A Message from the President

Good afternoon members,

This is going to be a less formal newsletter this month, more of a message from me.

First, let me thank all of you for your hard work this election season. Every one of you had a part in making sure we had a successful slate of educational events, candidate forums, and voter registration drives. We get our power from our members and our community, and I am so happy I have the opportunity to be a part of this group and lead our organization.

Let us be clear though! This is not the end of our work, we are just getting started.

Some of you were able to come to our first planning meeting for the future of our League last month; thank you to those who were able to make that and share their thoughts. For those who weren’t able to make it, that is alright! We are moving forward, and there will be more planning meetings to come. At our last meeting we discussed how we are going to implement the newly ratified playbook for OUR local League: The Central Rappahannock Region United Voices Playbook. This playbook uses the LWV US initiative ‘Unite and Rise’ as a springboard to reignite our League’s work here.

During my time with the League, now as president, and even outside of this work, I have noticed there is a lack of community in our lives today. In years past people have worked within their community to get things done, either through local leagues, clubs, fellowships, and sororities/fraternities. Today, these organizations have fallen out of style, and for many people there are no local options for getting involved with your community. I want to make our League the hub for ANYONE to find a community where they can come to for support and local action.

I am coming into this conversation of revitalization with a few things in mind, all of which hinge on one another: people are becoming more and more disillusioned with politics; there is a distinct lack of diverse and inclusive community at the local level; and there is an incredible lack of understanding when it comes to the role of the local government. When I look back in time I see people in past generations working together to fight for local issues, but today, I see people looking into their phones as they blame the federal government for an issue that their School Board decided.

This is a problem for a few reasons, some are more clear than others. When people think that all of their problems lie with the federal government, they don’t know about their local resources available to resolve issues — I think we all know this is a problem. However, if the larger population believes that the federal government has the authority to make decisions at the local level, then that is what it will begin doing, and that is what we have seen more and more.

So, the answer is to create a community built on education and engaging your neighbors; and you might say, “hey, that is what the League is for,” and I would agree. The problem is, I believe political organizations are not taken as seriously as before, or at least people are much less interested in engaging them.

In the current landscape of politics, there are hundreds of organizations with similar-sounding names that pop up during election season every year to annoy people about registering, and all that does is turn people off of it all. People are not going to engage with an organization that only engages them when it needs something, when it needs a donation, or when it needs volunteers.

So in all of that is why I created this playbook, to try and do what I can to solve this issue. Through new leadership roles, engaging year-round events, and “meeting people where they are,” I hope to create a more inclusive and more engaging League for the Fredericksburg area and for YOU.

So I ask that you engage me. If it has been a while since you have reached out or if you are talking to me every week, I would like to hear from you all. This is not about one person or one group, it is about expanding out community. If you made it through this message, I am sure you have thoughts about it, I would love to hear them— criticisms, support, or ideas —I am open to an form of discussion on this because it is not just about what I have to say. Send me a message, respond to this email, or let’s plan a coffee if you would like to talk one on one, but otherwise I hope you can make it to our monthly meeting on Monday December 8th to discuss this or any of the below ways to get involved.

Thank you again for all you do for our community.

In League,

Theodore G. Blackwell, President

League of Women Voters of the Fredericksburg Area | Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy.
Serving the City of Fredericksburg and Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania & Stafford Counties

president@fredericksburglwv.org

📅 December Monthly Meeting

Monday, December 8th, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Virtual meeting via Microsoft Teams

Join us for our monthly member meeting to discuss the playbook implementation, upcoming initiatives, and ways to get involved in our community.

Join Teams Meeting

New to Teams? Download the app here (optional)
Agenda and reminder email will be sent Sunday, December 7th.

📖 Review the Central Rappahannock Region United Voices Playbook

Our newly ratified playbook outlines the vision and concrete steps for revitalizing LWVFRA to better serve our members and community. We encourage all members to review it before our December 8th meeting.

Interested in helping implement specific initiatives? Have questions or ideas? Please reach out—I’d love to discuss how you can be part of this transformation.

Read the Playbook (PDF)

🎙️ NEW Monthly Event: LWV Community Conversations

Join us for the first in a new monthly series! Our Ranked Choice Voting Chairman Rupert Farley will present on the benefits of RCV, followed by a live mock election demonstration.

This event is free and open to the public—bring friends, neighbors, and anyone interested in electoral reform!

Community Conversations is our first playbook initiative—a monthly speaker series featuring local leaders, officials, authors, historians, scholars, and experts discussing topics that matter to our community. This is democracy education for everyone.

✍️ Share Your Voice: Letters to the Editor & Member Posts

📚 Coming Soon: LWVFRA Book Club

We’re launching a new Book Club to bring members together for meaningful discussions beyond voter registration drives and forums. This is community-building through shared learning.

Book topics will include:

• Local and regional history of the Fredericksburg area
• Writings by League founders and leaders
• Civic engagement and democracy
• Social movements and voting rights
• Contemporary issues in government and policy
• Memoirs from community organizers and activists

We need you! If you’re interested in joining the Book Club or have book recommendations, please reach out. We want to hear what topics interest you most.

Questions? Ideas? Want to Get Involved?

I mean it—reach out anytime. This is YOUR League, and I want to hear from you.

president@fredericksburglwv.org

League of Women Voters of the Fredericksburg Area

Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy.

Serving the City of Fredericksburg and the counties of
Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania, and Stafford