Glassboro
woman seeks
national NOW
post
Elizabeth
Volz headed N.J. group
By BARBARA S.
ROTHSCHILD, Courier-Post Staff, July 1, 2005
GLASSBORO -- As
president of the National Organization for Women-New Jersey, Elizabeth
Volz spent eight years organizing rallies and marches in Trenton and
Washington, D.C., lobbying in the State House and overseeing NOW
chapters throughout the state.
Now, she's champing at the bit to take on more action on a national
level, as NOW's action vice president.
Volz is one of The Riveters, a slate of four challengers vying for
national office at the three-day NOW National Conference that begins
today in Nashville, Tenn. Elections will be held Saturday night.
The opposition slate, Act for NOW, includes Kim Gandy and Olga Vives,
the incumbent president and executive vice president, but its action and
membership vice president candidates are also newcomers to national
office.
"The position I'm running for is the one best suited to my experience
and skill set. It's what I've been doing for 20 years," Volz said.
Volz, 37, a lifelong Glassboro resident, was already a NOW member when
she first gained the spotlight in June 1986. As Glassboro High
School's valedictorian, she shared her graduation podium with a keynote
speaker whose views were radically different from hers.
The speaker was President Reagan, whose politics were about as far from
Volz's as possible. Now, she is trying to deal with the reality of
a nation he envisioned, one where political power is being ceded to the
states.
"The politics in this country are moving from Washington to the states.
Each year, states have more autonomy," Volz said.
"Take one issue, the right of a woman to choose whether or not to have
an abortion. A 16-year-old woman looking to access an abortion in
New Jersey has a very different experience than she would have in
Pennsylvania. Women's rights are different from state to state,
and that means different NOW chapters and state organizations face very
different challenges," she said.
"As the Supreme Court gives more autonomy to the states, New Jersey
activists need different tools than activists in, say, Louisiana.
I want to tailor the tools and assistance that national NOW gives to
local and state chapters. That's not being done enough now," Volz
said.
One way Volz would change those tools would be to use electronic and
paper media to share chapter successes with other chapters.
"We need to focus on the best practices of chapters, be it membership
development or protesting a legislator. We need to highlight
chapters that have accomplished something very efficiently or very
well," she said.
Besides paying more attention to the needs of local and state groups,
Volz wants to bring more women under age 30 -- known as the "third wave"
of feminists -- into NOW.
"They're not complacent. They're involved in local issues and
they're very busy, but they do things differently -- for example, they
use the Internet heavily. We just need to find a way to connect
with them. We have to think about ways to reach them where they
are," she said.
Maretta Short of East Orange, co-founder and president of Women of Color
& Allies/Essex County NOW, was NOW-NJ's affirmative action coordinator
when Volz was president of the state organization.
"One thing I like about Liz is that she's a great communicator.
People want to feel that someone in a leadership position is listening
to them," Short said.
She also credited Volz with helping her start up her racially and
ethnically diverse chapter.
"You can't develop something like that without support of the state
president," she said.
Volz, who identifies herself as in between the second and third wave of
feminists, stepped down from her state leadership position last year to
make way for the real third wave. She mentored current NOW-NJ
President Suzannah Porter, 28, one of the newest generation of feminist
activists crucial to carrying on NOW's work.
Porter, of New Brunswick, said Volz is perfect to fill the position
she's seeking.
"I worked for her opposition. Elizabeth has a far better grasp of
how to bring many more voices to the planning table, whether they're
from blue states, red states, North or South. She's the most fair person
I've ever met, with incredible diplomacy," Porter said.
"Elizabeth can empower anybody and bring a crowd to its feet.
She'll do it with a bullhorn in one hand and a 3-year-old in the other.
She's a multitasker who'll be able to coordinate nationwide actions and
make sure action resources are available for the local chapters," she
said.
As action vice president, Volz would travel all over the country.
She would leave her current job as director of the Stratford-based
Goodwill Center for People in Transition, which provides support for
displaced homemakers.
But she's confident she would be home often enough to spend time with
her family, which includes her husband and four children who range in
age from 13 to 3. She is also committed to her role as a newly
elected Glassboro school board member.
"The school board takes a lot of time, too. But unlike the NOW
position, it's a lot of time in spurts," she noted.
Reach Barbara S. Rothschild at (856) 486-2416 or
brothschild@courierpostonline.com
ELIZABETH VOLZ
# Age: 37
# Residence: Glassboro
# Occupation and volunteer work: Director, Goodwill Center for
People in Transition, Stratford; member of New Jersey Advisory
Commission on the Status of Women and Glassboro school board;
Mid-Atlantic representative to National Organization for Women's
national board; founder and member of Rachel DuBois NOW chapter,
Vineland.
# Previous experience: President of NOW-NJ, 1998-2004; chairwoman, New
Jersey Choice Coalition, 2000-2004; instructor, Glassboro's People in
Transition program; coordinator of services, Residents of Ellis Manor
(low-income housing development in Glassboro); NOW-NJ action vice
president.
# Education: B.A., Swarthmore College, majoring in political science and
women's studies.
# Personal: Married to Ira Price, a truck driver. Four children:
Alexander, 13; Wesley, 11; Ian, 10; Jennifer, 3.
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