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2008 Activities 2007 Activities 2006 Activities 2005 Activities

Many of our members frequently write letters to the editor or commentary articles, and many regularly communicate with local, state and national representatives. Whether they do it as individuals or as members of Women's Voices, our members are speaking out, and their voices are being heard. Here are some other events our members have attended, and efforts undertaken by the whole group:

Pride Parade 2009

For the fifth consecutive year, members of Women's Voices proudly marched in the St. Louis Pride Parade on June 28!

Marching behind our banner and enjoying the festivities were Judy Martin Finch, Mary Ann Tipton, Ann Ross, Julie Healey, Donna Robey, Diane Duke Williams, Jeanne Kirkton and Larry King, Joanne Kelly, Suzy McShane, Kim Emerson, Mary and Dale Clemons and grandson Marcus, Bev White, Joanne Morrow, Marilyn Sue Warren, Christine Reynoso, Pete Ruger, and Barbara Finch.

Becoming Emily - June 2009

Several members of Women's Voices and their guests enjoyed a moving performance of Joan Lipkin's "Becoming Emily" at the Black Cat theater in Maplewood. The play, based upon the experiences of nurse Emily Lyons, who was severely injured in the bombing of an abortion clinic in Alabama in 1998, featured both dance and dialogue to dramatize the chilling experience.

"We ask questions in this play," Lipkin said. "Does any belief system justify violence at this level? What issues should be considered when it comes to having an abortion? Whose decision is it? And how does someone psychically survive massive trauma and continue to live a meaningful life?"

Midwest Innocence Project - April 2009

In March, representatives from the Midwestern Innocence Project gave a program for Women's Voices that included a presentation from Darryl Burton, who was exonerated after spending 24 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Featured speaker at the event was John Grisham, author of "The Innocent Man." A number of individuals who had been released from prison thanks to efforts by the Innocence Project participated in the dinner.

In an effort to support the MIP's work to establish an office in St. Louis, several members of Women's Voices purchased a table at a fund-raising dinner held at the Renaissance Hotel on April 22.

Barb & John Finch, Darryl Burton, Judy Martin

Pictured, from left, are: Candace O'Connor, Judy Arnold, Mary Ann Tipton, Chery Green, and Jeanne Bubb.

Also attending from Women's Voices were Judy Martin Finch and Barbara Finch, pictured here with John Finch and exoneree Darryl Burton.

Stop the Bleeding, Start the Healing - April 2009

Twenty members of Women's Voices joined more than 400 others in a rally on the steps of the Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis on Sunday, April 5.

Called "Stop the Bleeding, Start the Healing," the rally was called by faith leaders throughout the community to protest cuts in the areas of health, mental health and social services proposed by the House Budget Committee.

Rabbi Susan Talve

In addition to speeches by faith leaders, the rally featured the Community Gospel Choir and rappers from the DisAbility Project.

Rabbi Susan Talve of Central Reform Congregation and a member of Women's Voices, was one of the rally organizers.

For more information, check out this article in the Suburban Journals.

Rep. Rick Stream, Barb Richter

Health Care Focus Group Arranges Meetings with Legislators Icet and Stream - March 2009

Members of the Health Care Focus Group (HCFG) were alarmed by the alert from the Missouri Budget Project in mid-March, which indicated that the Missouri House Budget Committee had approved severe cuts to health, mental health, and social services for vulnerable Missourians. According to the alert, 70,000 citizens could lose their services or have them significantly reduced and the state would forfeit $160 million in federal funds, with a loss of as many as 3,700 jobs in the state.

Governor Jay Nixon had asked for funds to add 34,000 low-income parents to Medicaid, but even though a large percentage of the funds would come from the federal government, the budget committee did not approve them. In addition, funds were not approved for an outreach program to enroll an estimated 27,000 eligible children in the Children's Health Insurance Program (S-Chip).

A St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial on March 17 noted that 815,000 Missourians have no health coverage, yet our legislature is poised to turn down federal stimulus money and to reject extra tax revenue offered by Missouri hospitals to expand Medicaid eligibility.

With little time to lose, members of the HCFG quickly arranged meetings with Rep. Allen Icet, chair of the budget committee and Rep. Rick Stream, vice-chair, during the legislative spring break the week of March 15. Members Amy Smoucha (an organizer for Missouri Jobs With Justice) and Susan Talve (rabbi of Central Reform Congregation and founder of Missouri Health Care for All) organized a meeting with Rep. Icet in which faith group leaders made it clear that they want a long-term vision. When faced with bad times, they said, you don't just think about making cuts; you work to raise the needed revenues to help those in need.

Susan Hayman organized a town hall meeting with Rep. Stream, whose constituents live mostly in Kirkwood. Susan contacted Rev. Dr. Scott Stearman who offered the Kirkwood Baptist Church for the meeting. Susan, Barbara Richter (chair of the HCFG), and Amy Smoucha asked the Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Central Reform Congregation, and several faith leaders to help sponsor the meeting. Susan, Barbara, and Amy, along with Ruth Ehresman, director of Health and Budgetary Policy for the Missouri Health Budget Project; Jen Bersdale of Missouri Health Care for All; Rev. Dr. Stearman; and Jackie Lukitch, executive director, Alliance for the Mentally Ill, planned the meeting.

One hundred people came to the town hall meeting on March 19. Four leaders made presentations to Rep. Stream explaining their organizations' positions regarding the state budget. Barbara Richter noted that Women's Voices has about 500 women on our rolls who are deeply concerned by the proposed budget cuts and believe access to health care is not a partisan issue, but a social justice issue. She told of the 34 people who have been laid off from a small manufacturing company she and her husband sold a few years ago and of the remaining employees who now have reduced working hours. These people, she pointed out, are only a few of the many vulnerable people who will need government services to help stabilize their lives. She emphasized that tax rebates are not helpful to those who need health care, child care, and other essential services; and that Women's Voices wants to see the federal stimulus funds used to prevent service cuts.

Rabbi Talve, speaking as one who is working on the "frontlines," said that many more people in need are coming to their faith communities seeking help. Stimulus funds should be used to prevent deep cuts to programs-cuts that are especially cruel because they are not necessary, she said. Faith communities can help but we need a public/private partnership, she insisted, to help low-income parents, those who work in jobs that don't provide insurance, abused children, aging adults, the mentally challenged, and many others. Rabbi Talve said that while working on behalf of Missouri Health Care For All, a grass roots coalition with 90 member organizations and individuals accounting for 750,000 Missourians, she has been to suburban, rural, and urban communities. All share the same goals, she said: access to health care, independent living centers, and services for the mentally ill, children, and the elderly. "I am ashamed of Missouri because we tried to balance our budget on the backs of the poor [in earlier Medicaid cuts]," she said, urging Rep. Stream to support efforts that would restore social services.

Jackie Lukitsch addressed the unmet needs of the mentally ill and said that evidence-based services such as assertive community treatment programs reduce homelessness, problems with the law, and the need for emergency medical services for the mentally ill. She urged Rep. Stream to restore the monies for mental health, social services, and crisis intervention. Use of stimulus funds, even on a temporary basis, would be cost effective, she told Rep. Stream.

Rev. Dr. David Greenhaw, president of Eden Theological Seminary, said that people's lives have become unstable and parents unable to get needed medical care for their children need help. "If we don't do everything we possibly can [to help those in need], shame on us. There is more we can do in this state," he said.

In his response, Rep. Stream said that by law the House must give a 2010 budget to the senate by April 1. He said there are 13 budget bills that will be brought to the House floor the week of March 22. The Senate will likely amend these bills. He noted that many budget areas have not been cut and that there have been increases in Medicaid and education spending in 2008 and 2009. He voiced concern about the stimulus funds. He said that because the Budget Committee doesn't yet know how much money will be available and what strings will be attached, it is difficult to budget.

In a question-answer period, participants raised concerns about the uninsured using emergency rooms for medical care and the problems that Federally Qualified Health Clinics face in providing primary care. They said that the previous reduction of 100,000 people from the Medicaid roles has caused suffering. They pointed out that using funds offered by the hospitals would not cost the state and would provide help to the uninsured.

The final questioner asked Rep. Stream to tell his ambitions for Missouri. He replied that his vision is a state in which every adult who is able to work will have a job. He said he would like to help care for those who are unable to care for themselves -- children, the elderly, the disabled and all those in need. We at Women's Voices will not sit back and wait, but will continue to press for health care justice to see this vision is achieved.

Reinventing Ourselves - March 2009

On March 7, 2009, we participated in "Celebrating Women: Reinventing Ourselves After 50", an UMSL event which featured workshops and vendor/community group displays. Women's Voices members staffed a table displaying information about our organization as well as information about Health Care Focus Group and Environmental Group activities. In addition, Health Focus Group members asked attendees to endorse the principles of Missouri Health Care For All. Many attendees stopped by our table, took literature, asked questions, and expressed interest in our organization. About eighty signatures were collected supporting health care for all in Missouri.

Tour of Near North Side Neighborhoods - March 2009

More than 30 Women's Voices members and friends spent a Saturday afternoon on a guided tour of three near North St. Louis neighborhoods. We saw both heart-warming and heart-breaking scenes: the old Clemens mansion, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, boarded up;

The Clemens Mansion

a brand-new Walgreens adjacent to a debris-filled lot; new apartments and townhomes next to buildings that have been burned; unique brick homes that have been lovingly restored next to boarded-up buildings; a large park where summer concerts are held bordered by homes and churches in various stages of disrepair or development; and a line a half-block long waiting to get into Crown Candy Kitchen.

Our tour guides, two women who live in the Old North St. Louis and St. Louis Place neighborhoods, are proud of the strides that have been made in their communities by urban pioneers in the past few years. They pointed out many advantages of the area, including its close proximity to downtown St. Louis. Their concerns center on a developer who has purchased more than 900 parcels in the neighborhood and subsequently refused to maintain them; criminals who steal brick and copper from the boarded-up buildings; and an inability to find out what plans the developer has in store for the neighborhood.

"We truly want development to come to this part of St. Louis," said Barbara Manzara, one of the residents. "We would just like to be able to know what is in store for our neighborhoods."

Reproductive Choice

Every year since 2005 our members have joined with Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri and Faith Aloud (formerly the Missouri Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice) to talk to state legislators in Jefferson City during debate on bills that would make access to abortion more difficult for women in Missouri.

Community Against Poverty Volunteer Fair - March 2009

For the second year, Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice was a co-sponsor of the Community Against Poverty Volunteer Fair. The event, which was convened by the Jewish Community Relations Council, brought together more than 30 not-for-profit agencies who provide direct service and more than 200 St. Louisans who were looking for a way to volunteer. Keynote speaker at the event was Chris Krehmeyer, president/CEO of Beyond Housing.

First Freedom Breakfast - February 2009

Early on February 18, Bev White and Julie Healey set out to the state capital to attend the annual First Freedom Breakfast, of which Women's Voices is a cosponsor. They distributed information to legislators about the issues of freedom of religion and the separation of church and state.

2008 Activities
2007 Activities
2006 Activities
2005 Activities