• The Santa Rosa branch has a program on Navigating Medicare D presented by Mr. Paul Sampson, Assistant Director of Social Security Santa Rosa Office. Topics covered will include new optional prescription drug plan, who benefits and projected costs.
   
• The Garden Grove branch is providing a seminar on Medicare. Jacqueline Lauder, Master's of Science Gerontology Degree from CSU Fullerton, will discuss issues surrounding Social Security and women. Her emphasis is Gender, Aging and Economics. She is currently the Education and Outreach Coordinator for HICAP, Council on Aging - Orange County.
   
• The Petaluma branch will have an issues forum on Genetically-Modified Organisms. The November 8 election will give Sonoma county voters the opportunity to decide whether to establish a ten-year ban on the growth and sale of genetically-modified organics.

• Be sure to include new members while you are socializing before/after your programs. Introduce them to new friends who were not at your September meeting. Don’t leave guests and new members by themselves!
• Have a new member orientation or get together. Sometimes even current members can use a reminder about what all of our acronyms and AAUW programs are about.

• The Program Development Committee met in September and is busily planning the 2006 convention. Our theme follows the Association theme - “Education as the Gateway to Women’s Economic Security.” Mark your calendars for April 28-30, 2006 in San Jose!

A survey will be coming to you next week by email (or for those who don’t have email, snail mail) gathering information about your current branch programs that reflect the long-term Association them regarding Economic Security. The purpose of this questionnaire is to pool and share information. Please return these questionnaires by January 31, 2006. Of course, we will always accept information before then!! Beginning next week you will also be able to find this questionnaire on our website.

• Visit the Association website for programming and leadership opportunities with your members. www.aauw.org/community_programs Programs include Impact your Campus and Community: Choices for a Changing World; Enhancing Leadership for the Next Generation of Women Leaders; Promoting Higher Education: AAUW Partners with Colleges and Universities; and International Outreach.
   
• Adelante Book of the Month Selection
  The Adelante! Book Club is an Association program designed to encourage members and nonmembers to open a dialogue of women and diversity in their communities.
  
  October (Disability Awareness Month)
  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (2003)
  
  Christopher Boone, the autistic 15-year-old narrator of this revelatory novel, relaxes by groaning and doing math problems in his head, eats red-but not yellow or brown-foods and screams when he is touched. Strange as he may seem, other people are far more of a conundrum to him, for he lacks the intuitive "theory of mind" by which most of us sense what's going on in other people's heads. When his neighbor's poodle is killed and Christopher is falsely accused of the crime, he decides that he will take a page from Sherlock Holmes (one of his favorite characters) and track down the killer. As the mystery leads him to the secrets of his parents' broken marriage and then into an odyssey to find his place in the world, he must fall back on deductive logic to navigate the emotional complexities of a social world that remains a closed book to him.

• Be sure to check out the program section of our state website! It is up-to-date and has lots of great information. www.aauw-ca.org/program/
• Between now and the special elections, branches are having programs to inform branch and community members about ballot initiatives. Check the Public Policy section of our website for more information.
• Election Day is coming up soon. Be sure you are registered to vote!
• Thank you to all who have been sending me your branch newsletters! I am enjoying reading about all of the great programs being offered. If you have not yet done so, please add me to your mailing list.

Welcome to Program Notes! This is a monthly newsletter that is all about program. There will be information about Association and state; branches recognized for their outstanding programs; and program tips, committee news, Adelanté Book of the Month selections, and other resources to use throughout the year during your programs and events. I look forward to receiving your newsletters, program information and pictures. Please be sure to contact me at programvp@aauw-ca.org if you have any questions/comments/suggestion about program.

• As newsletters arrive I will be looking for interesting programs to share with you here. There are so many great programs and so little room! Be sure to keep track of your programs with photos – all of this can be used for the Branch Recognition Program.
• Thanks to all those branches who participated in the Branch Recognition Program last year. Not only were they highlighted at our state convention, but they were also recognized at the Association convention! An application for this year was sent in the admin packet and can also be found at the state website. All applications are due by February 15, 2006.

• Highlight new members in your newsletter – your current members will learn about them and they will feel special knowing they are in your newsletter!
• Be sure to introduce guests at your meetings and have a current member stay with them during the meeting. We tend to be so anxious to see our friends that we sometimes forget new members and leave them to mingle alone.

• The PDC will be meeting this month to plan the April 2006 convention in San Jose. Please mark your calendars for April 28-30, 2006. We expect to present an outstanding, fun filled convention!

• There are over 15 media titles stored in our AAUW CA office – great for an interesting program! A list of titles was included in the admin packet and can be found on our state website in the program section. If you send $5 to the office with the name of the title you are choosing and when you need it by, it will be sent to you. Titles are available on a first come/first serve basis. Return the title to the AAUW CA office when you are finished; you pay the postage on the return. Please do not keep your title for more than a week since other branches may be waiting for that same title.
• The DVD used at the 2005 Woman to Woman Summit – Passion to Lead – may be copied and shared with others. Again, please return the original no later than one week from receiving it.
• The 2005 Woman to Woman Summit was held April 22 at the Riverside Convention Center. The results of this extraordinary event have been compiled in a "white paper." Check our state website for more information.

• The new program theme from Association is "Education as the Gateway to Women's Economic Security." We will be gathering information this year from branches as to what types of programs you are already doing in your branches that relate to the new theme. When our requests for information come, please complete them and send them in so that we may compile the information for your use in planning next year.
• After many years of serving as a great way to make our advocacy more effective, AAUW's Get the Facts has been retired. In its place, the AAUW Action Network has been developed - a more sophisticated email action tool. AAUW's Action Network is free to anyone who has an email address, wants to know what's going on in Washington, and needs a simple and easy way to take action to affect the outcome on issues they care about. Subscribe online at: www.aauw.org/issue_advocacy/actionnetwork/join.cfm



• Adelante Book of the Month Selection
  
  The Adelante! Book Club is an Association program designed to encourage members and nonmembers to open a dialogue of women and diversity in their communities.
  
  September (Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 15-Oct. 15)
  
  The Pearl of the Antilles
  by Dr. Andrea O'Reilly Herrera (2000)
  
  The Pearl of the Antilles chronicles the lives of several generations of Cuban women. The story focuses on Margarita, an exile in the United States, who struggles to come to terms with her divided identity, a past she has suppressed, and her failure to share her heritage with her children. The novel explores the ways in which culture and tradition have been preserved and passed down to Cuban Americans and portrays the cultural fragmentation and deep sense of loss that Cubans living in exile and their children (who may never have set foot on Cuban soil) continue to experience.

• Between now and the end of October is a great time to have a program on Public Policy - we all should be knowledgeable regarding the issues on the ballot.
• Send me a copy of your monthly newsletter – I prefer email, but love to get snail mail too!
• Please share this with other board members. Monthly Program Notes may also be found on the state website.