In celebration of Earth Day, join us in reading, Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing by Katharine Hayhoe. Then, join us on April 23 via Zoom for a book discussion.

Please register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0sd-yorjMjH90MTXV_rweDB6mGk2Jr2MKd

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Registration & Reception

Welcome and Introductions

Mayor’s Welcome

Overview of Format

Q &A from the Audience

Closing Remarks

This event will be televised. Panelists to be announced.

La Vergne City Hall
5093 Murfreesboro Rd
La Vergne, TN

Join us for a fun night of conversation for all members.

Tuesday, February 12
5:30-7:00 p.m.

Joanie’s on the Square
13 S Public Square
Murfreesboro, TN 37130

You’re invited to an Open Forum on school overcrowding and growth in Smyrna.

6:00 PM: Registration and light refreshments
6:15 PM: Program

Speakers include:
Mayor Mary Esther Reed
Deputy Superintendent Dr. Kay Martin
School Board Chair Sheila Bratton
School Board member Frances Rosales
County Commissioners Carl Boyd, Anthony Johnson, and Phil Wilson
Town of Smyrna Councilwoman Racquel Peebles, panel moderator.

Town of Smyrna Council Chambers
315 S. Lowry St.
Smyrna, TN

Please RSVP to lwvrutherford@gmail.com.

Please join us for an online meeting presented by the League of Women Voters of Tennessee. The presentation will explore data-backed perspectives on the next generation as they take on the mantle of democratic engagement and protection.

Click here to register.

Event image courtesy of the League of Women Voters of Tennessee.

Candidates for Murfreesboro mayor, Murfreesboro City Council, and the Murfreesboro City School Board on the upcoming August 4 ballot will have an opportunity to introduce themselves and respond to a moderator's questions on a timed basis at three consecutive forums on Tuesday evening, June 7.

The forums will be hosted by the League of Women Voters of Murfreesboro/Rutherford County in conjunction with Murfreesboro CityTV and the City of Murfreesboro Communications Department.

The public is invited to attend in person, watch live on CityTV, or stream live or later.

The schedule for the forums is

• 5:00-5:35 PM Mayoral candidates
  Nathan Bennett, Tony Lehew, Shane McFarland

• 6:00-7:10 PM City Council candidates (3 seats up for election)
  Jami Averwater, Carolyn Cox, Madelyn Scales Harris, Austin Maxwell, Warren Russell, Samantha Sourinho, Ricky Turner

• 7:30-8:10 PM City School Board candidates (3 seats up for election)
  Karen Dodd, Barbara Long, Amanda Moore, Florence Omachonu

Ending times are approximate. The public should be seated 10 minutes prior to each start time. There will be no admittance once each forum is underway.

A question pool is developed by a League committee with citizen input. You may submit suggested questions to the League at lwvrutherford@gmail.com. The moderator is not publicly aligned with any candidate and makes the final determination of questions.

All questions cannot be used due to time restrictions,but your input is helpful to the moderator in identifying topics of high interest and selecting the final questions from our question bank.

The forum can be viewed live on Murfreesboro City TV located on Comcast Xfinity channels 3 and 1094, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Mobile, youtube.com/cityofmurfreesboro, murfreesborotn.gov/citytv, and on the City’s Facebook page at facebook.com/cityofmurfreesborotn.

Early voting runs July 15 through July 30.  

About the venue

The forums will be held in Murfreesboro City Hall’s Council Chambers. Parking is available in the garage under City Hall, or on nearby streets.

To assure an impartial and welcoming environment for all candidates, no campaign materials (t-shirts, buttons, signs, etc.) are allowed.

Mark your calendars: The League is partnering with the United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties for a Lunch and Learn on Friday, April 22nd.

We will be viewing excerpts of the documentary Starting at Zero (view trailer below), which emphasizes the importance of quality early childhood education. A panel discussion will follow with

• Trey Duke, Murfreesboro City Schools

• Beth Duffield, Ascension

• Dana N. Glenn, TN Department of Human Services

Deb Thompson, Women United Advisory Council Chair, will moderate.

Registration is required. Register at
https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07ej37xsyka0250717&oseq=&c=&ch=

The theme for Earth Day 2022 is “Invest In Our Planet.” With that in mind, our April program—which will now be virtual due to having a remote speaker—will explore some ways that citizens here in Rutherford County can invest in renewable energy.

The meeting will feature Tim Suddoth, Distributed Energies Resource Coordinator for Middle Tennessee Electric, and Savannah Robertson from Drive Electric Tennessee.

We’ll be discussing the accessible steps we can all take now and plan to take later to minimize our energy usage.

The Drive Electric portion of the program will address the realities of electric vehicles for us as individuals and for the state as a whole in terms of economic and environmental impact.

About our speakers

Tim Suddoth is the Distributed Energy Resources Coordinator at MTEMC, and is a graduate of Appalachian State University with a degree in Building Science. He has been in the construction and renewable energy industries since 2011; his passion of helping people save money and reduce their carbon footprint led him to his role at MTEMC. Tim enjoys disc golf, gardening, travel, and time with his fiancé and son.

Savannah Robertson is a cat mom, runner, green thumb enthusiast, wannabe beekeeper, lover of the environment and an East Tennessee native. She has a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and is the DriveElectricTN Coordinator for ETCeanFules. Her greatest passions lie within supporting people to thrive in our ever changing, modern-day world.

Join us virtually

Time: Apr 12, 2022 06:15 PM Central Time

Join us beginning at 6:15 PM to chat and be ready for a prompt 6:30 start. If you need to slip in a few minutes late, that’s alright, too!

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3713019570?pwd=ekoxZ0RIN08vRXA3T1V2YVBkMlp2Zz09

Meeting ID: 371 301 9570

Passcode: rucoboro

One tap mobile

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Dial by your location

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Meeting ID: 371 301 9570

Passcode: 421360

Lightbulb on grass image credit: unsplash.com/@awesome

Save the date! The League will be a part of RISE Coalition’s voter engagement event in Murfreesboro at Bradley Academy Museum and Cultural Center on Saturday, April 9.

Rutherford County Election Commission Administrator Alan Farley will also be speaking, and AAUW-Murfreesboro will be registering voters on site.

RISE says:

Just like the old saying goes, "you get what you pay for", the same can be said for elections - you get what you vote for. You can't complain if you don't exercise your right to vote! Only 15% of Rutherford County voters actually vote in local elections. It's time to change that.

The purpose of this event is to educate the community on elections in Rutherford County, dispel voting myths, introduce candidates and most importantly register voters! Join us for brunch, candidates and conversation as we empower Rutherford to #VoteLocal.

Register now here on eventbrite

Members and guests alike are invited to our annual meeting, which will be held at Oaklands Mansion and Event Center on Tuesday, March 22. While the meeting itself will be at 6:30 PM, you’re invted to join us early for a self-guided tour of the historic house and grounds, and for a boxed dinner. Here’s the schedule:

• 5:00 to 6:00 PM
  Arrive anytime for a self-guided tour of Oaklands - and if it's nice, plan to walk the grounds!

• 6:00 to 6:30 PM
  Meet in the Event Center to enjoy a boxed dinner, and chat informally.

• 6:30 to 7:30 PM
  Conduct brief official business for our annual meeting and enjoy a presentation on Oaklands’ past and progress - see more below.

Annual meeting time means that it’s time to renew your membership

• Planning to join us? Please use this form (even if you can’t make it for dinner) to help our planning. We’ll send you an invoice to pay for your dinner reservations and join/renew your membership in one transaction.

• Already know you can’t make it? Please go ahead and join or renew here.

About the program

Oaklands staff member Connor Moss will present “Oaklands Mansion: A Place, Its Past, & Its Progress.” His talk will include a brief history of the mansion and the non-profit organization, the organization’s progress in the restoration of the mansion, and its progress in expanding the stories it tells to more fully include the enslaved individuals who once lived and worked on the plantation. He will also discuss the Arboretum and wetlands restoration on the property.

About our speaker

Connor Moss has worked at Oaklands Mansion for almost 15 years in several capacities. He began as a docent in 2007 and moved into a curatorial position soon after. He is now Oaklands Special Events Representative. Connor graduated from MTSU in 2011 with a degree in Political Science and has served as a field coordinator on several campaigns in Rutherford and Davidson counties.

Parking

There’s plenty of free parking at the Event Center. As you approach Oaklands, follow the signs to loop around the front of the house, then bear to the right to the Event Center and its parking lot.

We are excited to announce a community collaboration with the United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties, the MTSU Department of Social Work, the MTSU Department of Human Sciences, and others to discuss quality of life in Rutherford County.

Meagan Flippin and Kristen Swann, both with the United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties, will present information on the ALICE project. ALICE is an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed - a new way of defining and understanding the struggles of households that earn above the Federal Poverty Level, but not enough to afford a bare-bones household budget.

According to most recent data, 45% of households in Rutherford County are struggling. While 9% are below Federal Poverty Level, another 36% are identified as ALICE - households earning above poverty level, but not enough to afford basic household necessities. Our program will consider more about the metrics and implications of data specific to Rutherford County.

The public is invited. Elected officials and candidates/potential candidates running in the 2022 elections are especially encouraged to attend.

In person and virtual meeting options

The meeting will be held Tuesday, Feb. 8, from 6:00 - 7:30 PM.

In person

• Miller Meeting Room at the Miller Education Center

• 503 E. Bell St.

• Parking at the building and the lot diagonally across the street is free. Enter through the breezeway area.

• This is a large room and we expect plenty of space for physical distancing. Masks are encouraged.

Virtual

• Join our Zoom webinar at https://mtsu.zoom.us/j/86210407341?pwd=dTduUFJxcmNWZW15Wmo0UDRvblBlQT09

• Q&A will be available via Zoom.
  
  

About our speakers

Kristen Swann is currently the Vice President for Collective Impact and Strategic Initiatives at the United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties. For the past 11 years, she has served in marketing and community impact roles in both non-profit and for-profit organizations. Swann holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication from Mississippi State University and a master’s degree in Communication from Middle Tennessee State University. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, reading and spending time with her husband Travis and their cats Frank and Flossie.

Although 2022 is on our minds as an election year, voting is only one way to be civically engaged. The public is invited to join us as we consider ways that individuals and organizations can work to improve our communities and democracy, and how to encourage such work.

Our guests will be Murfreesboro City Councilmember Kirt Wade and Rutherford RISE organizer Eric Meriwether. Kirt will share his perspective on civic engagement from his view as both an elected official and as a citizen who chose to get involved by running for election; Eric will share information about Rutherford RISE, a new local coalition open to all that is working to facilitate positive change in the areas of voting, education, housing, workforce development and youth empowerment.

More about our speakers

Kirt Wade was first elected to the Murfreesboro City Council in 2016, ten years after relocating to middle Tennessee. He is native of Trenton, Tennessee, attended Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee, and is a 1995 graduate of California Southern University. After positions with Gaylord Opryland and the Jacksonville Jaguars, Kirt now owns Price Paving, an asphalt and paving contractor in Murfreesboro. In addition to serving on several city commissions, Kirt’s community involvement includes Samaritans Ministries, the Blue Raider Athletic Association, and Kappa Alpha Psi, Inc. He has also served on the Motlow Foundation Board and Trustees and the Business Education Partnership Board. Kirt is the father of three sons, Jonathan, Zachary and Benjamin. In 2020, Kirt was the recipient of the Murfreesboro NAACP Humanitarian Award. His second term on the Murfreesboro City Council will expire in 2024.

Eric L. Meriwether is a 2005 graduate of the Jennings A. Jones College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University where he received his Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Business Management. A Financial Advisor with Northwestern Mutual, he has been in the financial industry in Middle Tennessee for over 17 years. Eric is a native of Memphis, TN and currently resides in Murfreesboro with his wife, Tempest, and their two daughters. His community involvement includes serving on the Board of Directors for Empowerment, Inc. a non-profit dedicated to supporting and preparing high school students for college and life; being selected for the City of Murfreesboro MED Investment Study Group in 2021; and being a member of Leadership Rutherford’s class of 2022.

Join us online

LWV-MRC is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: LWV Meeting on Civic Engagement

Time: Jan 11, 2022 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3713019570?pwd=ekoxZ0RIN08vRXA3T1V2YVBkMlp2Zz09

Meeting ID: 371 301 9570

Passcode: rucoboro

One tap mobile

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+13126266799,,3713019570#,,,,*421360# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location

+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

Meeting ID: 371 301 9570

Passcode: 421360

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/ksgRGrLl

A trio of local officials will give an update on redistricting in Rutherford County. Speakers include

• Alan Farley, Rutherford County Election Commission Administrator

• Mike Curtis, GIS Manager, Rutherford County OIT (Office of Information Technology)

• Matthew Hill, GIS Senior Specialist, Tennessee Comptroller's Office

This event will offer both virtual and in-person options and include a welcome by Rutherford County Mayor Bill Ketron.

Ways to participate:

• Join us in person in the County Commission Chamber at the historic Rutherford County Courthouse

• Watch live on RCTV, located on Comcast Cable channel 19 or AT&T’s U-verse channel 99. Learn more here about Rutherford County TV.

• Live stream on your device from the Rutherford County YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/RutherfordGovernment/live

If you’d like to submit a question about the process, email us at lwvrutherford@gmail.com. We will also monitor this email during the program and will do our best to pass along your question during the Q&A period.

What is redistricting, and why is it important right now?

When new census data is collected every 10 years, states redraw their state and congressional district lines. These districts determine how communities are represented at the local, state, and federal levels. The redistricting process is fundamental in influencing how our government works for us and the funds our communities receive.

For more about the local redistricting process, including YouTube links to committee meetings, see this summary on our website.

In association with the MTSU University Honors College and MT Engage, the local League of Women Voters is presenting “Immigration, Law, and Local Consequences: A Community Dialog.”

Panelists will include

• Kellye Branson, Refugee-Immigrant Services, Catholic Charities

• Abdou Kattih, Refugee Assistance, Murfreesboro Muslim Youth

• Moderator, Barbara Ibarra, League of Women Voters of Murfreesboro/Rutherford County

This event will be held in the Parliamentary Room (room 201) of the MTSU Student Union (see building STU on this map) and will also be broadcast on Zoom.

The public is invited to attend in person; parking tips are below, .

About the panelists

Kellye Branson has been the Director of Refugee and Immigration Services for Catholic Charities since 2008. Prior to that she worked in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice arenas. She has a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and Psychology from MTSU and a Master's degree in Forensic Psychology from the University of North Dakota.

Abdou Kattih is a Syrian immigrant who arrived in the USA in 1998. A licensed pharmacist with over 20 years’ experience in management in both retail and corporations, he also has a long history of community service. In 2015, Abdou founded the Murfreesboro Muslim Youth, a leading local organization in youth development and social work. He’s also currently a board member of the Rutherford Interfaith Council, the Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault, and the Community Helpers. The recipient of numerous community service awards, Abdou is always looking for ways to combat hate, build bridges, and strengthen his community.

Barbara “Bobbie” Ibarra has over 30 years of senior executive management experience in the government, corporate, nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. Her range of experience includes serving as the National Director of Civil Rights in the Department of Transportation in Washington, as the executive director of a philanthropic organization addressing homelessness in Miami, and as the founding president of a Miami non-profit helping children in the child welfare system. Bobbie has served on various national, state and local boards and has quickly become involved in the middle Tennessee community, including the local League of Women Voters, since recently moving here.

Join us online

LWV-MRC is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Immigration, Law, and Local Consequences

Time: Sep 20, 2021 03:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3713019570?pwd=ekoxZ0RIN08vRXA3T1V2YVBkMlp2Zz09

Meeting ID: 371 301 9570

Passcode: rucoboro

One tap mobile

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Dial by your location

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+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

Meeting ID: 371 301 9570

Passcode: 421360

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/ksgRGrLl

If you join us in person: parking tips

For community parking, there is an official Visitor Lot immediately behind/east of the “One Stop building,” also known as Student Services and Admissions Center, on Blue Raider Drive (see SSAC in area E4 on this map). There is no charge for parking in the Visitor Lot; it’s completely free; however you will need to park, walk into SSAC to its main lobby desk and get a tag, and then go back to put the parking tag in your car.

If you’d rather get a permit to park elsewhere, please note that Parking Services moved this past year. It’s now located at 205 City View Drive, Murfreesboro.

You can also purchase a parking permit online. Learn more here.

Masks are required on campus.