The Youth Vote Team is looking for volunteers to help us reach out to high schools and colleges this fall to register and educate as many students as possible. LWVSP will be working in a number of high schools to help engage students through voter registration and voter education about the upcoming November 2018 election. This year, we also hope to follow up with students via text messages to remind them about deadlines for early voting and absentee ballots.

For more information, to schedule a voter registration shift, or to sign up to volunteer on any of the Voter Service Committee opportunities, email Heidi Kloempken (heidi.kloempken@gmail.com).

We are excited to be partnering with the St. Paul Public Libraries again this year to register voters. If you are interested in registering voters, check out the list of libraries and preferred times below. (Note: we have other voter registration opportunities posted on our events calendar. Be sure to check it out!) The libraries are flexible and allow volunteers to choose their most convenient 2-hour shift times. Some of the libraries suggested times when they have the most visitors so that we can make the most impact out of our volunteers' time. 

To schedule your shift, e-mail Heidi Kloempken ( heidi.kloempken@gmail.com) with your preferred library, dates, and times. 

Rice Street | 1011 Rice Street Saint Paul, MN 55117

Hours: Monday: 12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Tuesday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Wednesday: 12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Thursday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.,  Saturday: 11:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sunday: 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Preferred Times: Monday and Wednesday evenings, Sunday afternoons

Hayden Heights | 1456 White Bear Avenue Saint Paul, MN 55106

Hours: Monday: 12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Tuesday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Wednesday: 12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Thursday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Saturday: 11:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Sunday: Closed

Preferred Times: Mondays 12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m., Tuesdays through Thursdays 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m., Fridays 3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Merriam Park | 1831 Marshall Avenue Saint Paul, MN 55104

Hours: Monday: 12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Tuesday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Wednesday: 12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Thursday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Saturday: 11:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sunday: 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

No preferred times given. Volunteer at your convenience.

Rondo Community Library | 461 N Dale Street Saint Paul, MN 55104

Hours: Monday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Tuesday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Wednesday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Thursday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Saturday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Sunday: 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

No preferred times given. Volunteer at your convenience.

St. Anthony Park | 2245 Como Avenue Saint Paul, MN 55108

Hours: Monday: 12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Tuesday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Wednesday: 12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Thursday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Saturday: 11:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sunday: Closed

Preferred Times: Tuesday, September 11, 11:00 a.m.; Friday, September 21, 11:00 a.m.; Saturday, October 6, 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

Arlington Hills | 1200 Payne Avenue Saint Paul, MN 55130

Hours: Monday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Tuesday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Wednesday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Thursday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Saturday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Sunday: 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

No preferred times given but they requested volunteers to come as often as possible.

West Seventh Library | 265 Oneida Street Saint Paul, MN 55102

Hours: Monday: 12:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Tuesday: 11:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Wednesday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Thursday: 12:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Saturday: Closed, Sunday: Closed

Preferred Times: Mondays and Tuesdays

We will host four events this summer at local library branches in areas of low voter turnout. The goal of each event will be to register voters and raise awareness of voting and elections. The events will include free frozen treats, a mock election with a real ballot counter, music, entertainment, and voter registration.

Sun Ray Library | July 5, 2018 | 5:30—7:30 p.m.
2109 Wilson Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55119

Riverview Library | July 14, 2018 | 2:00—4:00 p.m.
1 East George Street, Saint Paul, MN 55107

Rice Street Library | July 29, 2018 | 2:00—4:00 p.m.
1011 Rice Street, Saint Paul, MN 55117

Dayton’s Bluff Library | August 6, 2018 | 4:00—6:00 p.m.
645 East 7th Street Saint Paul, MN 55106

We still need volunteers to register voters at the Dayton’s Bluff and Riverview Library events. If you are interested, please email info@lwvsp.org or contact Sig Johnson at sigrid.johnson@comcast.net.

Several of St Paul’s public boards and commissions are looking for new members. Are you the new person they’ve been looking for?

The volunteer boards and commissions cover a spectrum of responsibilities, from the Advisory Committee on Aging to the Workforce Innovation Board, and many, many others. Each groups’ duties and requirements are listed on their website right along with a place where you can apply to be a member. Some are for people with specific backgrounds—for instance, an architect or an archaeologist might be specified, or a resident of a specific neighborhood, but most are not.

Boards and Commissions are under the supervision of the Mayor’s Office. Each group has its own page on the website, including information about vacancies. If you become a board or commission member, please let the League know, by contacting board member Diggitt McLaughlin, Observer Corps, at diggittmcl@gmail.com.

Learn more on the City of Saint Paul website >

Would you like to meet some of your neighbors? Find a way to be useful in your own community?  Saint Paul makes participation easy for its residents through the 17 district councils.

For more than 40 years, Saint Paul’s district councils have educated their residents about local issues and advocated for their communities to city council and other “higher” levels of government.  They have also been a training group for many city officials; current city council members Rebecca Noecker and Jane Prince served on their respective district councils.

What’s your own District Council involved in?  It depends on the Council, but here are issues most work on one way or another:

• land use, including small area planning
• gardens
• transportation
• youth in the neighborhood
• local celebrations
• community safety

Your own District Council can help you resolve issues, as well as find a place for yourself in your city.  You can find its name and check out its website on this map. You will be welcomed at its board meeting or any of its committee meetings.

If you would like to share your District Council experiences with the League’s Observer Corps, contact Diggitt McLaughlin at diggittmcl@gmail.com.

Help Your Neighbors Become Educated and Active Citizens

We had a small crowd at the Smart Recycler presentation last night, but those who attended left with a better understanding of the way the city of Saint Paul and Ramsey County partner to make sure we are doing all we can as a community to reduce waste and protect our environment. Rae Eden Frank, Planning Specialist II with the Environmental Health Division for Ramsey County shared news about upcoming services to help keep us moving in the right direction.  In May, we will be able to pick up countertop organic waste buckets—small and perfect for apartment dwellers. With the free bucket, you will get a few compostable bags to use, and when you drop off your full bags at a approved site for composting, you will be issued a few more bags—all at not cost to you! We learned not only how to compost, but how to use your compost to help grow healthy lawns, fruits and vegetables, trees, shrubs and flowers. Spreading compost around plants helps to reduce weeds! 

Rae also shared great re-use information. The county offers free Fix-It Clinics at various locations every month. Instead of throwing out that old CD player or VHS player, you can bring it into the clinic and a volunteer (who likes to tinker) will fix it while you watch. This way you can learn how to do it yourself if the problem arises again. In addition, they offer fee disposal of household hazardous waste at their Saint Paul (Bay West) location where you can bring your leftover gasoline, antifreeze, bug killers/repellents, paint and spray paint and many other products. You can also pick up partial containers of these products! Need just a little paint for a project? Check out their stock! 

For hours, locations and more information, please check out the website at www.RamseyRecycles.com.

Attendees also shared their tips and ideas. We learned how easy it is to make and use our own laundry and dishwasher detergent so we don’t need to buy and get rid of the big packaging and we know exactly what is in what we clean our clothes and dishes with. 

Thank you to Rae Eden Frank and Saint Paul - Ramsey County Public Health for helping us be better environmental stewards, and to Joann Ellis of the Program Committee for planning the event.

Click here to read our March-April 2018 The Voter Newsletter!

LWV-Upper Mississippi River Region Inter League Organization Newsletter for January 2018.

LWV St. Paul January 2018 Voter Newsletter.

Thank you to everyone who joined us on Wednesday for our panel discussion, "End Human & Sex Trafficking in Minnesota," either at the SPNN studios or from your homes. During the event, our panelists discussed the problem of sex trafficking in Minnesota: sharing stories of victims, dispelling misconceptions about trafficking and sex work, and educating us all on the evolution of how human trafficking and sex work have been approached by law enforcement and prosecutors.

The panelists included John Choi, Ramsey County Attorney; Terry Forliti, Executive Director of Breaking Free; Sergeant Nikkole Peterson, St. Paul Police Department; Ed Heisler, Co-Executive Director of Men As Peacemakers; and Lorena Pinto, Director of the PRIDE program.

Special thanks to League of Women Voters - Minneapolis and Saint Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN) for their partnership in coordinating and promoting this important discussion.

Watch or Listen to the Panel Discussion

You can watch replays of the panel on SPNN (channel 19) in Saint Paul on Friday, January 12 at 9:30 p.m., Sunday, January 14 at 8:00 p.m., Monday, January 15 at 4:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., Thursday, January 18 at 8:00 p.m., Friday, January 19 at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, January 20 at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday, January 21 at 5:30 p.m.

You can listen to an audio replay of the panel on AM950 radio Saturday, January 13 at 10 a.m. and again on Monday, January 15 at 8 a.m.

You can also visit The Uptake's Facebook page to watch the video now.

Get Involved

If you want to help end human and sex trafficking, visit:

• MN Human Trafficking Task Force to learn more and click "get involved" to take action.
• The Safe Harbor for All strategic planning page to learn about the importance of expanding the age guidelines of the Safe Harbor Act.
  

Thank you!