It was another tough week in Arkansas.

It seems like each week, the GOP majority in our state leadership targets a new group of people. This week we continued to see hate spewed toward children as the legislature overturned the Governor's veto of legislation now make Arkansas the first state to ban gender confirming treatments or surgery for transgender youth. While the Governor tried to defend his actions this morning on the Sunday circuit, it does no good when earlier this session, Hutchinson signed another bill that banned transgender youths from participating in sports teams that align with their gender identity, though he openly acknowledged that there were little or no instances of trans girls participating in sports in Arkansas.

And then the week closed with the horrendous behavior around Senator Elliott's Hate Crimes Bill #SB3. Read more about it and what you can do below. 

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Stay strong and safe!

Gracie Ziegler

AFDW President

gracieziegler@gmail.com

479-466-2735

Upcoming AFDW Events

• On Wednesday, April 14th at 6:30 pm we’ll welcome one of our Arkansas DNC reps, Dr. Johnnie Roebuck and Dr. Jay Barth, via zoom and FB live - click the image above to register if you'd like to be in the "zoom room," otherwise please tune in via Facebook LIVE.
• The discussion of “The Sum of Us” will move to May as we’re hearing it’s very hard to come by right now. Read at your leisure and share your copy with others if you can. 
• In June, we'll have a shareout from the National Convention for those that could not attend. The NFDW Convention will bring with it a new slate of national NFDW officers, amended bylaws, and strategic initiatives - it's an exciting time for the organization. 

Support Senator Elliott and the work she has done to bring forth a hate crimes bill in Arkansas.

The NFDW National Conference will be held virtually! 

Deadline to register at the EARLY BIRD RATE is Thursay! 

Legislative Session Information 

You can always use https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/ to see what’s happening day-to-day. We’ve also made a page on our AFDW website to help make it easier to see a full view of meetings and bills to watch out for and contact committees about - check it out here: https://www.arkansasdemocraticwomen.com/arleg-watch 

Behind the Scenes!
We need your help to track bills, organize information, and support the information that needs to be shared. 

COMMITTEES OF AFDW

• Rules, Resolutions, and Revisions - review the Bylaws annually and make recommendations to the Executive Board 
• Programming - works to plan programming throughout the year and the AFDW annual convention every August
• Fundraising -  planning and  implementing fundraising events
• County auxiliary expansion - shall work with counties not yet affiliated to kick off affiliation and monitor progress, reporting, start-up, etc.
• Candidate recruitment - as simple as asking your friends and neighbors to run for office and helping them get the tools they need to move forward with filing

Additional work being done by volunteers

• Track Bills - we have a digital log of bills that are filed each week. Can you help by researching a few and adding notes and key points? 
• Organize Data - we're making it easier to contact different committees and groups. Can you help with some data entry work? 
• Communications - Share and Create Content - we want to make sure no matter where you are online or not, you can get up-to-date information from AFDW. We need members to share from our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts to their own pages and groups to help signal boost and amplify.
  • Just click that SHARE button anytime you see new material. 
  • Share the information when you're talking to your friends on the phone or safely if you are gathering with friends or family. 
• Register Voters - it's never too early to register to VOTE. Be sure to ask everyone you know if they are registered and ask them to confirm their voter information is still accurate. You can do this by visiting VoterView.