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Date: 3/28/2023
Subject: The VOTER Newsletter - April 2023
From: LWV of Johnson County




 
School Choice: Accountability to Kansas Students
   
Saturday, April 1 | 9:00-11:00 a.m.
Matt Ross Community Center
8101 Marty, Overland Park, KS 66204

Join us for a robust conversation on school finance in Kansas. What are the impacts on teachers, administrators and students? Program begins at 9:30; enjoy socializing, with coffee and donuts, at 9:00.


 
Join us to discuss local issues and how you can get involved.

This is an in-person meeting. Registration is recommended.
 

Kansas_em_powers_Democracy.png
Kansas (Em)Powers Democracy | LWVK Biennial Convention
 
When:  Saturday, April 22, 2023, 10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Where:
Advanced Learning Library
711 W. 2nd St. | Wichita, KS 67203

LWVJoCo has 21 delegate spots. Email Janet Milkovich / Connie Taylor if you are interested in serving as a delegate. There is also a virtual option. 

Registration is required before Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 12:00 a.m.
 

 
Legislative Coffees
 
Discover what's been percolating in the Kansas Legislature. Representatives and Senators with constituents in Johnson County discussed the new legislative session in coffees all around the area, followed by Q&A. This series was presented in partnership with the Johnson County Library.
 
Elected officials from both parties are always invited to participate.
 
Recordings of the legislative coffee events are posted to our YouTube channel.
  

Presidential Update

Submitted by Janet Milkovich

My husband and I have moved nine times. Our two sons, now adults, attended schools in Louisiana, Texas, and Kansas. We moved to Overland Park when they were in middle school and were so pleased with the education the boys received, we realigned our priorities so we could stay here until they graduated high school. Now, as grandparents with a first grader enrolled in a Blue Valley school, we continue to value the education afforded to students in Johnson County. If only that were true for all students throughout the entire state!

I read that Thomas Jefferson believed only educated citizens could make the American experiment in self-government succeed. He is credited with proposing a system of broad, free, public education for men and women alike. What a radical idea! 

The Kansas Legislature has been considering new ways to fund public and private schools. You may have heard of the “school voucher” legislation.  To learn more about that, please join us on Saturday, April 1 at the Matt Ross Center. The program will delve into School Choice: Accountability to Kansas Students. Coffee and donuts will be served at 9:00. The program will begin at 9:30.

Bring your questions about school funding. And If you have new or gently used books for students in grades K-6, please bring them, too. They will be distributed through the Resurrection Book Mobile to students in underserved schools. 

In closing, I want to encourage you to attend the LWVK 2023 Biennial Convention on Saturday, April 22 in Wichita and Zoom. Did you know that there are 1,100 League members across the state of Kansas? We invite you to come together with our eight partner Leagues. Registration and information are included in this email. 

With appreciation for our wonderful JoCo members,

Janet

Janet Milkovich and Connie Taylor

Co-Presidents


DEI Moment: International Jazz Day

April 30 is International Jazz Day

On April 30, 2023, International Jazz Day will be observed throughout the world to celebrate the music that was born in America and stamped with Kansas City’s unique brand right here. 

History. Designation. Relevance.

“In November 2011, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) officially designated April 30 as International Jazz Day in order to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe. International Jazz Day is chaired and led by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay and legendary jazz pianist and composer Herbie Hancock, who serves as a UNESCO Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue and Chairman of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz.”  (About International Jazz Day )

“For Wynton Marsalis, the jazz ensemble is democracy in action: participatory, inclusive, challenging, competitive and collective. For the interracial musical scene of the forties and fifties, jazz improvisation was often viewed as the ultimate integrated music, crossing the color line and social categories with aplomb. 

“Its roots are African and European, classical and popular, dance music and art music. It has been called both cool and hot, earthy and avant-garde, intellectual and primitive. It has been influenced by Latin American and Afro-Cuban music, by Middle Eastern, Indian, and other forms of Asian music, by African music, and by varieties of religious music including gospel and the Protestant hymnal. Jazz also has roots in the American popular song (which makes up a good deal of its repertoire), the blues, hokum and circus music, marching band music, and popular dance music.” (Why Jazz Still Matters | American Academy of Arts and Sciences)

Ingrid Monson is a noted jazz scholar and Professor of Ethnomusicology at Harvard University with a lifelong interest in the relationships among music, race, aesthetics, and politics. In Monson’s words, “The art music known variously as jazz, swing, bebop, America’s classical music, and creative music has been associated first and foremost with freedom. Freedom of expression, human freedom, freedom of thought, and the freedom that results from an ongoing pursuit of racial justice.”

Kansas City Jazz

Political Boss Tom Pendergast’s grip on Kansas City, Missouri from 1925 to 1939 rendered prohibition essentially nonexistent in the downtown area and kept clubs open for business. It was during this time that Kansas City earned its nickname “The Paris of the Plains.” Clubs from 12th to 18th streets attracted musicians from New Orleans, Chicago, and New York where clubs had been shuttered. Here, they had the freedom to perform in the evenings and then jam together until dawn. Towns like St. Louis, adopting the “New Orleans Style'' jazz, saw their music scene simply fizzle out. Kansas City was “where it was happening” and became an incubator that birthed the unique “Big Band” sound that eventually spread across genres, cultures, states, countries and oceans. 

Kansas City jazz has taken root in our city and continues to grow even now, thanks to cross-generational teaching and mentoring, a loyal local following, and jazz enthusiasts who come here just for the experience. In 2013, a catalyst group known as “Kansas City Jazz Alive” organized as a 501(c)(3). Its members work in concert to “Raise the Tide that Lifts all Jazz Boats.” (KC Jazz ALIVE). On any given night in downtown Kansas City, you can find young jazz scholars of UMKC and North Kansas City Community College weaving themselves amongst experienced jazz artists in intimate, conversation-sparking venues like The Phoenix, The Green Lady Lounge, The Blue Room, The Black Dolphin, The Uptown Lounge, The Black Box (of the West Bottoms), Knucklehead’s, The Kauffman Center, Pierpont’s Restaurant at Union Station, Yardley Hall of the Johnson County Community College and more. 

The reach of Kansas City’s jazz influence cannot be overstated. A Sister City Jazz Exchange program between the cities of Hannover, Germany and Kansas City brought the Hannover Big Band to Kansas City for a week of events across the metro from October 14-24 of 2022. It culminated in a performance of Duke Ellington’s Sacred Music featuring the Hannover Big Band, the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra, the Kansas City Kansas Community College Jazz Choir, and three nationally recognized vocalists.

To understand and appreciate jazz is to understand and appreciate connectedness. Jazz musicians don’t just perform memorized repertoire. Instead, they communicate, they feed off each other, they interact with their audiences, and they create in real time. Best of all, we can personally experience live jazz of the past, present, and future in Kansas City -- not just on International Jazz Day -- but on any day of the year: Live Jazz KC Daily Calendar of Events.

Submitted by the DEI Committee


Teresa Farrell
Farah Marhusin
Maggie Roby
Linda Trout

Observer Corps Reports

Catch up on the actions, decisions and proposals of our local public officials. 

Following local politics as a League Observer is a great way to stay informed on the issues you care about. Contact Eileen Marshall to find out where you might plug in, and read our latest reports.
 
Thank you to the members of the Observer Corps. Their hard work makes it easier to stay informed, and demonstrates civic engagement at public meetings.
And great news, we now also have coverage for the Johnson County Parks and Recreation board meetings.
 

Keeping Up With The Kansas Legislature

LWV Kansas is a supporter of Kansas Rural Center's Policy Watch updates.

Our partners at Mainstream and Loud Light publish newsletters with their observations on legislative action: 

*Mainstream Coalition

Loud Light  


Board and Committee Briefs
 
🇺🇸 Path to Citizenship: Details here for this free program available through the Catholic Charities’ Learning Center. Catholic Charities offers a free Citizenship Preparation program that focuses on the English language, American history and civics knowledge needed to pass the naturalization interview and exam.

👍 The Redistricting Position Statement, discussed at the March 6 Consensus Meeting, was passed.
 
🔎 Kansas Legislature: kslegislature.org.
Here are a few bills to watch:
  1. Election Bills – Senate Bills SB 208, 209 and 210
  2. Education Bills – House Bills 2048 and 2218
  3. Water Committee - HB 2279, 2172, 2480 and 686

📧 New email addresses have been established for Board Members by office. You can also send an email directly via the form on the Contact Us page.
 
Information
email us at
 
President
Janet Milkovich
 
President
Connie Taylor
 
Vice President
Jennifer Day
 
Communications Chair
Heidi Matthews
 
Membership
Nancy Allen
 
Secretary
Harry Bognich
 
Treasurer
Mary Lou Jaramillo
 
Voter Information Chair
Marie Hernandez
 
Voter Registration Chair
Ann Schuster
 
Voter Registration Chair
Anne Stroud
 
Voter Registration Chair
Tom Stroud
 
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Co-Chair
Kay Heley
 
Great Decisions Leader
Rebecca James
 
Naturalization Chair
Christine Hutchins
 
Observer Corps
Eileen Marshall
 
Speakers Bureau Chair
Kathleen Morrow

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