About the League
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Affinity Discussion Groups
You can think of them like a book club. A group of people who share a common interest in a topic, and get together periodically to discuss and share resources. Each group makes their own schedule for how often they meet, only needing one person to take responsibility to schedule the meetings. Members can join when it’s convenient for them and participate as much or as little as they like.
The following are the existing groups. Links to meetings can be found on the Events calendar. If you would like to create a new group, contact Nancy Halvorson, nhalvorson@lwvwa.org for help with getting started.
- Membership Affinity Group
This new affinity group for Membership Chairs & Roster Managers held their first meeting on August 20, 6:30-7:30 pm on Zoom. Our goal is to come together to share and discuss the membership work being done in each of our local Leagues during these monthly meetings. This work includes Membership Management, LWV Member Portal join/renew process, membership data transfers into local League platforms, roster management, LWVUS Transformation Process, and more. Future meeting times will be determined by this group. These meetings will be posted on the LWVWA Event calendar.
Contacts for the meeting link:
Ellie Hutton, LWV Clark County, membershiplwvcc@gmail.com
Jeanne Crevier, LWV Snohomish, membershiplwvsnoho@gmail.com - Treasurer’s Affinity Group
Meets Second Monday, 6:30 pm
Contact person: Dee Ann Kline Pattison, deeannk3@gmail.com - Voter Services Affinity Group
These meetings are for local League leaders responsible for voter registration and civic engagement and outreach. They are a terrific opportunity to share best practices and hear from experts in the field.
Meets Second Wednesday, 4:30 pm
Contact person: Robbie Soltz, rsoltz@lwvwa.org
The MELD Network
LWVWA Education Fund expanded the previous Membership, Leadership Development (MLD) program into the Membership, Engagement, & Leadership Development (MELD) Network in 2018. This was in response to requests from members and Local Leagues to provide a mechanism to better share tools, methods, practices, and accomplishments across the state with each other. MELD Network is the LWVWA’ s way of building in another communication channel between the LLs and the state and national boards on a monthly basis. The others include This Week in League (TWIL), LWVWA Voter, LWVWA Presidents’ calls, and social media. The MELD Network also feeds information back to the state and national Leagues so that we can paint a complete picture of League’s impact and work on our mission to Empower Voters. Defend Democracy.
The MELD Network is the glue that helps us:- Learn about cutting-edge best practices to engage your membership
- Share effective tools to orient (or reorient) your members
- Recruit, retain, and engage members
- Explore ways to diversify your community partnerships
- Access national and state League training opportunities
- Engage with the community to help Make Democracy Work®
- Offer training and coaching on organizational development, leadership, & team building
- Help us hone our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) lens
We use resources and coaching materials developed by LWVUS over the past 9 years by the Shur Fellow Program . We also develop new tools and practices. We collect data on League programs that increase League influence and impact and share these stories in our newsletters and other materials.
The Network consists of the LWVWA and all Local Leagues. We created MELD Network Pods where a MELD Network Coach hosts virtual, 60-90 minute monthly meetings with MELD representatives from three to five Local Leagues and one to two LWVWA State Board Liaisons. A typical agenda includes these topics:
- Local League summary of key accomplishments from last month—especially those that they want to share broadly across the state
- State League summary of initiatives, news, and requests
- Shur Fellow* Guidance from LWVUS
- Requests for help, ideas, or coaching from other Pod members on tasks or challenges your League is facing in the future
MELD Pod Roles & Responsibilities
MELD Pod Coaches (time commitment 3-8 hours per month)
- Set up and facilitate monthly Pod calls, including sending out the agenda & notes
- Participate in monthly MELD Network Coach calls
- Offer coaching advice and help Pod LLs find MELD resources
- Help recruit and mentor new MELD Coaches
- Develop training, toolkits, & other materials for state and local League events
LWVWA State Board Liaisons (time commitment 2-6 hours per month)
- Share state and national League initiatives, resources, and requests with the Pod members
- Participate in monthly Pod calls
- Answer question and take requests from LLs back to the LWVWA Board
- Share Pod successes/challenges with the LWVWA Board
- Identify and help author TWIL and Voter articles highlighting LL successes
Local League MELD Team Representatives (time commitment 2-5 hours per month)—Note representatives might be any member who regularly attends the local League board and membership meetings; we encourage Local Leagues to have at least 2 representatives, with a focus on inviting new members to participate.
- Share monthly summary of Local League successes/challenges
- Participate in monthly Pod calls
- Share Shur Fellow Guidances and news from other local, state, and national Leagues with LL board and members
- Offer coaching and resources to help the League with membership, engagement, and leadership development tasks
MELD Coordinator(s) (time commitment 15 hours per month)
- Sit in on Pod calls as possible
- Consult with LLs, MELD Coaches, and LWVWA Board to adjust program as needed
- Write monthly MELD Coordinator Board report
- Visit LLs to discuss MELD topics and get input on improvements
- Ensure that MELD Network content on LWVWA website is current and accurate
- Recruit and mentor new MELD Coaches
- Partner with LWVWA Board and Shur Fellow on DEI Action Plan
State and Local League Boards (time commitment ~1 hour per month-to read reports and discuss MELD Network information)
- Schedule time at State board and other League meetings to regularly discuss MELD topics
- Help recruit Local League MELD team members and state MELD Coaches
- Share information with MELD team members
- Offer suggestions and feedback on the program