Overview
The four Directors for Policy, along with the NCWU President, form the NCWU
Policy Council. This body is responsible for what it means for the coalition to
make an endorsement. They also perform other duties as board members.
Directors
June Kimmel
June was a region director for the NC Council for Women/Domestic Violence Commission
for twenty years. Her work included helping women learn how to be politically
active and aware. She has been part of the Women's Agenda project since its inception.
She serves on the League of Women Voters of North Carolina state board, and has
been active in the League for over forty years in four states. She has served
as president of the Women's Political Caucus and is chair of the Domestic Violence
Advisory Board in Mecklenburg County. She has served as chair of ECO, an agency
devoted to providing support for people newly released from prison.
She is involved in environmental issues, is president of the Davidson Lands
Conservancy, and lives in a solar home built in 1980. She has four grown children
and two grandsons.
She attended Goucher College, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania
and did graduate work at the University of Rhode Island.
Beth Messersmith
Beth Messersmith is the Co-Director of Democracy North Carolina (formerly a
project of Democracy South), a nonpartisan organization committed to fulfilling
the promise of "one person, one vote" and ensuring equal access and
full participation of all voters in the electoral process. Beth comes to this
position after a year and a half as a field organizer and training coordinator
with Democracy South.
Prior to that, she was a marketing specialist with Big Brothers Big Sisters and
a conflict resolution intern with the Carter Center.
She was awarded the Harry S. Truman Fellowship for pursuit of graduate work
in public service and received her Master of Public Affairs degree from Indiana
University with a concentration in non-profit management and African Studies.
She holds a BA in Political Science from Furman University in Greenville, SC.
Beth sits on the board of North Carolina Voters for Clean Elections, a coalition
working to pass a public-financing option for elections in NC and is an active
member of the Raleigh/ Wake County Branch of AAUW. She is married and lives in
Durham with her husband, Jamey
Shirley Williams-McLain
Shirley Williams-McClain has a long history working for social and economic
justice in North Carolina and the Nation. She was born and reared in Wake and
Chatham Counties.
She is one of eight children born. Growing up Shirley and her siblings worked
along side their parents as sharecroppers. It was this system that gave Shirley
a first hand experience dealing with greed, discrimination, prejudice, and injustice.
Shirley graduated from Shaw University with a degree in Sociology. She began
her career as a junior high school teacher in Nash county. She has experience
in Community Economic Development and Community Reinvestment with North Carolina
Legal Services.
Shirley is a fellow in the North Carolina Institute of Political Leadership,
a graduate of the North Carolina Institute of Community Economic Development and
a Leader in the National Rural Leadership Development Network. She is the recipient
of the Rosa Parks Award for leadership and the recipient of the leadership award
from the Fuquay Varing CDC.
She has worked all over the state in her current position as Executive Director
of North Carolina Hunger Network. She is the first and only Director of the organization
. She has led this diverse organization to many accomplishments. The accomplishments
include:
- Raising awareness about hunger in North Carolina;
- Increasing the number of anti-hunger advocates;
- Leading Hunger Marches; decreasing hunger in North Carolina by working with
many state agencies, and community-based organizations:
- organizing and developing leadership skills for women and men to advocate
for themselves.
In the past years she has to traveled in countries such as China, Korea, Hati,
Mexico,New Mexico, Canada,Jamica, Chili, Johannesburg and Durban South African,
and most recently the Philippines She has three children and three grandchildren
whom she loves dearly. In her spare time she has produced and directed plays like
"ARaisin in the Sun " and a "Christmas Carol."
Patricia Yancey
Patricia Yancey serves as director of public education for the Adolescent Pregnancy
Prevention Coalition of North Carolina -- a nonprofit, United Way agency based
in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and formerly based in Charlotte. She represents
the Coalition's interest as a lobbyist in the legislature and before other governing
entities, state departments, agencies, and regulatory boards and commissions.
She conducts workshops and does consultation for the Coalition. In addition, she
is an independent businesswoman and works as a consultant and lobbyist for several
other nonprofit organizations. Among her clients are the Friends of Residents
in Long Term Care, a nonprofit organization that advocates on behalf of residents
and the families of residents in long term care facilities, the Land Loss Prevention
Project, NC Association of Girl Scout Councils, and the ACLU of North Carolina.
Patricia is a native of Vance County, a graduate of A&T State University
in Greensboro, and has received additional educational training at NC Central
University in Durham, and NC State University in Raleigh. She was a 1979-80 fellow
in George Washington University Institute for Educational Leadership's Education
Policy Fellowship Program. She served as a policy advisor to Governor James B.
Hunt, Jr. during his first and second terms as governor. She is actively involved
in civic and community affairs. Patricia Yancey serves on several boards and committees
including NC Women United, State Coordinating Council for Making the Grade, Lillian's
List, and was recently appointed to the board of directors for the Touring Theatre
of North Carolina. She is a former member of the North Carolina Foundation for
Nursing, the Wake County Council on Adolescent Pregnancy, Wake County YWCA Committee
on Administration and the YWCA Board of Directors, and former president of the
board of directors for Artsplosure. Patricia is a former Girl Scout leader, a
former member of the Youth Services Planning Board for the County of Wake, and
she is a former member and treasurer for the Board of Directors for the Planned
Parenthood of the Capital and Coast.
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