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Sep. 4--Delray Beach--The League of Women Voters started fighting for women's political equality in 1920.
But despite its accomplishments in improving government and its processes, membership has been dwindling.
A new recruitment project will try to change that.
The Palm Beach County League of Women Voters is one of five chapters nationwide that will test an initiative to recruit women of retirement age more fully in civic life.
The national organization is to launch the pilot project with training this month.
"One of the challenges was thinking about how we could help the local leagues get new members," national League Executive Director Nancy Tate said. "After doing a lot of research we decided to test a certain kind of message with a certain demographic group."
The target is women 50 to 65. The League tailored the new program to resonate with this new batch of current and future retirees.
In South Florida, many women who are active in political and civic life are retirees, said Robert Watson, a political science professor at Florida Atlantic University.
"Increasingly, seniors are playing a more prominent role," he said.
Palm Beach County chapter president Pamela Goodman embodies the type of member the league will go after. The 50-something, former CEO of a company in New York quickly became bored after retiring to Florida.
"Some people choose to become completely recreational," Goodman said. "If you've been working, you want to do something that has a significant impact on something."
She volunteered for several local organizations, but after the 2000 presidential election debacle in Florida, she decided to join the League.
When the national League announced the initiative and that it would pick five chapters nationwide, Goodman thought Palm Beach County would be perfect for the initiative and prepared a proposal.
"Florida is obviously a prime target for people to retire and we have a strong base of 325 members," Goodman said.
Other chapters leading the initiative are Omaha; Oakland, Calif.; Saginaw County, Mich.; and Spartanburg County, S.C.
The Leagues are to measure and follow the results for a year.
"It has to be something that can be replicated in other places," Goodman said.
Local Leagues are relying on the personal stories of members such as Marsha Lamel, a former environmental attorney with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the New England regional office.
When Lamel retired in Delray Beach, a friend took her to a League meeting. Since then, she's been active on several of its boards and will help with the new recruitment initiative.
"What I found was a diverse group of people with all different kinds of backgrounds and a lot of intellectual stimulation," she said. "There are a lot of choices for retired people and the League is one of them, but people don't think of it as a choice."
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Copyright (c) 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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