IN THIS ISSUE:
- FEATURE STORY: LWVLC Voter Services Welcomes New Citizens
- Team Updates
- Upcoming Events
- Volunteer Opportunities
| LWVLC Voter Services Welcomes New Citizens!
Once a year, new U.S. citizens are sworn in at an in-person naturalization ceremony hosted by the 5th grade class at Dunn Elementary School in Fort Collins. This annual event has been part of the 5th grade curriculum at Dunn for over 20 years. Both 5th and 4th graders attend this joyous ceremony as well as family members of the new citizens.
Representatives from our Voter Services team are normally invited to the event to help welcome the new citizens and help those interested to register to vote following the ceremony. Since August of last year, however, a federal policy change has prohibited third-party organizations from offering voter registration services at naturalization ceremonies conducted by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). This abrupt policy change that affects the operations of our League and offered no prior period for public comment is the subject of a lawsuit in which LWV-Colorado is a party.
Undeterred, a crackerjack LWVLC Voter Services contingent (Pat Griego, Mary Carraher, Pat Burger, and Becky Peters) stationed itself outside the school, waiting to welcome the newly naturalized citizens when they emerged. Our members offered the new citizens goodie bags filled with candy, a voter registration form in a stamped envelope, a pocket U.S. Constitution, a small U.S. flag, and some information on the League, in both English and Spanish. Linda Thomas, who has led LWVLC’s participation in welcoming new citizens at Dunn Elementary ceremonies for years, made this year’s event even more fun for everyone involved by turning up in an inflatable dancing hippo costume and posing for photos with new citizens who wanted to record the light-hearted moment in what was for them momentous day.
| Civil Liberties & Rights Team Relaunches with Energy and Purpose
On Saturday, February 21, nearly 30 League members gathered at the Harmony Library to relaunch the LWVLC Civil Liberties & Rights team—and the room was full of experience, commitment, and resolve.
In attendance were former team chairs, members of the LWVLC Board and leadership team, and an enthusiastic group of members ready to take meaningful local action to protect civil liberties. Each participant shared their background and the skills they bring to the work ahead.
Co-chair Amy Lewis outlined why defending civil liberties requires sustained local engagement, and proposed a structure to turn energy into impact. Through discussion, attendees formed focused subgroups to work on:
- Election safeguards
- Privacy & surveillance
- Civics education
- Team sustainability (record-keeping, partnerships, and communications)
Over the coming month, co-chairs Amy Lewis and Jamie Baker Roskie will convene Zoom sessions with each subgroup to move this work forward.
If you were unable to attend but would like to be part of this effort, we would love to have you join us. More volunteers are always appreciated!
Contact:
Jamie Baker Roskie – jroskie@gmail.com | 970.481.6037
Amy Lewis – amybrookelewis@gmail.com | 303.249.5989
The presentation from the meeting is available on the Civil Liberties & Rights page of the LWVLC website: https://tinyurl.com/CRL-webpage
| Voter Services
Voter registration volunteers are active this month! We have 75 trained volunteers so far this year. Teams are heading out to high schools to educate and register students at multiple locations.
The next Voter Services Team meeting will be in person on Saturday, March 20, 2026 at the Old Town Library Medium Meeting room at 9:30am. The meeting is open to all. Interested? Sign up on the monthly calendar. We would love to see you there! | Save the Date! - Annual Meeting 2026
The Board of Directors has set the date for the League’s 2026 Annual Meeting. The meeting will be held on May 18, 2026, at Fort Collins Senior Center, starting at 6:00 p.m. Dinner will be served. This meeting will be open only to members.
More information will be provided as the meeting date approaches. | Great Decisions
Upcoming Zoom meeting: Monday, March 2, 2026, at 11:30 a.m. We will discuss: Trump Tariffs and the Future of the World Economy, Chapter 2, in the 2026 Great Decisions book.
Trump's aggressive trade and tariff policies have shaken global economic norms. What is the rationale behind this radical shift in economic policy, and what are the implications for multilateral trade and geopolitics?
Great Decisions is on the LWVLC calendar and you can register there. A Zoom invitation will be sent to all previous participants. If you are new to GD, and wish to participate, contact Annette DeMartine at ademartine@prolynx.com.
For more information about Great Decisions, please contact Karen Heckman at keheckman@gmail.com.
Upcoming meetings are always announced in the League Lines, and you can find us at http://www.lwv-larimercounty.org, under “International Relations” in the “Our Work” tab.
Great Decisions meetings are held on the first Monday of each month from February to June and October to December.
| Informed Citizen Book Club
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM : In person meeting, second Wednesday of the month.
7:00 – 8:30 PM: Zoom Meeting, on the second Wednesday of the month.
Morning regular attendees will meet at Epic Egg, 1477 E. Eisenhower Blvd, Loveland CO, 80537 Informed Citizen Book Club - Morning - 2/11/2026
Evening attendees must register for the event on the LWVLC website calendar to get the Zoom link: Informed Citizen Book Club - Evening - 3/11/2026
Please join us for a lively discussion of our March book on March 11th, 2026: Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (2009)
With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope.
Please join us on the second Wednesday of each month.
Morning contact: Annette DeMartine
Evening contact: Pat Skrentny-Lamb
Next IC Book Club Meeting:
April 8: Wasteland: The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future by Oliver Franklin-Wallis (2023)
| Celebrate Women's History Month
The League’s General Meeting in March will be held jointly with the N. Colorado chapter of the National Organization for Women.
Tuesday, March 10
7:00 - 8:30 pm
Care Community Building at Heartside Hill (across from Heart of the Rockies Christian Church) 6501 Brittany St. Fort Collins 80525
Challenge yourself with a quiz "Celebrating 125 Years of Amazing American Women" that will not only honor 12 admirable women but also offer little known facts that may surprise you! Win a prize and savor celebration cakes!
The event is free and open to the public; friends and family are welcome. Please register after logging in on the League calendar so we have enough food for everyone.
We look forward to seeing you!
| Volunteer at the Loveland or Fort Collins No Kings III Rally
 Be a part of (her)story and represent the League on Saturday, March 28! Volunteers needed for the following roles at both the Loveland (noon-4 pm, Dwayne Webster Veteran’s Park) and Fort Collins (10 am-2 pm, Civic Center Park) No Kings III rallies:
- Issues, Advocacy and Outreach table at Loveland. (4 shifts: 11:30-1 pm; 1-2 pm; 2-3 pm, 3-4:15 pm). Contact Kathy Maher
- Voter Registration and Information (must have completed training) at Loveland (4 shifts: 11:30-1 pm; 1-2 pm; 2-3 pm, 3-4:15 pm). Contact Kathy Maher
- Loveland Safety Marshal (training provided). Contact StandUpLoveland
- Issues, Advocacy and Outreach table at Fort Collins. (3 shifts: 9:30-11 am, 11 am -12:30 pm, 12:30-2 pm). Contact Janet Schultz
- Voter Registration and Information (must have completed training) at Fort Collins (3 shifts: 10-11 am, 11 am -12:30 pm, 12:30 – 2 pm) Contact Pam Franzen or Mary Carraher
- Fort Collins Safety Marshal (training provided). Contact Indivisible NOCO before March 15
- ALSO: We anticipate an opportunity to collect signatures for citizen's initiative at our outreach tables at No Kings III events in Loveland and Fort Collins. This would be for Initiative #195, which proposes switching from a flat tax to a progressive (graduated) income tax for Colorado. You can read about it HERE. If you are interested in officially helping with the collection of signatures to get this initiative on the November ballot, please look into volunteering at the Protect Colorado's Future website and let Janet Schultz know of your potential!
| Post Card Writers Wanted!
Do you want to boost voter participation for the midterms by joining local (fun!) post carding parties with fellow Leaguers and others? Then we have the perfect volunteer gig for you: writing postcards for the nonpartisan "Reclaim Our Vote" campaign organized by the Center for Common Ground (CCG).
The Unite & Rise team hopes to partner with the CCG. We are looking for League members interested in and able to send targeted, effective messaging to BIPOC voters identified by CCG.
Skills needed: the ability to handwrite legible postcards and the resources to provide postcard stamps. Everything else will be provided by the League (postcards, voter lists, instructions, and a pre-written message label).
Interested? Contact Janet Schultz now!
| Amplify Our Message!
Do you want to boost our message and widen the reach of the Larimer League of Women Voters? Are you on Bluesky? If yes, then please follow us at @lwvlarimercounty.bsky.social
If you're not familiar with Bluesky, then we encourage you to check it out! Bluesky is a decentralized, user-driven, and ad-free network emphasizing customizable feeds and community-driven moderation, whereas Twitter is a corporate-owned platform focused on algorithm- and ad-driven content with little or no moderation. In other words, Bluesky is a much friendlier space that puts YOU in the driver's seat!
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