Saturday, Dec.14, is the first anniversary of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. To mark the day, the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence sponsored “Boston Remembers Newtown,” a commemorative gathering. LWVMA is a Coalition member.
Read the article in the Boston Globe about the event.
Watch the forum that was held on Tuesday, November 19, 2013 at Babson College.
Click here for the youtube video from the Wellesley Channel or watch it below.
LWV Wellesley, with co-sponsors LWVMA, Citizens Climate Lobby and LWV Needham, presented a program, “Pricing Carbon,” that focused on the emerging national dialogue about a revenue-neutral carbon tax. Could such a tax accelerate the transition of the US to a clean energy economy and help in the fight against climate change?
Steve Curwood, host of NPR’s “Living on Earth” was the moderator for the event. The speakers included Dr. Theda Skocpol, Professor of Government and Sociology, Harvard; Dr. Joseph Aldy, Asst. Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; Dr. John Reilly, Senior Lecturer and Co-Director of the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Center for Environmental Policy Research, MIT Sloan School of Management; Dr. Fritz Fleischmann, Professor of English, Babson College; and Dr. Gary Rucinski, New England Coordinator, Citizens Climate Lobby.
For an event flyer, click here.
Get a jump on the discussion. Read the report on Modeling the Economic, Demographic, and Climate Impact of A Carbon Tax in Massachusetts, a report prepared by Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI) for the Committee for a Green Economy. To view the report click here.
The next application deadline for the Daniel Scharfman Citizen Education Grant Program is Monday, December 2. The grant program offers funds of up to $250 to help Leagues carry out events and projects in the areas of citizen education and voter service.
For information, eligibility, and application click here.
To submit a grant or for questions email kprice@lwvma.org.
Generous contributions to the Lotte E. Scharfman Citizen Education Fund have made this successful grant program possible. Click here to donate.
Future grant deadlines in 2014 are Feb. 17 and June 2.
The Board of Directors of the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts (LWVMA) is pleased to announce that Meryl Kessler has been named Executive Director. Kessler brings over 20 years of experience as an attorney, non-profit leader, and educator, as well as a strong commitment to civic education and engagement. She will lead the organization in its nonpartisan efforts to encourage the active and informed participation of citizens in their government through education and advocacy.
The League of Women Voters of Massachusetts (LWVMA) and its Education Committee submitted testimony to the Joint Committee on Education hearing on October 31, 2013, on bills S.203 and S.254. These bills – acts to involve youth in civic engagement – provide youth input in the development of a curriculum to provide the means for students to be knowledgeable and informed and encourage active engagement in the democratic process. In addition we support the inventory of school district compliance with section 2 Chapter 71 of the General Laws in S.254.
Since the passage of the Education Reform Act of 1993, LWVMA has monitored the development of statewide curriculum frameworks and has written to the Board of Education supporting a strong civics component in the social studies framework.
The mission of the League of Women Voters is to inform citizens and encourage their participation in the democratic process, and in pursuit of that mission, we strongly support civic engagement and education throughout grades K-12. The urgency of this mission was recently underscored by the results of a National Assessment on Educational Progress (NAEP) National Civic Exams which reported:
“Fewer than half of American eighth graders knew the purpose of the Bill of Rights on the most recent national civics examination, and only one in 10 demonstrated acceptable knowledge of the checks and balances among the legislative, executive and judicial branches….The scores indicated that only about a quarter of 4th- and 12th-grade students, and about one-fifth of 8th graders, ranked at the proficient or advanced levels.” http://nationsreportcard.gov/civics_2010/civics_2010_report/
LWVMA urges the Massachusetts Legislature to enact S.203 and S.254 so that schools and students in Massachusetts will have the knowledge and skills to truly participate in a constitutional democracy such as ours. It is imperative that students from grade school into high school and beyond understand our country’s principles and institutions.
