” and more.