League of Women Voters aim to educate

A resolute army gathered at the Davenport Press Restaurant in Mineola on June 30. Its weapons are education, information, and determination to have informed voters into every booth.

Its warriors are members of the Central Nassau League of Women Voters, which covers Uniondale, Hempstead and 11 other municipalities in central Nassau County.

Their common enemy is ignorance of the power to create change by speaking out. And the most powerful microphone for speaking out is the ballot.

At the annual meeting, Co-president Ann Leiter delivered the mission statement and invited participation from the community.

“The work of the league often begins with the sharing of ideas in our committees,” Leiter said, adding that even a one-time contribution of an hour was appreciated.

One committee runs the Students in Albany program.

“The LWV believes that educating and empowering the youth of our country is vital to maintaining democracy,” Leiter said.

She spoke about the LWV scholarship program that has high school students across the state going to go Albany annually for a four-day workshop in civics

The three students sent by Central Nassau LWV were Westbury High School seniors. Each came spoke.

“This program showed me how government works on the local level,” said Jordan Ramirez-Lopez, “and also how important it is.”

“I was able to shadow Charles Levine, our assembly member, a very down-to-earth guy,” said Sage Sylvester. “We saw how everything worked.”

“I got to learn about voter registration and candidates. I got to meet my state senators,” said Grant Boylan. “It was a great experience!”

The program also honored Cooper Bromberg, soon to enter ninth grade. Several years ago, his mother, Laura Paulson-Bromberg, showed him a story about a toddler named Kyra Franchetti, who was murdered in 2016 by her father during a court-ordered unsupervised visit.

Since then, Cooper has visited Albany repeatedly to help advocate for Kyra’s Law, which would update laws protecting children from domestic violence.

“Please join me in supporting this bill by contacting your lawmakers,” urged Cooper.

Keynote speaker Rev. Dr. Nellie Taylor-Walthrust, who has served 45 years in human services and voted in every election since 1968, brought a message of rescue through activism that evoked multiple rounds of applause.

Starting in 2010, she tackled a long-standing injustice: infant mortality and low birthweight babies occurring at a much higher rate in Black and brown communities than in white ones. With Hofstra University associate professor Dr. Martine Hackett, Walthrust founded Birth Justice Warriors in 2018.

“All we want is an equal playing field,” said Walthrust, “equal access to maternal health care for pregnant and parenting young mothers.”

With the support of attorney Frederick Brewington and a cohort of “churches, community-based organizations, the hospitals, college students, nurses, doulas, midwives,” said Walthrust, the campaign caught the attention of Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages, who began advocating in the state legislature. Former governor Andrew Cuomo took up the cause, and in 2021, so did U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

“In six months, the funding came to the Freeport-Roosevelt Health clinic,” said Walthrust, “and now they have hired outreach workers that are being trained by Dr. Hackett to go out into the communities … and steer the mothers to where the available resources are.”