Goodbye Winter and Hello to Spring!

Fresno NWPC will be celebrating Women’s Equality Day (WED) and our caucus’ 50^th anniversary in August or Early September. An exact date will be set when we have confirmed a speaker for the event. This is our major annual fundraiser that will raise the funds we will need to support local women candidates running for office in 2026. Last year we awarded more than $20,000 to our endorsed candidates. Get ready, it will be an amazing evening
 
We have reached out to several possible speakers and have only heard back from one. I’m sorry to say that former Vice President Kamala Harris will not be available to celebrate our anniversary with us. As you can see, we are aiming high for this 50^th celebration.
 
We held our first WED planning meeting on March 18^th. We have begun to identify assignments and volunteers have agreed to take on some roles. We will continue to meet monthly to organize and plan. If you would like to be a part of this committee, please reach out to me or to Marsha Conant who has graciously agreed to chair this committee. We had a fun planning dinner at Los Amigos and we would love to have you join us too.
 
We are looking for a theme for this year’s event. Last year our theme was “When Women Are Elected, Every One Wins.” This year we are looking for something that commemorates our 50^thand also looks forward to the future. If you have a good idea for our theme, please pass it on to Marsha or to me.
 
I look forward to seeing you at our next meeting on April 1^st.
 
In Unity and With Dedication to Our Values,

Lynn Badertscher

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The Honorable Keshia Thomas is the proud mother of two sons and a daughter as well as three grandsons. She was elected by the voters in 2018 in the Edison High Region 1, to serve as on the Fresno Unified School District Trustee Board. She was re-elected November 2022. She is the second black woman to be elected to this position following Mary Curry.

Trustee Thomas’s resume includes two Master’s degrees, BS in math and education, and a State License in Cosmetology. Her work history lists family construction business, cosmetologist, journeyman cashier, elementary, middle school and high school teacher and administrator, and businesswoman. She is currently the Executive Director at Fresno Career Development Institute, Inc., a non-profit organization.

Her work as Executive Director at Fresno Career Development Institute has truly been the center of the community. Bridging the gap and ensuring her community does not get left behind where clean mobility is concerned. Trustee Thomas along with a great team at the Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce, lead By Dr. Cassandra Little has created a community outreach and engagement process which has truly captured the attention of the community. She has been at the center of moving electric vehicle rideshare, cars and bicycles in the forefront in West Fresno. She is also in the
developmental stages of developing a senior tiny home community.

Trustee Thomas has dedicated her attention to be of service to her community with a focus on education. Her objective as a trustee on the school board is to do what she can to raise the Fresno Unified School District to become a premier school district on the national stage. Her emphasis is ensuring that children are lifted to equal standing, and their parents are brought in to participate in their education, training and employment opportunities.

Prior to her election to the Fresno Unified School District Trustee Board, Trustee Thomas found time to give back to her community through working in her church, Fellowship Baptist Church, as Assistant Director of the Homeless Ministry and Assistant Director of the Children’s Church.

Trustee Thomas also serves as a member of the following organizations: Executive Director of Fresno Career Development Institute, Golden Charter Academy Founder, Delegate for Congressman Jim Costa a member of Fresno Links Inc., Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA) Lifetime Member and Regional Director, 1st Vice President for 3 consecutive years of Women’s Democratic Club, National Women’s Political Caucus, Kennedy Club and , Board Member for West Fresno Family Resource center, member of Latina Democratic Club, Delegate for California School Board Association, an honoree of the Marjorie Mason Top Ten Professional Women and Leading Business Award and member of League of Women Voters of Fresno County.

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Six Ways To Send A Message To Your Representatives

https://www.theverge.com/how-to/606200/government-senate-congress-contact-apps

USA.gov
This site lets you enter your address in order to find out who your federal, state, and local officials are.  Once you’ve got the list, you can click on each name to find out their party affiliation, main address, phone number, email address, web site, and contact info for Facebook and X. You can also click
on a button to immediately send an email.

Congress.gov
To find information about what’s going on in Congress, a good place to start is Congress.gov, where you can get a rundown of when every bill is introduced, passes the House, passes the Senate, goes to the President, and is finally signed — assuming it gets that far. You can see a summary of each
bill, and so much more.

GovTrack.us
A less formal educational source, and one not actually sponsored by the government, GovTrack asserts that “We’re tracking the activities of the United States Congress to help you be the best advocate for the issues you care about and to create a more open and accountable government.”

Democracy.io
Democracy.io is a basic web site that says it just wants to make it easier for people to send email to their representatives. You put in your address, and you are given a list of your federal representatives: your senators and your congressional representatives. You check the ones you want to contact, and you’re given a form where you can put in a title, a message, your name and contact info, and a drop-down list of the topic you’re writing about (which can vary, depending on the specific representative). And that’s it! No fuss, no muss.

5 Calls
The motto of the 5 Calls app is “Make your voice heard: Spend 5 minutes, make 5 calls.” Available for both iOS and Android phones, the purpose of this app is to make it easier to call your representative’s office, which it asserts is much more effective than emails or texts. Enter your address or zip code to find your representatives. You will see a list of the top issues of the day, which you can filter by topics such as gun safety, immigration, or reproductive rights. Once you choose a specific issue, you are provided with a brief backgrounder, together with a list of which representatives you should call.  Select a name, and you get a phone number to click on along with a complete script to read from.

Resist.bot
According to its description, Resist.bot lets you, turn “your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes.” In other words, the idea is to make it as simple as possible to send out your concerns. Resist.bot may work especially well for those who are more comfortable texting than making a phone call or writing an email.

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I encourage all of us to explore these online resources (and any others you may find) and maybe try one or two of them out. If we want to make our voices heard we can’t march and carry signs every day, but what we can do any day is call, fax, email, etc. We can commend our reps when they stand up for the things we support. But, by the same token we can remind our representatives that we are watching and listening and we will not support the destruction of our democracy.

Now is the time for us to take constructive action. These resources give us an easy way to stand up for our rights and our country. Let’s challenge ourselves to not stand by quietly as chaos reigns.
 
In Unity and with Conviction,

Lynn

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Amanda Gann is a dedicated Special Education teacher, community activist, and organizer for the Women’s March Central Valley chapter. Most recently, she played a key role in organizing the People’s March in Fresno, CA, on January 18, 2025. Passionate about civic engagement and grassroots activism, she plans to continue her work with Women’s March while collaborating with other organizations across the Central Valley to foster community outreach and inspire collective action.  

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• Frances Berman will continue to put out our monthly newsletter;
• Kim Ghelerter continues to manage our website;
• Cathy Brass will be teaching us about the “women who have come before us” in the Five-Minute Bios;
• Marsha Conant will chair our Women’s Equality Day (WED) fundraising event in
  August. This year WED will also celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of our caucus; and
• Kathy Atkins and Layne Wright Wall are handling Membership duties.

We have one Board position that has not yet been filled:

• Marsha has generously been filling some of the responsibilities of the ADMIN Vice President although these are not her duties. The ADMIN VP finds the speaker for each of our meetings, introduces the speaker, sells raffle tickets, and manages the Happy/Sad Dollars portion of our meetings. Marsha has already found our February speaker but we need someone to fill this position on a permanent basis. Marsha and Claudia Soria Delgado have both offered to help find speakers if needed. Please consider joining us on the Board.

The Board decided to establish a new committee that we hope you will consider joining:

• We want to create a “Welcome Team” that would consist of three or four members who are willing to meet and greet new members at their first few meetings. They would be available to explain the raffle; happy/sad dollars; ADMIN vs. PAC; answer any questions, etc. Generally, just make visitors and new members feel welcome.
• We are also looking for someone who will take on the responsibility of sending a note or card or making a phone call to a member who is ill, suffered a loss, etc. We want to better support one another.

And finally,
in this time of national transition let us all follow the wise advice we received from Heather Janz at our last meeting. If you or someone you know is overwhelmed or depressed by what is happening in in our country, please talk to someone for support or professional help. Let’s be there for one another and especially let’s be kind to ourselves and to those around us.

This is not the time for NWPC to give up on our goals. We need to look forward to 2026 by supporting strong women candidates for local, state and national offices. We will seek out candidates that stand up for our values. We need to keep California on the right side of our issues and make a place for those who agree with our concerns. Now, more than ever we must speak out and lead in this fight for our democracy.

In Unity and with Conviction,

Lynn

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Dora’s journey began early, inspired by her parents’ entrepreneurial approach, which provided her with many opportunities as a child. This foundation shaped her vision for the Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation, which has grown into a beacon of opportunity for underserved families, sparking innovation and collaboration throughout the Central Valley and beyond.

In 2009, Dora secured a $1.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration to establish the Downtown Business Hub, the first bilingual business incubator in the Western United States. The Hub serves as a one-stop-shop for small businesses, fostering economic growth and community development.

Over her 20-year career, Dora has garnered widespread recognition for her servant leadership and transformative impact. Her accolades include being named “Chamber Executive of the Year” by the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, receiving the “Chamber of the Year” award from the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and earning the prestigious James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award. She was also honored as “Top Dog” by the Fresno State Alumni Association and as “Women of the Year” by the City of Fresno in 2023.

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Lynn Badertscher – President

Cathy Brass – CFO ADMIN

Vacant – VP ADMIN

Marsha Conant – Past President

Myra Coble – Secretary

Barbara Castle – State Director

Darcy Brown – VP PAC

Linda Knight – Treasurer PAC

I am writing this message at the end of a most tumultuous year for those of us in NWPC, Fresno. We had an incredibly successful year of fundraising and monthly meetings. Locally, most of our endorsed candidates were elected, making our fundraising efforts so very worthwhile. At the same time, the November Presidential Election dashed so many of our dreams and broke our hearts. For many of us the upcoming administration leaves us very concerned for the NWPC values that we hold dear.
 
I hope all of you will work with me and our newly installed Board to continue the fight for women’s equality. The new year brings in 2025, the fiftieth anniversary of NWPC Fresno. This cannot be the year that this caucus gives in to despair. We must be more determined than that!
 
We have much to be proud of in the Central Valley. We have many women who have been elected and re-elected to office in our area. School boards and city council seats are populated with women we have endorsed and financially supported. Many of those officials we are blessed to count as members of our own caucus. This year we also endorsed and supported candidates in Madera and Tulare counties. We make a difference!
 
In the November election our endorsed, successfully elected candidates include:
                         
Danielle Parra – State Center Community College No 3 
Itzi Robles – Fresno County Board of Education Area 3
Consuelo Diaz – College of Sequoias, Ward 4
Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas – Fresno Unified Trustee Area 2 
Claudia Cazares – Fresno Unified Trustee Area 6
Nasreen Johnson – State Center Community College District Trustee Area 2
Wilma Hashimoto – Clovis Unified School District
Congratulations!

As we move forward let’s hope our caucus can find fresh ways to reach out to embrace new members who share our values and support for our issues. NWPC was established in 1971 as a multi-partisan organization. The polls we saw throughout this past summer and into November showed that the majority of Americans, across party lines, share our stand on reproductive rights for women. It seems that now is the time for us to put aside partisan politics and reach out to people who support our core values and issues. These include Passage of the Equal Rights Amendment; Reproductive Rights for Women; Equal Pay; Gender Parity in Elected Office; support for Anti-Discrimination Laws and Policies; and Increased Access to Childcare and Other Dependent Care. We need to make these issues American issues, not partisan issues. 
 
So, let’s reach out to our family, our friends, our neighbors, our houses of worship, and our acquaintances and invite them to a meeting or hand them a NWPC Fresno brochure. Give us a chance to welcome them into our caucus so that they too can fight for solutions to the feelings of despair, disappointment, and inequality.
 

I look forward to seeing you on January 7^th!
 
In the spirit of the season:
Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Everyone,
 
Lynn

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Many are experiencing a sense of loss, hopelessness and despair following recent election outcomes. With this presentation, we’ll discuss how people can move from believing their voice doesn’t matter, to more helpful thinking and learning to contribute meaningfully through advocacy. Attendees will also learn about what’s working for others and normalize seeking support. 

Heather Walker Janz is a licensed marriage and family therapist, leader, speaker and online educator. She is also a wife, a mother, and is extremely passionate about using her voice to help and empower others. Heather has always known she wanted to help people through therapy. For the past 10 years, Heather has served as a leader in mental health, connecting with other professionals who deeply care about advancing the marriage and family therapy profession.

Heather’s unique past employment in college settings has allowed her to have an understanding about the difficult transitions that young people face. Her training for licensure included working in community mental health programs where she used evidenced-based practices to help teens relieve complex mental health problems. Today, Heather also provides support for young people who work in major tech and service industries by teaching them Cognitive Behavioral Therapy skills for reaching their goals. Heather was a Girl Scout as a child which led to a passion in serving leadership roles. Currently, Heather is the Secretary of the Board of Directors and Board Development Committee Chair for the Girl Scouts of Central California South (GSCCS) Council.

Heather is the CEO of Janz Family Therapy, Inc. JFT provides outpatient mental health services both in-person and virtually. JFT is a part of the Maternal Wellness Coalition of the California Health Collaborative and accepts MediCal & MediCare in order to be accessible to a majority of the mental health needs of the Central Valley. JFT also serves as an employment site for associates in training in order to grow the mental health workforce locally in our community.

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Representatives from the Fresno Center spoke at an NWPC meeting this year and we were all very impressed with their work and selected them for our charitable donation this year. TFC was also a sponsor at the Women’s Equality Day celebration!

Wish List
Monetary Donations – check payable to The Fresno Center
Gift Cards from Walmart/Target
Female Care packages – lotion, hair products, deodorant, soap, feminine products
Diapers
Art supplies

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I’m very proud of the Fresno Caucus, through hard work and Women’s Equality Day celebrations we were able to honor outstanding community leaders and raise PAC monies that allowed us to donate $20,000 to local campaigns, $2,500 to the CA NWPC for state candidates and $3,000 to NWPC National for the Harris campaign!

$25,500 is an amazing amount of money for our chapter to donate!

Some of the election results were heartbreaking, I know many of you are feeling pain, despair, and hopelessness.  I must believe that people do not understand the effect of their votes on women and pray that my worst fears do not come to pass, but be prepared if they do. We cannot stop fighting and give up, there will be action plans and work that must be done! We will be prepared to continue the fight for equality and equity! We will answer the call!

Congratulations to Fresno Caucus-endorsed candidates Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria, SCCCD Trustees Nasreen Johnson and Danielle Parra, and FUSD Trustee Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas who were all re-elected. New candidates, Wilma Hashimoto, Clovis Unified, Itzi Robles, Fresno County Board of Education, and Consuelo Diaz, College of the Sequoias Board were all successful in their races. 

There are still Provisional/Conditional ballots being tabulated and FUSD Trustee Claudia Cazares has not been called. First-time candidate Gina Vue, Clovis Unified, did not win her bid for election this time. We have such respect and admiration for the strength and vision, of all of these women and know that their candidacy made the future for women brighter!

Think about what more we can do in the future!!!

In 2025 the Fresno NWPC Caucus will celebrate its 50th Anniversary!

Let’s commit to doubling our membership and increasing the impact of Fresno NWPC!

In Equality,
Marsha

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