Announcements

WILPF Board Experiments with a Virtual Retreat: Leaders from Program Issue Committees Join for Half-Day

by Darien De Lu
WILPF US President

July/August

Not all the reviews are in yet, yet initial evaluations of the first virtual board retreat pronounce it effective, well planned, and with the sequencing well thought out. The retreat started with 4 hours on Friday, July 26, devoted to helping build stronger personal relationships. It continued for 9 hours on both Saturday and Sunday, with the Board and other ‘pundits’ (WILPF US members who have taken on particular official roles related to WILPF International) taking the time to get to know each other better and to more widely discuss key issues.

On Saturday, a number of issue committees leaders joined in a special Program & Activism session, which explored questions like: ‘What kinds of actions and activities successfully involve branches?’ and ‘In what ways is our WILPF US program forwarding our WILPF agenda, mission and vision?’. The Sunday sessions focused on relationships within WILPF, starting with the question: ‘What are the characteristics of a “welcoming group” that would be applicable to the Board and WILPF committees?’. In these times when political conversations can quickly become difficult, communication is an important topic. Small groups identified characteristics of both respectful and disrespectful communications. Participants shared how a respectful or disrespectful response makes them feel.

In anticipation of upcoming stages in the WILPF Lloyd Family Legacy Campaign, the retreat concluded Sunday by returning to the work begun on Friday, uniting to build a collective vision for the future of WILPF US.

News from WILPF International Board: Code of Conduct Drafted

by Tina Deshotels Shelton
At-large Board Member

The WILPF International Board (IB) has been working on a code of conduct (CoC), and once complete, they will begin working on a complaint and conflict resolution mechanism. The final CoC was submitted to the IB for the end of May board meeting and was approved pending minor edits. Once those edits are incorporated in the final draft, the document will be shared with all members.

Like our Mission and Vision statement, the CoC is a set of guiding principles for individuals at all levels of our organization. It was created by WILPF for WILPF. The list of values found on pages 3-4, which were approved at the 2022 International Congress, are helpful as a reference for the rest of the document. The section on approaches to our work on page 4 provides context to the part on commitment that rounds out the rest of the document. Overall, the CoC asks each of us to reach for our best selves in our goals, in our actions and our interactions.

Reviewing the CoC amongst members and discussing these commitments at each level will hopefully yield helpful discussions. Ancient spiritual practices, as well as modern science all point towards peace beginning ‘at home’ and this document is an effort for us to learn how to create that as we join in our efforts to create peace in our world.
 
The Code of Conduct can be found under the MyWILPF section of WILPF.org website, using the search function. (If you are a member of WILPF, you can access member-only material at the MyWILPF tab, which is also where you can sign up for newsletters.)
 
The next step is one of the pieces that will help us operationalize the CoC, namely building a set of feminist complaint and internal conflict resolution policies, practices and processes. Having these in place will help WILPF to address differences and concerns, and to honor diverse perspectives in a peaceful, constructive and transformative way. This work is overseen by the Ad-hoc Accountability Framework Committee, convened by International Vice-President Melissa Torres, and supported by a team.

Questions? Please contact membership@wilpf.org.

Support Casa Maria Soup Kitchen

by Gloria McMillan
Tucson, AZ Branch

On Wednesday, August 7th at 6:30 pm EDT, WILPF’s Housing Justice Working Group is hosting a meeting with Brian Flagg, who has been working at the Casa Maria Soup Kitchen for almost 40 years. Casa Maria  is a Catholic worker house committed to nonviolence, voluntary poverty, prayer, and hospitality for the homeless, exiled, hungry, and forsaken. 

Born and raised in Whittier, California, with a degree in sociology from Biola College, Brian has lived and worked at the Casa Maria soup kitchen since March of 1983. 

For more information contact Gloria at scifi200111@gmail.com.