Consider joining the UMRR Board...

The LWV UMRR Board consists of five officer positions (Chair, Vice-Chair, Past Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer) and a representative  and alternate from each of our member states.  The reps and alternates are designated by their state LWV Boards.   We also have a member of the Board who serves as Communication Chair. The officers can be filled by two people who serve, for example, as Co-Chairs.  (More info on the Board at this link.)

This structure has served UMRR well since we were organized in 2015.  Now, in our eighth year, we are re-examining our structure and are planning ways to expand the Board so we can tackle new challenges.    

LWV UMRR Board Retreat, June 2023, at the Chart House in La Crosse, with special guest LWV US President Dr. Deb Turner

In the next six months, we are examining our bylaws and finding ways to expand our Board and get more people involved in our work.  One way to do this is to restructure the state Reps by making the alternates full Board members and maybe expanding to three Reps per state.  To that end, we are seeking members for our Bylaws Committee, working now to develop new draft bylaws for member consideration next spring.   If you are interested in serving, email us at [email protected] . 

We are also seeking members for our Action Committee.  This group meets monthly and reviews opportunities for LWV UMRR to issue action alerts or sign on to letter for federal actions.   We bring in voices from other like-minded non-partisan organizations in our territory, and are developing a strong alliance with the action arm of LWV Lake Michigan Region.   If you are involved in advocacy work around climate change, water quality or water quantity in the Upper Mississippi Basin (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri) through other groups, and want to bring that information to LWV, consider joining our Action Committee.   This group also advises the Board on possible educational programs that would support LWV UMRR's work in water issues and climate change.

Would you like to work with communications?  Our newly-formed Communications Committee is looking for members to help maintain our website, write blog posts  and work on our social media.   You could be the plucky 'cub reporter', snooping out and developing stories for our blog and or be the person who makes it all look professional on our easy-to-use Weebly website.   We use MailChimp for our monthly newsletter - this is a free service that local Leagues can also use for eye-catching emails.  If you join the Communications Committee, we will work on all of this together and you can gain some skills for your local League work.  

And, sadly, we lost a Board member in July and now have an opening for an alternate from Minnesota.   We will be advertising this opening through the LWV MN All-Member News in September.