May 2026 | April 2026 | March 2026 | Jan/Feb 2026 |
President's Letter - May 2026
We’re looking forward to hearing from Kim Siciliano about the latest happenings at the Schenectady YWCA at the LWVSC Annual Dinner on June 4. It’s also a great opportunity to get together with our League friends! Don’t forget to RSVP by May 28 to lwvschenectady [at] gmail.com
Thank you to the many League members that donated to replace voter registration materials that were lost in the fire at Ellen Daviero’s home. We received over $700 which will be a great help!
We’ve organized what we hope will be an interesting and informative panel discussion on the Democracy During Detention Act (DDDA) for Tuesday, May 19 at 6 PM at the Sycamore Collaborative, 839 Albany St., Schenectady. Most citizens detained in jail have the right to vote, unless they’re currently serving a sentence for a felony conviction. But many detainees, along with many of the staff at jails, are not aware of this fact. The DDDA is designed to ensure consistent voter access across the state.
Adonis Richards, Poet Laureate of Schenectady, will open the program with an original poem.
Clyanna Lightbourn, LWVNYS Campaign Director for the DDDA, will give an overview of the Democracy During Detention Act and why it’s necessary.
Jamel Muhammad, Youth L.I.F.E. Support President, will talk about his experiences as a formerly incarcerated individual and the work he does now with detainees at the Schenectady County Jail.
Our collaborators, Courtney Chaires and Danielle Brown, from the Schenectady and Union College chapters of the NAACP, respectively, will talk about the many reasons the NAACP is concerned about voting rights for detained individuals.
We hope to see many League members at this event!
Cheryl Nechamen
President
President's Letter - April 2026
We’re looking forward to having Kim Siciliano, CEO of Schenectady's YWCA of Northeastern NY, as our guest speaker at the Annual Dinner at the Turf Tavern on Thursday June 4, 2026 at 5:30 PM. Kim will tell us about the exciting plans for the YWCA in the coming year.
Included in this bulletin is the proposed budget for 2026-2027. Our fiscal year starts on July 1st. As you’ll notice, it’s a modest budget. Fortunately, our expenses are minimal. Our biggest expenses are to record candidate forums and to send two delegates to the State League convention next year. Candidate forums are one of the unique services that the League provides to inform voters about the candidates running for office. Sending members to the State or National League conventions is also important to give members a chance to absorb the culture of the League, particularly our core value of nonpartisanship.
The proposed leadership team for 2026-2027 can also be found in the bulletin. We are fortunate to have so many League members willing to step up for the big and little jobs that we depend on to keep our League functioning.
Cheryl Nechamen, President
President's Letter - March 2026
We had a great program planning potluck dinner on February 12. Meetings are always better with food, aren’t they? I’ve included our 
proposed Local Objectives for 2026-2027.
We made just a few changes- separated Citizens Right to Vote and Making Democracy Work into separate categories, made Immigration into its own category with the statement: Support basic human rights of immigrants and a path to citizenship, moved support for improving connectivity to the internet to Health Services and added the statement: Advocate for climate change mitigation and adaptation to Environmental Issues.
One of the changes we made to our Local Objectives was to drop our Citizenship Mentoring Group. It was with great sadness that we made this decision. With the current attitude of the federal government towards immigrants, very few applicants were succeeding in their quest to obtain American citizenship. When this policy changes in the future, we intend to renew our efforts to support new citizens.
Spring must be coming soon- lots of organizations are planning programs. Here are just a few:
- Women’s March 2026, March 7, 9:30 AM, Schenectady City Hall steps
- No Kings 3 Rally, March 28, time and location TBD, sponsored by Schenectady LWV
- Civic Discourse panel discussion, SUNY Schenectady, date TBD in April, Schenectady LWV member will be on the panel
- Democracy During Detention Act panel discussion, date and location TBD in April, co-sponsored by Schenectady LWV, Schenectady NAACP and Union College NAACP class.
Follow us on Facebook for the latest information. We’ll also send updates by email.
Cheryl Nechamen President
President's Letter - Jan/Feb 2026
We’ll be meeting at my house on Thursday, February 12th- bring your favorite dish to share! The Board meeting will start at 4:30 PM- all members are most welcome to attend. If you want to skip right to the program planning potluck, come at 5:30 PM (we won’t judge!).
While we’re enjoying a meal together, we’ll discuss our Local Objectives for the year- the issues our local League thinks are important. We’ll also do a quick review of the national League’s positions in preparation for the national convention in June.
The national League’s positions can be found here: https://www.lwv.org/sites/default/files/2024-12/ImpactOnIssues_2024-FINA... . The summary of the positions is on pp. 16-20 of the document.
Local Objectives 2025-2026
Citizens Right to Vote - Making Democracy Work
• Provide voter information during voter registration drives, tabling events and other LWVSC activities in person, on the LWVSC website and on social media
• Support and provide voter education to youth in high schools and colleges
• Advocate for local government transparency and monitor activities of local governmental units
• Support improving local, state, and national elections
• Meet with the Commissioners of the Schenectady County Board of Elections on a regular basis
• Maintain the Citizenship Mentoring Group program that helps prepare immigrants for the US Citizenship Exam and attend Naturalization Ceremonies when possible to register new citizens
Children and Education
• Collaborate with other organizations to identify the needs of children
• Encourage the availability and affordability of day care services for young children
• Advocate for adequate and equitable funding for all public schools
• Advocate for the strengthening of programs that improve the capacity, quality, and speed of connectivity to the internet, especially in rural and low-income communities
• Advocate for the active recruitment by all school districts in Schenectady County of teachers of color
• Support the annual LWVNYS’s Students Inside Albany program
Health Services
• Advocate for national/state/local health care reform that provides quality physical and mental health care for all citizens
Justice and the Law
• Support restorative justice programs such as the Center for Community Justice
• Improve accessibility to police complaint procedure and support Schenectady police reform efforts
• Register eligible voters in the Schenectady County Jail and encourage them to vote
Environmental Issues
• Advocate for the protection of environmental resources, land, water and air in Schenectady County
• Advocate for energy conservation and development of renewable energy alternatives
• Advocate for solid waste management programs that promote Reduce, Reuse, and Recycling in the City and County
Cheryl Nechamen, President
