By Miriam Kerzner, Membership Portfolio Director

It was reinvigorating to connect in person with others who are deeply committed to League goals. Looking around the room, everyone present was confronted with ways in which we have yet to meet our goals to increase membership diversity, ensuring that we hear and engage with multiple perspectives on the issues that we fight for all year. And yet, it was also heartening that everyone at Convention wanted to know how we could make our organization more equitable and inclusive, more welcoming to those who historically have not joined the League of Women Voters.

Conversations around DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusiveness) addressed both the need to improve how we relate to each other on an individual basis and how the organization itself needs to change. The former relates more to membership questions, so I will summarize those discussions in a later piece.

If we are to succeed in moving forward, we must acknowledge that we have limited resources and time. When approaching a change this fundamental, we should also remember that people are motivated more by success and recognition than criticism and chastisement.

An important first step for Local Leagues and the state board is to examine our current projects to evaluate which are helping us achieve our DEI goals and how. Which demographics are we reaching? In what way are we helping create a state and a county in which all voices are heard equally in our public forums? How are we creating space for historically marginalized groups to lead? And then we need to ask how we can do better still. Since all our volunteers are already overstretched, incremental improvements to programs we already have in place demonstrates respect for those who already devote their limited time to our shared cause.

Limited time and resources should spur us to identify and support partner organizations that do similar work. Visibly supporting other groups as representatives of the League reduces the planning Local Leagues need to do and avoids duplicating work that is more effectively done by those who have historically been marginalized. By working with them, we learn about our own blinders and past errors, avoid cultural appropriation, and establish sustainable relationships.

Finally, we should examine the ways in which we, as member organizations of the League of Women Voters, communicate with each other and with non-members. Do we use technology and platforms that facilitate participation by those who are hard of hearing or visually impaired, do we hold meetings in places that are fully accessible and inviting to broad swaths of the American public? Do we ensure the comfort of those with allergies to scents or foods? Do we make as many events as possible child- and family-friendly? Do we fundraise so that those without private means can participate fully in League activities? It would be a shame if potential leaders we desperately need were sidelined because they could not afford the training on offer.

We have already accomplished a lot. We can do better still. And it needn’t take more time or energy. It merely takes a willingness to ask how we can take that next step. If you would like to join this conversation about DEI and organizational change, please contact mkerzner@lwvwa.org. If there is enough interest, we will launch an affinity group where members can share successes and failures specific to DEI goals. In the meantime, please check out the DEI resources we have available on our website.

Photo: MELD workshop at 2023 LWVWA Convention.