July 2020

Coronavirus Updates

COVID-19 has challenged the way we all live and work. It is vital that in this time of isolation we continue to maintain our virtual community in order to maximize the impact of our work for women, who are being disproportionately impacted by the virus.

NOW is providing the resources for our chapters working on the frontlines, for our members navigating their new realities as online activists and for anyone seeking resources to deal with gender-based challenges during these difficult times.

Additionally, president Toni Van Pelt sends out weekly messages of inspiration. You can see them all here.

Chapter Updates

NOW values the contributions and activism of each local and state chapter.  We rely on you to disseminate NOW’s agenda and advocate around NOW’s core issues in your community.

** NEW ** Here are two very easy ways for you to get your chapters’ upcoming actions/events on our social media and your past actions/events into *What’s Up NOW!

*NAC staff will make every effort to post items shared with us through this form, but sometimes time, space, or other constraints may forestall these postings. We thank you, in advance, for understanding.

Chapter Highlights:  

Upcoming Events:

Past Events:

 

On July 11, 2020, Georgia NOW hosted a rally honoring the Mothers of the Movement and Black and Brown women murdered by the hands of the police and domestic violence. Theme: Answering the Call

 

 

We will discuss ways to put an end to police brutality and state-sanctioned violence against the Black Community. We will include immediate actions to support the grassroots work being done around Anti-Racism and ways to support the health and financial wellbeing of our Black Communities. We are having regular virtual programs focusing on how the pandemic and economic disaster in Nevada is impacting women of color and the LGBTQ community.  Our next one on July 26th will focus on mass incarceration, school to prison pipeline, and police violence in the black community.


Board Candidate Info and Proposed Bylaws Amendments are now posted

NOW will be electing a new board this fall to serve from 2020-2022. Our elections committee has been working hard to organize these elections in light of postponing our conference.  A statement and photo of each candidate can be found here (link needs to be added). More information about our process of electing board members can be found in our Bylaws on the Members Only page.

Round Orders:

Unfortunately, due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, NOW staff is teleworking to ensure the health of their family and peers. The status of your order is still pending and will be shipped once I am able to make it to the office. 

Please do let National know if you have any questions or concerns regarding your order and we will make sure to work with you. 

Chapter Annual Report: 

Please be aware that the Chapter Annual report for 2019 will be on the Members Only page until December 31, 2020. 

Chapter Leader Portal:  

  • If you are a chapter leader and you do not have access to the chapter portal, please reach out to Supria at chapters@now.org or Carlo at vpoffice@now.org.  The chapter portal is a resource for your chapter to track members, update chapter information, and view chapter transactions. 
  • If you have held or will hold chapter elections, please update your chapter officer listing via the portal before your last day in office. Please bear in mind that, in order to add an officer to your chapter officer list, they must be affiliated with the chapter. If affiliations need to be changed, please reach out to our Member Specialist, Priscilla, at member@now.org. 

Politics and Advocacy

Family Law Committee

NOW’s Family Law Committee produces a newsletter with current news and information regarding the crisis for mothers and children in family courts. As many of our readers are aware, protective parents – primarily mothers – are losing custody of minor children in court proceedings that often ignore evidence of battering or child abuse and grant custody or unsupervised visitation to the abusive parent.

PAC Update

The NOW PAC has endorsed 150 federal candidates, which includes 18 Senate races and 132 House races. We are near the end of the primary cycle and gearing up for our main initiative this cycle; flipping the Senate. You can follow the PAC on social media @nationalnowpac on Twitter and Facebook. You can also see all of our endorsed candidates at nowpac.org.

Core Issues

Racial Justice
As we all work to dismantle systemic and structural racism in our country, we want to provide NOW activists with tangible ways to address racist behaviors, words, and ideas. If we want to be true allies, then none of us are exempt from educating ourselves, speaking out against racism in our spaces, and supporting Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities in whatever way they need. For this month’s installment of What’s Up NOW!, our focus is on Black communities, who have been working tirelessly to get the justice they deserve. Over the past two months, NOW has observed and celebrated Juneteenth, urged the Senate to pass a stronger version of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, and called on the Democratic National Convention to make commitments to improving reproductive rights and centering BIPOC lives in that pledge.

However, as individuals, it is our responsibility to seek information about White privilege and Black oppression and actually apply it. As feminists, we know that grassroots activism is critical and impactful and that changes to individual actions and beliefs can make up a collective movement. We all have to be willing to learn, to let Black activists and women of color lead us to true justice in the movement for Black lives and against accountability.  

Our Racial Justice page features many resources for creating personal action plans, educating ourselves about anti-racist action, and finding ways to celebrate Black life and joy. This is work we encourage our members to do every day.   

 Here are a few of the resources featured on our Racial Justice page:  

Campaigns, Initiatives, and Events

100* Centennial Campaign 

NOW is celebrating the centennial anniversary of the 19th amendment by launching our Sisters in Suffrage campaign! In the 100 days leading up to August 26, we will not only be recognizing the brave suffragists who made the passage of the 19th amendment possible but we will also be highlighting women from marginalized groups – Native voters, Black voters, Asian and AAPI voters, disabled voters, young voters, incarcerated voters, impoverished voters, Latinx voters, LGBTQIA+ voters and many others – who worked and are still working to take exercise their right… to vote! Keep an eye on our social media pages and here to see all of these amazing women in one place.

2020 Independent Expenditure Campaigns: Voters for Equality

The Voters for Equality Campaign, a joint project of Feminist Majority and National Organization for Women, puts a priority on flipping control of the U.S. Senate. Democrats must gain a net of four seats to win the majority in the Senate (three seats if Democrats win the presidency). We are targeting Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, and Montana to flip the Senate, and we must defend the Senate seat in New Hampshire. Please keep an eye out for future actions that you can take.

NOW in the News

A key component of NOW’s mission is to monitor and elevate the country’s progress and shortcomings regarding women’s rights through press statements and earned media. Recent highlights include our work on the Equal Rights Amendment and efforts to hold accountable college athletic departments that are protecting sexual harassment and abuse. 

Below is a sample of our recent press statements or read more here: Media Center 

Media Hits: 

 

©National Organization for Women  

What’s Up NOW is a bimonthly publication of the National Organization for Women. If you have suggestions or news items to include, please contact us at press@now.org. The next issue will publish in September 2020.