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Greetings!
Happy New Year! NCWU is happy to announce that we will be resuming the practice of sending out a member newsletter every month. If you have items or stories that you would like to share in future newsletters, please email us at info@ncwu.org. We would love for you to share photos with us as well!
2013 was a rough year for women, but we're looking forward to working together to make 2014 a better year for all North Carolinians!
Sincerely,
NCWU Communications Team
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 Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014!
As advocates for women, we all know that there are far too many reasons to be happy to say goodbye to 2013. Over the last year, state lawmakers restricted women's access to health care in a motorcycle safety bill, rejected the Medicaid expansion, dramatically cut unemployment benefits in a jobless recovery, underfunded public schools and teacher salaries, passed the most extreme voter suppression law in the nation, eliminated the Earned Income Tax Credit, and passed a tax package that makes most of us pay more while the wealthy pay less.
Nevertheless, we are proud of the hard work we did to moderate bad policy proposals and to educate and empower the public, and we are committed to making 2014 a better year for Tar Heel women! In addition to our ongoing advocacy and community outreach, we have two major programs planned this year. First, in the spring we will release our biennial Legislative Report Card that evaluates the progress of the General Assembly on the priority issues from our Women's Legislative Agenda.
Second, in the fall we will host Women's Agenda Assemblies that bring together diverse groups of women in local sessions across the state. These assemblies provide women with the tools and networks they need to effectively advocate for policies that benefit women and children at the state level.
Thank you for all you do to advance justice and equality in North Carolina! We couldn't do this hard work without you!
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 Anne Mackie Award
NCWU ended the year on a positive note, awarding Becky Mock our annual Anne Mackie Award. Our mission has always been to bring women's voices to the policy table, knowing that our unique experiences and perspectives are valuable and necessary to create a just and equitable North Carolina.
This mission requires us to both seek out the voices of the women we want to represent and to translate those voices into public policy and a critical-services agenda that will lift up all women. Becky, who has deep community development roots in Alamance County, is an outstanding example of how to combine these two actions in a way that provides a solid foundation for advocacy. Read more about Becky's accomplishments here in our write-up and in this piece published by The Times-News!
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Highlights of Our Work in 2013
Last year marked a time of deep engagement in grassroots legislative advocacy campaigns around issues of concern to women in NC. Most of our work over the last year was reactive to the ongoing legislative session that ran from January to July. We worked with partners--including many of you--to lift up anti-women and regressive legislative proposals by co-sponsoring events, hosting informative webinars, creating and sharing action alerts, and signing-on to letters to elected officials.
We also made our voices heard by writing letters to the editors of local papers, issuing press statements, and penning blog posts on our website as well of those of our partners. We went out into local communities and informed them of legislative developments and what the latest research says about the status of women.
Here are just a few noteworthy highlights:
- Produced a successful Women's Advocacy Day with Kim Gandy where women came across the state to make their voices heard at the NC General Assembly (see news coverage here and here).
- Helped organize the Moral Monday event dedicated to women's economic security. Our then-president, Jina Dhillon, addressed the thousands-plus crowd with a fiery, passionate, and moving speech that lifted up the needs of Tar Heel women.
- Built a stronger relationship with journalists. We sat down with television reporters, Tarheel Talk and WNCN, to discuss our work and the state of women in NC. Watch Tara Romano, NCWU President, discuss women and the economy here!
- Made our voices heard by providing newsworthy legislative testimony and penning the following opinion pieces in the Raleigh News & Observer:
- Gained hundreds of followers and friends on Twitter and Facebook!
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Get Involved: Upcoming Events
Screening of Inequality for All
What: Documentary exploring the rising income inequality in the United States. The film is presented by former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. When: Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014
Inspiring Words for Roe: An Event to Commemorate the 41st Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
Host: NCWU and NC NOW
When: Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Place: Temple Beth Or (TBO)
RSVP: Email Gailya Paliga or call 919-539-7702
Annual Historic "Thousands on Jones Street" (HKonJ) March
When: Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014
10:30 a.m.
Where: Shaw University on South Street
More details are available here. Come stand with us for justice, and be sure to look for the NCWU banner!
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