DAWN - DEMOCRATIC ACTIVIST FOR WOMEN NOW!Fall Newsletter - Feb 2009

DAWN’s New Faces and Leadership

Carol Garvey..

It has been an honor to serve as DAWNPresident for almost 7 years, since March of 2002.During that time we re-built the club from near-insolvency (after a grand theft of our funds wasdiscovered) into the effective, respected, financiallyhealthy organization it is today. Many strong femaleleaders who served on our board have gone on toelective office: among them Pearl Cheng, MargaretAbe-Koga and Buu Thai. DAWN has been blessedwith a wonderful Treasurer, Lee Sturtevant, who is afountain of institutional knowledge and expertise. Ihope to be just like her when I grow up. Willie Wool,founding member and President Emeritus was awonderful role model and mentor to me, helping medevelop my leadership potential and the confidenceneeded to lead our club. Many more women leadershave served or are currently serving with me on theDAWN board, making it a very influential grassrootsorganization for Democratic women in our valley.Since its inception in 1993 DAWN hasendorsed countless Democratic men and womencandidates. We give additional financial support to our endorsed women candidates. Here are some of our recent accomplishments:•Partnered with Planned Parenthood Mar Montelocally to successfully fight 3 anti-choice propositions placed on the ballot in the last fiveyears.•Publicly supported and honored 3 young women whorescued an underage rape victim in what is known asthe DeAnza College Rape case (2007).•Last year we endorsed our first woman candidate for President of the United Sates. Though we fell short,2008 was truly a historic year of firsts for womenand people of color and I for one am very proud of our country.•In ’08 DAWN reached past the boundaries of SantaClara County to help change a traditionally redAssembly seat blue with the election of JoanBuchanan.•Started our first mentorship workshop for womeninterested in running for office. This evolved into a partnership with Assemblymember Joe Coto whereinwe created a scholarship program for Democraticwomen living in Santa Clara County. Our firstscholarship recipients who are now attending theEmerge political leadership program are DarcieGreen and Papia Gambelin.•Currently we have thrown our support behindDAWN member San Jose Councilmember Madison Nguyen, who is facing an unjustified recallcampaign. Many of us have already walked precincts or made phone calls to try to dispel some of the half-truths, rumors or outright lies the oppositionhas spread about this wonderful woman leader. Ichallenge all DAWN members make the time towalk, phone, or volunteer in other ways before theMarch 3

election and help defeat this misguided,mean-spirited campaign. Noelani Sallings is DAWN’s newly appointedPresident. Prior to that she served as Vice President incharge of Candidate Endorsements. Noelani is agraduate in Psychology from Santa Clara University.She is working toward her Masters Degree in ClinicalPsychology from Notre Dame de Namur University. Ifor one am confident that Noelani will be an excellentleader of DAWN, bringing new vitality and interest tothe organization. Please join me in welcoming NoelaniSallings at our Sunday March 29 potluck brunch,featuring San Jose City Council and DAWN member Madison Nguyen.

Welcome Noelani Sallings, ournew DAWN President

Thank you so much for the opportunity to bethe president of DAWN. I am looking forward tocarrying on the traditions of DAWN and their activismfor women and the betterment of women. We have astrong group of women and men who believe in all thevalues of DAWN and what we believe in. On top of that I would like to bring in a new generation of activist to our group.

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DAWN Report

In this last election we sawso many of our nation’s youthbecome energized from theintensity of President Obama’srace to the White House. When Isay youth, I am not just referringto the young democrats whogenerally show this kind of exuberance. I mean to highlightthe unprecedented energy of middle school and high schoolgirls who have a ﬁre in theirbellies that I have not witnessedin a long time. These youngwomen have the same motivationto champion women’s causes, andI cannot think of a more e

ectiveway of fostering and nurturingthese sentiments than by havingDAWN sponsor a mentorshipprogram. To give these youngwomen the opportunity to shadowour strong DAWN members and tolearn from their experiences is toshape a new generation of femaleadvocates to carry on the ﬁght forgender equality in this century.

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Along with all thecontinuing work that DAWN hasalways focused on, I would alsolike to propose starting highschool chapters of DAWN, muchlike how the Kiwanis and RotaryClubs have service clubs underdi

erent names. These DAWNsponsored clubs will educateyoung leaders and communityactivists in the ideals of ourorganization and spread themessage through local events andcommunity service.

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I am looking forward tomeeting all of you on Sunday,March 29 at our Quarterly Potluckat SEIU Local 521. We have muchto discuss about the futureopportunities of this great andinﬂuential organization.Best,Noelani SallingsPresident, DAWN – DemocraticActivist for Women Now

Welcome our newDAWN members

Thanks you to Assemblymember Joe Coto and Boardmember DarcieGreen for recruiting and sponsoringour newest DAWN members.•

Marta Donayre

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Linda Snook

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Papia Gambelin

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Sonya Casares

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Judy Esquivel

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Mitia Samimi

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Olivia Mendiola

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Ingrid Baccialon

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Ana MariaLorenzana

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Maria NoelFernandez

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Mia White

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Aimee Escobar

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Christina Aguirre

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Gina Gates

No on theRecall of MadisonNguyen

I, Councilmember Madison Nguyen,appreciate the support of DAWN todefeat a wasteful and unwarrantedrecall election I am facing on March3

. I appreciate you taking the timeto walk with me on February 7

toexplain to the residents of District 7what I have been able to accomplishsince 2005 when I became their Councilmember.I have made basic quality of life issues and ensuring a voice for allresidents of District 7 my priorities asa Councilmember. In a short time Ihave been able to see many results because I have worked hard toimprove District 7 by workingcollaboratively with residents andcommunity leaders. For the pastthree years, we created over 1,000 jobs, made major streetimprovements, built over 700affordable housing units, constructedseveral new parks, and worked toimprove public safety. Yet, there aremany things I still hope toaccomplish. We need to continue tomake public safety a priority and toengage our residents in combatinggangs. We mustensure that we arespending our scarce Cityresources onmaking our community a better place for everyone and not on petty politicalvendettas. With your support, I cancontinue to advocate for affordablehousing, economic development, and public safety in District 7.I have the support of all of San José City Councilmembers,Mayor Chuck Reed,Congressmember Mike Honda, SanJosé ’s active and retired Police andFirefighters, and a coalition of community leaders and electedofficials—but I cannot defeat thisrecall without your support.March 3

is a special electionand this is the only item on the ballot.

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That makes it imperative that we ensure our supporters’vote. Please consider volunteering to help me defeat therecall. The South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council and theUnited Democratic Campaign will be hosting regular volunteer hours at 2102 Almaden Road every weekend.

Phone Banking

Mon-Thu from 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm•Sunday from 3:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Precinct walking

•9:00 am on Saturday•11:00 am on Sunday

We especially need your help with GOTV efforts:Saturday, Feb. 28

•9 a.m. precinct walking•3 p.m.-8:30 p.m. phone banking

Sunday, March 1

•11 a.m. precinct walking•3 p.m.-8:30 p.m. phone banking

Monday, March 2

•10 a.m. door hanging•5:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. phone banking

Tuesday, March 3

•10 a.m.-8 p.m. poll checking• Noon-8 p.m. phone bankingTo volunteer, please email peter@atwork.orgor call (408)266-3790.Again, thank you for your support and I look forward to working with you so that we can defeat thisrecall together.

Councilmember Madison NguyenSan José City Councilmember, District 7

9to5

In 1973 a group of office workers in Boston gottogether to talk about issues which had no name, sexualharassment, work/family challenges, and pay equity. Fromthis beginning 9to5 emerged as the national organizationdedicated to putting working women’s issues on the publicagenda. 9to5’s constituents are low-wage women, womenin traditionally female jobs, and those who’ve experiencedany form of discrimination. Membership is open to all.Our mission is to build a movement to achieveeconomic justice, by engaging directly affected women toimprove working conditions.9to5 is committed to: Winning family-friendly policies to help working people balance responsibilities athome and on the job; Making nonstandard jobs voluntaryand equitable so that those who work part-time or as tempsreceive fair pay and benefits; Eliminating workplacediscrimination through educating about legal rights on the job, monitoring enforcement agencies, and expanding anti-discrimination laws; Opposing punitive welfare policiesand backing those that allow women to be self sufficientwhile supporting their families.

9to5 Fifth Annual RegionalLeadership Conference & Policy DayCONFERENCESATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2009, 10 AM – 2 PM

African American Community Services Agency304 N. 6th Street (at Julian),San Jose, CA 95112

POLICY DAYMONDAY, MARCH 23, 2009, 7:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Departing SEIU 521 to Sacramento State CapitolAppointments with local area legislators10:30PM – 2:30PM

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President

Noelani Sallings

Executive Vice President

Carla Collins

, V

ice President Membership

Joan Goddard