About the League of Women Voters Nashville (LWVN)
A Nonpartisan Organization Encouraging Informed and Active Participation of Citizens in Government
As a non-partisan organization, the LWVN maintains two components:
- 501(c)(3) Organization (tax-deductible donations)
All of our unbiased, non-partisan information on voting and citizen education is funded through tax-deductible donations through the League of Women Voters of Tennessee Education Fund, a 501(c) (3) organization. - 501(c)(4) Organization (non-deductible donations)
After our members thoroughly study an issue of public policy, we develop an advocacy position. When legislative bills in the state legislature are introduced that directly address stated LWVTN positions, LWVTN volunteers and the LWVTN paid lobbyist make our organization’s positions known to state legislators. Lobbying for specific legislation (on either the local or state level) is not a tax-deductible activity and is paid for out of the non tax-deductible 501(c)(4) component of the organization.
The LWVN never supports or endorses political parties or candidates. While we encourage and enable all of our members to be civically and politically active, the organization maintains a strict non-partisan stance.
Strategic Focus
In addition to the positions adopted by The League of Women Voters at the state-level (LWVTN), the members of the Nashville League (LWVN) have adopted the following positions to guide their Strategic Focus for 2019-2020.
- LWVN provides resources for current and emerging voters:
- Voter registration, including outreach to under-represented voters
- Voter information regarding upcoming elections and candidates
- “Hot Topics” programs that inform the community about complex issues
- Candidate forums
- Support for restoration of voting rights for former felons
- LWVN advocates for free, fair, and transparent election processes:
- Secure, accurate voting procedures with voter-verified paper trails
- Full implementation of the Voting Rights Advancement Act
- Poll watching and reports for the public
- LWVN advocates for public policies to address needs of Nashville residents:
- High quality public education
- Efficient and accessible transportation options — biking, walking and mass transit
- Environmentally responsible reduction and management of waste
- Sustainable approaches to land use, growth, and development
- Improved access to high quality health care for Nashville residents
- Sensible gun control measures requiring background checks and restriction of guns in public places
- Programs to reduce poverty and promote self-sufficiency
- Efforts to sustain Nashville’s efforts as a welcoming city for immigrants and refugees
Current Board Members
Barbara has been a high school foreign language teacher, practiced social work at St. Joseph’s Hospital cancer ward in Hamilton, Ontario, and worked with the Comprehensive Developmental Evaluation Center at Vanderbilt University. A social worker with MNPS for 24 years, she also served as the department’s interim director. In addition, she administered a $1.1 million U.S. Department of Education elementary school counseling demonstration grant from 2000 to 2004.
Barbara has been a member of the LWVN since 1981. She served as director of the juvenile justice portfolio and on the education committee before becoming second Vice President in 2008 and is also chair of the LWVTN State Action Committee. She likes to read, paint and draw, swim, and ride horses.
Since 2013, Madeline has also been involved in ACA enrollment efforts in the Nashville area and in educating Tennesseans about their health care options. Garr enjoys using her language skills and love of writing in service to LWVN. She is married to Tony Garr and they have two adult daughters as well as a new granddaughter.
Ethel holds a bachelor’s in political science from West Virginia University and a master’s in public administration from the University of Tennessee.
She volunteers at the Bethlehem Center’s Greater Charlotte Avenue Hot Lunch Program and sings in her church choir. She has been active in the Tennessee Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration for 30 years. Detch lives in Franklin with her husband, Steve Rogers, and has two grown children. She is a native of Lewisburg, West Virginia.
She retired from the faculty at Vanderbilt five years ago.
She strongly believes that the quality of life depends upon the quality of folks we surround ourselves with, so she tends to have friends who don’t mind laughing out loud and who value honesty, integrity, curiosity, compassion, and character. She believes that a small group of people, working together, can bring about great changes. She is inspired by the obstacles people can overcome and the tenacity they bring to the task. While being too pragmatic to get passionate about much, she does get excited about watching her grandchildren, seeing the first daffodil in the spring, eating orange popsicles, and having dog licks on her toes.
In addition to her work with the League of Women Voters, she gardens, and volunteers with the Tennessee Health Care Campaign and Ten Thousand Villages. She is the spouse of Mark Brooks, and parent of Adria and Cade Brooks.
In Nashville, she has volunteered with the Frist and healthcare-related nonprofits and has a long-term commitment to the Antioch office of the Nashville Adult Literacy Council, where she is a regular in their Start Now literacy program. Elise feels deeply honored to serve on the LWVN Board. In off-hours she expends energy on dogs, growing cacti and succulents, and worrying (constructively) about the future of our planet.
Susan joined the LWVN in 2016 and has coordinated the LWVN VOTE411 online Voter Guide over the last two years. She also participated in the LWVTN Action Committee in 2018.
She serves on the Metro Nashville 9-1-1 Board and participates in several volunteer activities through her church. She is an avid tennis player and enjoys traveling, cooking, and reading. She lives in Nashville with her husband Rick and has two grown children.
When she’s not practicing journalism, she’s teaching it on the collegiate level or learning it as she is pursuing a Ph.D. in Public Administration with an emphasis in Public Policy.
Harriet and her husband Scott Wallace own Wallace Media Group and have helped put dozens of kids through college as well as place athletes on semi-pro and professional football and basketball teams.
She is a graduate of MTSU with a degree in Journalism/Public Relations, has worked in social media for over ten years, and is currently the Digital Producer at RFD-TV.
When she’s not creating content for other people, she is occasionally blogging and frequently taking pictures of her cat.
She is an active member of the Muslim community participating in interfaith and youth programs. In 2010, Sabina helped launch the Sons and Daughters of Abraham Project which brings together Muslim, Christian, and Jewish youth across Middle Tennessee through interfaith dialogue and outreach programs.
Sabina has published a number of articles in The Tennessean and was an outspoken critic of the 2011 anti-sharia bill in the Tennessee state legislature. She is a founding board member and current Middle Tennessee Program Manager of the American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC), which fosters mutual trust and respect among all people through civic engagement, community building and media relations in order to protect all Tennesseans from prejudice and targeted violence. She serves as the chair of AMAC’s yearly Empowering Women conference. Additionally, Sabina serves on the Community Nashville board which combats bias, bigotry, and racism among youth and serves on the National Organization of Workforce Diversity board which helps promote diversity in the workplace.
She has practiced in areas of labor law, commercial arbitration, securities exchange, mergers and acquisitions, IT, general commercial law, insurance, banking, corporate law, consumer protection, and intellectual property law.
Gold is a past president of Reading is Fundamental, Book’em, Hillel at Vanderbilt University, and the Temple Sisterhood. During her term as president of the Temple Sisterhood, she also served on the executive committee of the National Women of Reform Judaism. Gold’s hobbies include reading, ballet, triathlon sprint, travel, and playing Words with Friends. She enjoys raising money and is very excited to be part of the LWVN Board.
She holds a BA from Vanderbilt University, an M.A. in Sociology of Education from the University of Manitoba, and a Master’s in Public Administration from Middle Tennessee State University.
A graduate of David Lipscomb University, she is the director of human performance at Comdata.
Holmes believes that the League is an important link to nonpartisan information allowing individuals to make educated decisions about issues and candidates. Her interest in voting issues began in high school, prompting her to work as a volunteer on several local, state, and federal campaigns.
Holmes also takes customer service and quality issues seriously. As a Six Sigma Black Belt, she uses a data-driven approach and methodology that statistically measures a company product’s or service’s closeness to perfection in quality. This level of expertise allows her to serve as a corporate leader giving voice to customers in order to meet profitability and growth objectives aligned with corporate goals.
She also is an advocate for children and works to help them achieve higher self-esteem.
She received Master’s degrees in both Teaching and in Library Science and believes deeply in the importance of education and access to accurate information to our democracy. She has taught in many different school environments in Atlanta and Boston as well as in Nashville before serving as a librarian at Dupont Elementary, Meigs Magnet, Harpeth Hall, and Hume-Fogg. After she retired in 2011, she has served as a volunteer in many areas, including coordinating with schools and libraries to expand community outreach services and tutoring at the Nashville Adult Literacy Center.
A longstanding League member, MacDonald remembers many Saturday afternoons in the 1970s registering voters outside the Baskin Robbins in Hillsboro Village. After moving to Alexandria, Virginia, she joined the efforts of the local League to finally move voter registration out of City Hall and into the community. Moving later to Reston, Virginia her commitment to assuring voter registration and access continued.
MacDonald volunteers at Planned Parenthood, the Tennessee Prison for Women and the St. Augustine’s/Thistle Farms community. She is currently serving as President of the Arden Place Board of Directors.
As a Program Analyst at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Kristin performed multiple diverse complex tasks based on mission needs for the Federal Security Director including oversight and development of the Management Control Objective Plan (MCOP), Real Estate needs, and projections, and analysis of the Management Objectives Report (MOR).
Before joining the federal workforce, Kristin spent eighteen years as President and CEO of her own retail company in Charlottesville, VA.
Kristin completed undergraduate coursework at the University of Virginia, specializing in Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis on creative and analytical thinking, decision-making, and organizational behavior. She is a member of the Golden Key International Honor Society through the University of Virginia.
“Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.” ~ Kofi Annan
“We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
She is a 1989 graduate of the Washington College of Law at American University.
After working for Karl for five years, she took time off from law to be the director of the Nashville Dismas House. In 2000 she became a managing attorney at the Legal Aid Society, Murfreesboro office. In 2011 she went into private practice. Barbara is semi-retired but works as a volunteer for Stewart Clifton Government Relations. She served on the board of directors of the ACLU and Reconciliation Ministries. At present, she also sits on the board of Tennessee Environment Voters.
At LWV, she previously participated in voter registration and the LWV of Tennessee State Action Committee.
She moved to Nashville in 2000 to attend Belmont University for her Master’s in Teaching. She taught for eight years in the classroom. Lara worked as adjunct faculty for both Vanderbilt University and Belmont University supervising student teachers. She enjoyed this work because it allowed her to travel all over Nashville to meet and work with teachers and principals. She has taught masters level math and science methods courses for elementary educators. Lara also presented social-emotional education workshops and co-authored the book “Doing Science in Morning Meeting” for the Center for Responsive Schools. She teaches classes for gifted students through SAVY at Vanderbilt.
Lara is married and has three sons, two of which are school-aged attending Metro schools. She is passionate about public education and has volunteered in various capacities at her children’s schools. Lara sits on the Academically Talented Parent Advisory Board for MNPS. Her boys keep her busy with their hijinks, but in her free time, she enjoys being outdoors, reading, or going to Target.
By professional training, she is a Registered Nurse, now retired from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Tennessee Air National Guard. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, NC; a Master’s of Public Health degree from the School of Public
Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and a Master of Science degree in Counseling from Tennessee State University.
She loves to travel, and that experience has acquainted her with the varied statuses of women in different cultures, especially in the area of women’s health. She currently serves as the Coordinator of the Mission Ministry for Temple Baptist Church, where she is involved in outreach ministries in Haiti and Belize, Central America. She also serves as Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for Samaritan Ministries, Inc. and was nominated by her sorority chapter, Nashville Metropolitan Alumnae of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. as a candidate for the ATHENA Award in 2012.
She received a Master’s degree in Health Policy and Management from Harvard School of Public Health and a Master’s in Nursing Practice from Vanderbilt University School of Nursing.
In addition to her work with the League of Women Voters, she gardens and volunteers with the Tennessee Health Care Campaign and Ten Thousand Villages. She is the spouse of Mark Brooks, and parent of Adria and Cade Brooks.
Ms. Forrester is a retired Certified Financial Planner and a former Associate Vice-President with Wells Fargo Advisors. She is currently President of the Haynes Heights Neighborhood Association and a founding member of the Haynes-Trinity Neighborhood Coalition. She has served on the State of TN Advisory Council for the Education of Students with Disabilities. She lives in Nashville with her two children.
Garr enjoys using her language skills and love of writing in service to LWVN. She is married to Tony Garr and they have two adult daughters as well as a new granddaughter.
A strong voice of advocacy in the community, Gilmore has served on a number of boards in Middle Tennessee (e.g., Board of Vanderbilt’s Susan Gray School for Abused and Special Needs Children at the John F. Kennedy Center, Board Chair of the Margaret Cunningham Women’s Center) and received numerous awards. She is currently a member of the boards of TSU Women’s Center and Fifty Forward. In addition, she chairs the Davidson County Delegation, is vice president of the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators, and co-chairs the STEM Caucus.
A life member of the NAACP, Gilmore holds membership in the Music City Chapter of the Links, Inc.; Top Ladies of Distinction; the National Council of Negro Women; and is president of both the National Hook Up of Black Women and the Minerva Foundation.
Betsy has a Bachelor’s degree in English from Millsaps College and a Master’s in library science from Emory University. She and her husband, Knox, have two grown
daughters.
Since 2008, DiIanni has served on LWV committees at the national, state, and local level, most recently as a member of the LWVTN Action Committee. She earned her Bachelor’s from the University of New Hampshire cum laude, her master’s from the University of Virginia, and her Juris Doctorate cum laude from New York University School of Law.
DiIanni is also a playwright and was selected into the Tennessee Repertory Theatre’s Ingram New Works Lab and Festival during its inaugural season.