I wish you all a Happy New Year and Welcome to 2019! I am humbled and honored to lead, along with our Board of Directors, the Santa Barbara Women’s Political Committee into its 31st year. I am constantly inspired by their passion and commitment to feminist values.
Thank you for being a member and supporting the work we do to train, support and endorse candidates who promote a feminist agenda. We continue our legislative advocacy work to support policy change at the local, state and federal level. We are fortunate to have many elected officials in our community that are champions for women. They are examples of why elections, organizing and advocacy matter.
Over the course of my updates to our members, I want to share some of the things our endorsed candidates are doing to support our feminist agenda. You may have recently read about Asssemblymember Monique Limón’s tour of migrant shelters along the US/Mexico border. We wholeheartedly agree with her assertion that “no family and no child deserve to be subjected to the conditions we saw today, especially not at our own border.”
Congressmember Salud Carbajal is requesting that his pay be withheld and is “standing in solidarity with federal workers on the Central Coast and across the country”. We applaud that he is standing up for his values and the many families who are facing economic hardship because of the #TrumpShutdown.
Many SBWPC Board Members and Members recently attended a reception honoring longtime SBWPC member, Janet Wolf for her 24 years of public service (12 Years on the Goleta Union School District Board and 12 Years as a 2nd District Santa Barbara County Supervisor). Janet Wolf was also a past recipient of the prestigious SBWPC Roses Award. She leaves a legacy of excellence and strong advocacy for women and families. We thank her for her dedication to our community and we know she will continue to do wonderful things.
These are just a sampling of the impacts our SBWPC endorsed candidates have that work towards achieving “a society based upon the feminist values of social, political, racial and economic gender equality” (our SBWPC Vision Statement). I look forward to sharing more stories like this with you in the months to come.
We have some exciting events coming up in the next few weeks. Join us at the Santa Barbara Women’s March on January 19th and at our Annual Member Meeting on January 27th!
Adelante/Onward,
Luz Reyes-Martín
President