Welcome to AAUW Fremont (CA) Branch


Our Mission Statement:
 Advancing gender equity for women and girls through research, education, and advocacy.

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) is the nation’s oldest and largest organization for women. Founded in 1881, AAUW advances gender equity for women and girls through research, education, and advocacy. It is one of the world’s largest funders of graduate education and career development for women and has provided over $140M to more than 130,000 grantees in 145 countries. Headquartered in Washington, DC, AAUW has 1,000 branches nationwide with over 170,000 members and 800 college/university partners.

The Fremont Branch serving the Tri-Cities of Fremont, Newark, and Union City, was founded in 1961 by a group of thirteen local teachers who aspired to promote gender equity through STEM education and community activism. Each year our Branch raises funds to sponsor: Mother-Daughter STEM Discovery Day for elementary school students in collaboration with local school districts, Tech Trek summer residential camps for 7th graders, Speech Trek competitions for high schoolers, and Ohlone College Scholarships for women college students to cover tuition costs and registration fees for AAUW’s annual National Conference for College Women Student Leaders.

Our Branch also hosts Interest Groups to support the creative pursuits of our members: Afternoon Lit and Book Talk book clubs, Cultural Cuisine, Exploring the Arts, Money Talks, Tuesday ESL Chat at Fremont Main Library, Yoga For Body and Spirit, and the One Book, One Community Read Project, which is done  in collaboration with the Alameda County Library, the Fremont School District, and the City of Fremont.

CLICK HERE FOR FREMONT BRANCH FLYER

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Public Policy Update
By Jeanne Delp

In the March Twig, Jeanne discusses activities that Fremont branch members can do during the month.
To read this or any of Jeanne’s previous Public Policy columns, click HERE.



 Branch News



The annual Women’s History event this year was a Tea ‘n Talk at Kathy Garfield’s home where AAUW members shared their own history. Participating were, from left, Pauline Weaver, Maria Elena Gomez, Randy Fewel, Jo Szeto, Kathy Garfinkle, Rosemarie Everett, Kimmi Tang, and Judy Wolf.



The Fremont City Council passed a resolution supporting the One Book, One Community Read (OBOCR) Project and its latest book, The Hill We Climb, by Amanda Gorman. Receiving the proclamation on February 13 from AAUW member and Fremont Mayor Lily Mei, center, were OBOCR Chair Marge Leonard and Branch President Phie Dai.



We had a great time at our annual Bi-branch luncheon February 3 with the Hayward-Castro Valley branch. We had lunch at the Ghazni Afghan Restaurant in Hayward and heard from Joyce Weaver, AAUW career development grantee and new Fremont AAUW member. Shown are Phie Dai, left, president of the Fremont branch, and Linda Slater, right, president of the Hayward-Castro Valley branch, standing with Joyce Weaver.



Our family holiday party was a sparkling success, with everyone having a great time being dazzled on December 10 at the Artist Walk, helped by our fabulous multi-instrumentalist member Gene Wang and Grammy Award-winning tenor sax player, Ben Torres.





Randy Fewel, president of our foundation for local scholarships, was interviewed by Washington High student Anusha Dube. Anusha is interviewing nonprofits and putting them up on her YouTube channel so that high school students can see what the nonprofits are doing and possibly get their community service hours through them.



Our Fall Brunch, held October 7th, was a great success, with members gathering at Niles Discovery Church to enjoy brunch and our guest speakers: our 2023 Tech Trekkers, Alice Manfredi, and our keynote speaker, Dr. Evelyn LaTorre, award winning author of Between Inca Walls and Love In Any Language.


Our 2023 One Book, One Community Read Project featuring Amanda Gorman’s The Hill We Climb kicked off American Library Association’s 2023 Banned Book Week from October 1-7, 2023.



Senator Josh Becker shared how he plans to lead our state and country with transformative climate legislation to accelerate CA’s transition to 100% clean energy and net zero emissions.



Our FY24 Board of Directors were installed on June 10th at a luncheon generously hosted by Cogir of Fremont. From left: Jeanne Delp, Kris Sandoe, Carolyn Hedgecock, Kimmi Tang, Jo Szeto, Phie Dai, Jennifer Foster, Kathy Garfinkle, and Randy Fewel.



Tech Trek Class of 2023 and their families mingled and connected over delicious ice cream sundaes on May 21st. This year we sponsored 7 campers to a week of STEM enrichment and fun at Sonoma State.



At the 2023 Ohlone College Gender Fair held on April 19th, we handed out more than 200 Equal Pay cookies baked by our members to call attention to the gender wage gap that AAUW is working hard to address: on the average, women are paid 20% less than men.

In 2024, WalletHub named Fremont as the happiest city in America for the fifth year in a row. It has the lowest depression rate and the lowest separation and divorce rate. WalletHub compared more than 182 of the large cities nationwide and looked at 30 key indicators such as a city’s income growth, life expectancy, and job opportunities.