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NEWSLETTER
Mobilizing For A Movement!
Calling all moms: We
Want You! There is a role for everyone in our upcoming activities!
June 2003
Hello,
Thank you for sewing a patch in the
equilt. Want to know how it is going? Have a look at our progress on the
copy of our equilt at the bottom of this page! Our quilting bee is
progressing quite well; our hands have been busy.
From Hawaii to Idaho, from Utah to New
Jersey; from Georgia to New York, we are sewing our quilt across the
nation. In this email learn about our continued quilting bee and some upcoming
activities and opportunities for you to deepen your work on behalf of
mothers. Below, we invite poetry submissions.
Stay tuned for an invitation to submit
for publication and celebration on our site - other forms of your work.
Also, I want to invite you to join a listserv that we may launch depending
upon interest. Our mission at Securemom is to draw attention to the work of
mothers to ensure recognition of our work in retirement. We are on the
move, launching a mom-driven advocacy platform to secure the future of moms in
retirement.
IN THIS EDITION:
*Update on the e-quilt: let's keep it
going.
*Mother's Work Gallery: Coming Soon a
gallery for expressions of you - in poetry, prose, photography, art.
*Listserv Invitation Coming Soon.
*Leadership positions: Calling Writers,
Researchers, Editors, and State Coordinators.
*Our advocacy platform expands.
UPDATE ON THE E-QUILT
On Mother's Day, we kicked off an
exciting initiative to draw attention to the need to secure the well-being of
moms in retirement. Our e-quilt campaign involves mothers posting emails to
their U.S. Senators. In turn, each mom has been asked to spread the word and
encourage other mothers to visit the website and email a Senator and thereby
sew a patch in the equilt.
What you see in the quilt are patches
from states where moms have sewn patches and sent emails. Please continue to
spread the word. We are sending our message to the U.S. Senate with each and
every equilt. Remember, if you have emailed one senator, to return to
www.securemom.org/equilt.htm
and email the other senator. Also, please tell a friend here:
www.securemom.com/tell_a_friend.htm
MOTHER'S WORK GALLERY:
What Do We Want? Your Favorite Poetry - By Other
Artists and By You; Original Photography, Original Essays:
This Month: Poetry - Your Favorites and
Your Originals..
We are creating a new gallery on our
site called 'Mother's Work" in which we will display art and written
expressions produced by you . The goal is to obtain works of art that you
have created - relating to motherhood or whatever other topic you wish. We
want to kick off with poetry. We will open the Mother's Work Gallery when
we receive our first few submissions.
Please submit your original
poetry to
motherspoems@securemom.com.
Eventually, we will ask for other works of art to display in our gallery.
For those who enjoy the art of others and want to share it with us moms, we
invite you to submit a list of your favorite poetry by other authors.
Please submit those to
motherspicks@securemom.com.
For all poems, please remember to include along with the poem the title,
name of the author, place of publication, publisher, and the date of
publication
You will receive other invitations in the next couple of weeks to submit to us works of poetry, art, photography, select essays and other written work, as well as other creative media of expression. The sky is the limit. If you find a way to submit it digitally, we will do our best to display it. Stay tuned.
Mothers work in all manners of ways
and it is time for society to appreciate it by ensuring security in
retirement. Each state in the equilt eventually will have a link to the
gallery for your state which displays the submissions you provide.
TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE
THIS HAPPEN: DEVELOPING TIES! LISTSERV AND PERIODIC DISCUSSIONS (CHATS).
Are you interested in getting
acquainted with other moms in our group? Want to send a message to others
in the group? Want to generate a time limited chat on a private bulletin
board for members only about a topic related to our activities ?
We are going to issue you an
invitation to do these. These invitations will be sent in the next few
weeks. Your participation is, of course, optional. It is just another
feature along with the e-mailing list for newsletters and actions alerts for
engaging and linking moms interested in this exciting movement. We will
invite members of the mailing list to join time limited, periodic
discussions or chats using a private bulletin, invitation-only bulletin
board. (Thanks to our steering committee member Jennifer, in North
Carolina, for introducing this great vehicle of discussion). The listserv
can serve as your way of sending notices to the group of people whom you get
to know in the discussions. Once we have set up our listserv and initiate
our first discussion, you will receive an invitation to join.
Here is a preview of some of the
discussions that we will invite you to join (please start thinking about
your own ideas):
If you have curtailed your career or
stopped working for the sake of mothering, how will that affect your earning
power when you return to work?
How you can work in your community to
get moms talking about Social Security, pensions, and investing?
How much worth is given to the work
you do as a mom by family, friends, your profession?
How can we as a community of mothers
support each other in our concerns about the personal financial impact of
altered careers?
How can we 'get our financial house in
order' - listing resources?
How can I share my knowledge so that
eventually all of us in our own towns/states can have a moms meeting to
share what we have learned with other?
NEWSLETTER SUBMISSIONS
AND EDITORS SOUGHT
We are looking for submissions
about topics related to financial planning for mothers. If you have an
essay on this topic or would like to develop one that you think would be of
interest to other moms, please let us know. Also, if you would like to
edit, please let us know at
newsletter@securemom.com. Thank
you.
OUTREACH ROLES
Would you like to compile a SecureMom
directory of listservs and organizations for moms in your town and/or your
state in order to tell them about our exciting work, our listserv, our
gallery? Are you interested in raising awareness among state and federal
lawmakers about the concerns of moms with reduced or no income as a result of
motherhood?
We are looking for representatives or
coordinators for your states/congressional districts to do outreach to other
moms and to local lawmakers. We are looking for you. Please email us at
outreach@securemom.com
OUR ADVOCACY PLATFORM
GROWS
Here is a preview of additional planks
in our Social Security advocacy platform around which we will be organizing:
-Monitoring and opposing Individual
Accounts on the grounds that studies by analysts such as Melissa Favreault at
the Urban Institute have found that these accounts will be detrimental to the
benefit levels of women.
-Shortening of the marriage minimum
from ten to seven years for obtaining Social Security benefits based on
spousal work record.
-Special minimum benefits to help women
who are low lifetime earners.
-and, of course continued work for
credits for caregivers who earn little or no income while caring for children.
OUR EQUILT TO DATE...
(Thanks again and lets keep our hands busy...www.securemom.com/tell_a_friend.htm)
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Washington |
Minnesota
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Ohio
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New York
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| Hawaii | Utah | Illinois | Ohio |
Pennsylvania |
New Jersey |
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| Kentucky |
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District of Columbia |
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| North Carolina | ||||||
| Mississippi |
Georgia |
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Until Next Time,
Melody
Secure Mom