Third Thursday Community Program –
Civic Engagement Check-in: What Can I Do?
A Powerful Night of Connection, Purpose, and Momentum
Bette Felton and Ogie Strogatz
October’s Community Program brought together a room full of passionate individuals united by a shared commitment to justice and progress. It was a powerful, productive, and uplifting evening.
Bette Felton, DAW Program Chair, guided attendees through an insightful conversation unpacking key concepts essential to our group’s work: solidarity, advocacy versus lobbying, and manageable activism.
Ogie Strogatz, DAW DEI Officer, shared impactful resources from AAUW, including AAUW CA’s Public Policy Priorities, the School Board Project, and the CA Proposition 50 Guide, and AAUW National’s partnership on the 10/18 No Kings events.
Attendees engaged with community partners who are making a difference every day – representing Indivisible Tri-Valley, League of Women Voters Diablo Valley, and the Multi-Faith Action Coalition – who were present with materials and open conversations about their work.
After reflecting together on our collective efforts toward a more just and equitable society, Ogie closed the evening with a moving excerpt from activist and thought leader Valarie Kaur.
“Is this the darkness of the tomb or the darkness of the womb?…
You are the community leaders… the midwives in this time of great transition, tasked with birthing a new future for all of us.”
Thank you to everyone who showed up. The work continues, and so do we – stronger, together.
Click here for a slide show of photos from the meeting.
About the discussion leaders:
Ogie (“O.G.”) Strogatz grew up in northwest Connecticut, receiving a BA in psychology from Vassar College, and an MSPH in health policy and administration from the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She served as a regional healthcare planner for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Ogie subsequently held assignments in health economics, strategic planning, marketing, and sales with the pharmaceutical company Merck, after which she joined the biotech company Genentech, working on executive communications, employee engagement, and organizational change management. In late 2015, Ogie transitioned from paid employment to focus on volunteer progressive political activism. She is an activist and organizer with Indivisible ReSisters Contra Costa, 350 Contra Costa, and the Center for Common Ground. Ogie is also a co-founder of Lift Up Public Schools, a member of AAUW California’s statewide Public Policy Committee and the School Board Project, and a former co-president of the Danville-Alamo-Walnut Creek Branch of AAUW.
Bette Felton grew up in Oakland and attended UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco, receiving a BS in Nursing. Work and travel included pediatric, surgical and public health nursing, an MS in Community Health Nursing, and teaching at Catholic University in Washington, DC. Returning to the Bay Area to raise her family, she joined nursing faculty at CSU East Bay where she held senior faculty and administrative posts for 28 years. Bette received her DrPH from UC Berkeley in Health Policy in 1989. She currently chairs the Contra Costa Regional Health Foundation, serves on the Endowment Committee of the San Ramon Valley Education Foundation, and serves on the Board of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at CSU East Bay. Bette has been a member of AAUW for many years and is Program VP for the Danville-Alamo-Walnut Creek Branch, in addition to having served as Garden Tour Chair. Commitment to the public policy priorities of AAUW prompts her to learn with the branch and ‘make good trouble’ via programming.