News & Updates

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May Membership Meeting: A Focus on Gun Violence Awareness, Prevention, and Action

As next month is Gun Violence Awareness Month across our nation, and as gun violence is ever-increasingly in our daily headlines, in our neighborhoods, and for far, far too many for too long, in our and our loved ones’ lives, RVDW is humbled and honored to welcome three distinguished guest speakers for our May 26th Monthly Membership Meeting: Dr. Catherine Koebel Stromberg, Ms. Rita Joyce, and Vice-Mayor Joe Cobb to address gun violence and gun violence awareness. (Read more about speakers below.)

This year, the 9th annual Gun Violence Awareness Day will be recognized here and across the country on June 2. In anticipation and preparation for this and other activities and activism of the next several weeks, we hope you will join us on Friday, May 26th. Each of our guests will share their experiences and expertise in gun violence and gun violence prevention and bring us information on how and where to get involved during June and beyond. A sampling of upcoming events to support and amplify includes June 2-4, WEAR ORANGE: Roanoke Gun Violence Awareness Weekend, 2023 Annual Community Prayer Breakfast, and June 24, Groceries Not Guns – 2023 Buyback Event.

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Meet Our 2023 Democratic Candidates for Virginia House & Senate

Following the invitation by Roanoke Valley Democratic Women, all six of the announced 2023 Democratic candidates in our area for the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate have accepted and will be at RVDW’s April monthly membership meeting.

On Friday, April 28, 2023, at Jersey Lily’s Roadhouse (1650 Braeburn Drive) in the Ridgewood Farms shopping center, RVDW members will hear the candidates, or representative, address their legislative priorities and credentials and share materials. The program begins at 12:00 noon followed by our business meeting. Please arrive at 11:30 if you are ordering lunch.

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PPSAT’s Sumpter: “You’re Invited to Standing Strong Roanoke Spring Luncheon”

A message from our March meeting guest speaker, Emily Sumpter, Associate Director of Donor Relations & Stewardship, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic:

Dear Community Partners,

We are writing to invite you to Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT)’s Standing Strong Roanoke Spring Luncheon on Thursday, April 27, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Taubman Museum of Art.

Standing Strong Roanoke will support the critical work and mission of PPSAT as we navigate post-Roe America. Support from the event will allow PPSAT to keep fighting for abortion access and continue to serve patients through sexual and reproductive health care and education services.

We will be joined by keynote speaker Rebecca Traister. Rebecca is a writer-at-large at New York Magazine, where she covers women in politics, media, and culture from a feminist perspective. She is also the author of Good and Mad, All the Single Ladies, and Big Girls Don’t Cry.

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Filler-Corn Portrait Unveiled: “The first but definitely not the last.”

A great moment in 2023 Women’s History Month in Virginia. As reported by WRIC, the portrait of former Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, the first woman and Jewish speaker in the House of Delegates’ 404-year history, was unveiled at the state Capitol on Wednesday, March 15, 2023. (Read the entire WRIC coverage here.)

Image from https://www.eileenfillercorn.com/

This week, Filler-Corn sent her supporters this reflection on the historical moment.

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2023 is moving fast!

A message from Janice Dinkins Davidson, RVDW Board President

Hello, Roanoke Valley Democratic Women members past, present, and future! 

Janice Dinkins Davidson, President
Janice Dinkins Davidson, President

It’s hard to believe that we’re nearing the middle of March 2023! Time is moving on and it’s nearly Spring! 

The Board of RVDW has been busy planning for – and has presented – diverse and dynamic speakers at our 2023 Membership meetings. (Read more about Jan. and Feb. meetings.) Our goal is to ensure that you, our members, are up to date on topics that interest you. We also aim to inform you about local, statewide, and national Democratic candidates and to offer a forum for social and political engagement. You can look forward to many more opportunities, not only at membership meetings, but also at Dems After Dark, and at our June fund-raising event. Subscribe to our calendar on our Meetings & Events page. More details coming soon! 

WE NEED YOU WITH US! 
Please take a moment to submit your 2023 dues before March 31!
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Legislative Committee General Session Update – 3/3/2023

The Virginia General Assembly adjourned “Sine Die” Saturday, February 25th after considering approximately 3,000 bills!  Our legislators also filled judicial vacancies, approved/rejected the Governor’s nominations, and passed a “skinny budget” which addresses Virginia’s most pressing financial needs.  You may find the version of the budget as passed on the LIS website.

Dialogue on the budget between the House and Senate will continue for weeks, the goal being to settle the differences in the budget proposals between “Governor Youngkin’s Republicans” and “our” Democrats. 

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To Our Health: Compress & Shock Foundation

2023 Annual FREE CPR & AED Education Day is Saturday, June 3

Every first Saturday in June, the Compress & Shock Foundation holds their Annual Free CPR & AED Education Day with the goal of establishing a National CPR & AED Education Day. "We empower the public to intervene as bystanders and improve out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival."

Dr. Karen Perkins, Vice Director of Roanoke-based Compress & Shock Foundation, invites us to get involved and support the foundation’s mission to “deliver free and equitable access to CPR and AED education all communities with a specific dedication to those communities most adversely affected by cardiac arrest due to race, ethnicity, primary language, or access to healthcare education.”

How to get involved:

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Legislative Committee General Session Update – 2/14/2023

Dear friends,

The House and Senate committees working on the budget have released their proposed changes to the budget for fiscal year 2023-24. The information gathered by the Commonwealth Institute and the charts available at their website provide a summary-level assessment of key general fund changes proposed by the money committees and Gov. Youngkin compared to the current budget.  The institute (and President Joe Biden) remind us that, “budget proposals are the clearest expressions of our priorities and values.” 

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Legislative Committee General Session Update – 2/8/2023

Dearest members,

Yesterday, the Roanoke Times dramatically headlined the front page of the paper: “Bills Fall to Wayside”. . . referencing the work being done in Richmond at the General Assembly.

Effective today, Wednesday, February 8, aside from working on the budget… each house may only consider the legislation and amendments of the other house. (We will report more about the budget next week.) Though almost 2,000 bills were introduced this session, most “died in committee.”

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Legislative Committee General Session Update – 1/30/2023

Greetings!

Observing the 2023 Virginia General Assembly with this divided government provides us with a real-life example of why our votes are so important! The Republican majority in the House passed three bills that would have drastically restricted or even eliminated abortions in Virginia, a legislative priority of our governor. The Senate’s Democratic majority is our “brick wall” against extreme measures, and the Education and Health Committee there effectively nixed all three of those bills.

Unfortunately, the Democrats’ push for stricter gun laws, including efforts to ban assault weapons, is being axed by the House Republicans due to their holding the majority. Republicans continue to try to roll back the progress made when Democrats held a majority in the House, Senate, and statewide offices of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General.

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