League delegates at the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts’ Zoom-enabled biennial Convention this past Saturday approved a wide-ranging program for the next biennium and adopted a budget that supports a new strategic plan designed to build the League’s capacity and increase outreach to a diverse community.

The Convention also elected an expanded board of directors and accepted several bylaw amendments. Details are in the Convention Workbook.

Much of the Convention’s discussions and actions focused on the need for the League, at the local, state, and national levels, to look at and act on all of our programs, positions, and initiatives through a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens. This theme was emphasized in pre-recorded messages from LWVUS President Dr. Deborah Turner and LWVUS CEO Virginia Kase. (The messages were on video because LWVUS was holding its biennial Council at the same time.)

A highlight of the Convention was the inspiring keynote speech by state Rep. Liz Miranda. Introduced as a dynamic legislator whose work exemplifies the Convention theme, Rep. Miranda is in her second term representing the 5^th Suffolk district, which she described as having the largest majority of people of color in the state. She talked about her background – she’s a lifelong resident of her district and a graduate of Boston’s John D O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science and of Wellesley College – and her experience and her priorities, which include working to improve maternal health outcomes for minorities in the state. Talking about moving forward after the pandemic, Rep. Miranda told the Convention, “We can’t go back to normal, because normal was not good enough.” She also thanked the League for our support of the Police Reform Bill and other legislation she has sponsored.

Lynn Cohen was the Westford League’s delegate to the Convention, and Ellen Harde was the Convention parliamentarian.