Why we do Program Planning
There are many important issues on which the League could have an impact. With program planning, League members decide where we could be most effective and which issues most deserve our time and efforts.
For the League, “program” means “those issues impacted by government and chosen by members for concerted study and action.”
Program planning is a member-centered multistep process.
Members recommend which issues to address, new studies to undertake and changes to LWV advocacy positions.
The program planning process begins in December or January. Groups of members discuss the important issues that the League should focus on in the next League year, which begins the next summer. Every year, members consider what the League should do at the local level. Every other year, they make recommendations for the state LWV. In the alternate years, they make recommendations for the national LWV. In program planning, members review the LWV’s advocacy positions, to decide how they can be used for action at the local government level, as well as in the Oregon Legislature or with the U.S. Congress. If new advocacy is needed, members may recommend an in-depth study of the issues. They can also recommend restudies of some issues, if our advocacy positions don’t fully address current problems.
The process ends in May or June, at the annual meeting of the local membership or the biennial convention of LWVOR or LWVUS. There, members vote on the proposals they developed earlier for the League at each level. By clicking on the links below, you can read about how this process will work in 2022 and how it worked in prior years.
Program Planning for 2023-24
In January 2023, sixty-one Portland League members met online to discuss seven sets of current issues. These issues all affect the future of our communities and state. The members examined the LWV of Oregon and LWV of Portland advocacy positions that applied to each set of issues. The results of those discussions are here.