FAWCO

https://mailchi.mp/230205ea7102/news-in-brief-march-2025?e=feb5200afa

 

If you are a US citizen, chances are that you are required to file income taxes for 2024. The Tax and Banking Team has prepared an article summing up the dates you need to keep in mind in 2025 as well as other helpful information. AMERICANS ABROAD WEBINAR SERI FAWCO, working with its partners, has developed a series of webinars geared to informing our members on where they can get answers to questions particular to Americans living abroad as well as assisting non-Americans with questions that relate to US Issues. All of the webinars are free and are hosted by FAWCO. Please share with your club members who may be interested. Welcome! Banking for Overseas Members Using SDFCU Technology – Your Questions Answered Wednesday, April 10, 2025 at 5:00 pm CET Register here. We’ll kick off our webinar series with FAWCO’s Biennial Conference sponsor, State Department Federal Credit Union. Learn how you can join SDFCU as a FAWCO member, access your personal education center, and manage your account from anywhere in the world. Understand the key technologies to safely spend, invest, borrow, and even finance a home via remote settlement. Webinar for College Bound Families Admissions Insights: A Global Overview of the US, UK, and Europe Wednesday, April 23, 2025 at 7:30 pm CET Register here. This webinar will explore the key differences and similarities in university admissions across these regions. Gain valuable tips and expert advice to help navigate the complexities of applying to universities in the US, UK, and Europe.  Presented by Sara Bittner, Owner and Head Education Advisor of Launch Education Advisors. Sara is a member of AWC Amsterdam. Launch Education Advisors is the FAWCO Target Program Sponsor. Remote Services For Struggling Learners The Brave New World Of Telehealth for Kids and Teens Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at 7:30 pm CET Register here. This webinar dives into the game-changing impact of telehealth on education, giving schools and parents powerful new ways to support children and teens – no matter where they are. Discover how remote counseling, occupational therapy, specialized learning support, speech therapy, coaching, and social skills groups are bridging the gap for students who lack access to traditional services. Join us to explore real-world strategies that are transforming lives. Presented by Christina Limbird, PHD, Educational Psychologist and co-founder of Linden Global Learning and Support. The Linden team is composed of diverse, highly skilled professionals trained in social, emotional and academic well-being. US Liaison: Johanna Dishongh US Voting from Overseas: Mary Stewart Burgher US Citizenship: Judy Furukawa US Tax & Banking:  Ann Birot-Salsbury and Tracy Moede

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https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/69745559/women-working-with-words-part-2-january-2025

2025 FAWCO Biennial Conference

Annapolis, Maryland, USA

Hosted by FAUSA and supported by The FAWCO Foundation

You can find the all the information you need about the Conference on the FAWCO website. Registration closes February 26, 2025. Note: FAWCO is offering the Member Club voting delegate (one per club) a stipend of 300 USD to be refunded after attending the conference. The full registration price is 565 USD. Please reserve your hotel rooms at the conference venue by February 18, 2025 to ensure the FAWCO rate. FAUSA, FAWCO and The FAWCO Foundation all welcome you to join us March 26–30, 2025!

Good news about Awesome Blossoms and the work of Peninah Musyimi founder of Safe Spaces, Kenya! Climate Knowledge Collective, a non-profit that FAWCO’s UN Rep Ayuska Motha, AIWC Cologne, is working with, has published an oral history interview with Peninah. Here is a link to the interview. This collection includes rich information from the perspectives of environmental justice activists, including their motivations, personal backgrounds, education, and community involvement in a world affected by climate change. Look for next week’s Target Bulletin for updates about the project as we head towards the finish line of fundraising at the end of February.

https://mailchi.mp/3e4409c29a17/target-bulletin-september-2024?e=6b513bca79

https://mailchi.mp/ea553f4c51e9/global-issues-digest-september-2024?e=6b513bca79

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 Mary Stewart Burgher  Voting From Overseas  29 July 2024

Our Election Day is in September – get ready!

On July 28, many politicians and pundits trumpeted that the US 2024 election “is just 100 days away!”  And that was true for domestic voters. For those of us who live overseas, however, Election Week starts on September 21, when the states begin sending out ballots, and “ends” on September 28, by which time FAWCO’s partner the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) recommends that we return our completed ballots. While voters can certainly return ballots later than that, every day that passes reduces the chance that your vote will arrive in time to be counted by your local election official.

Take action now to ensure that you – and other overseas Americans you know – will cast valid votes in the most important election of our lifetimes. The stakes – the future of US democracy – have never been higher. Send suggestions and questions to the US Voting Committee at voting@fawco.org. 

What you can do

1. Register to vote/request a ballot now, if you have not already done so. (FVAP recommends that we register by August 1, for example.) Right away, go to your computer and fill out the form available on two safe, secure and nonpartisan websites – FVAP and the US Vote Foundation. Click here for details and specific advice on registration/ballot requests.
2. Once you are registered, make a plan to ensure that you cast a valid vote. This includes knowing how to use a write-in ballot if your regular ballot fails to arrive, or arrive in time. Click here for details and advice.
3. Spread the word about the need and methods to vote to other Americans in your community in every way you can, in every group you belong to: your club, your workplace, your house of worship, your sports or other activity groups. Include election info in your email signature, in your social media and on your club website. Please also attend and promote the US Voting Town Hall that FAWCO will hold on Zoom on September 4 at 19:00 CET. Click here for details and here to register in advance.  
4. Advocate for US democracy. Many Americans, no matter where they live, are worried about the ongoing threats to US democracy, which the US Voting Committee has discussed in every article it has published in the last few years.

As action is the antidote to anxiety, the Committee urges you to take the action that suits you best. This can include supporting pro-democracy candidates for office with your time, money and voice, and raising awareness of the current threats. In a recent article, the Committee Chair discusses ways to talk about the threats to US democracy.

High stakes, and rising

Unfortunately, the stakes keep rising. In addition to the violent rhetoric detailed in recent articles, shots were fired at a candidate for office (which, thankfully, he survived, although a member of the public was killed and two others badly wounded), and more than one office holder and activist have predicted civil bloodshed or war if the election does not yield the results they prefer. Recently, a candidate promised a group of voters that, if they voted for him in 2024, “in four years, you don t have to vote again.” Asked to clarify that remark, he repeated it.  

US democracy needs every American to defend it. To quote Heather Cox Richardson,

Every time we expand democracy, it seems we get complacent, thinking it’s a done deal. We forget that democracy is a process and that it’s never finished.

The Good Fight is never finished; be sure you play your part by voting, helping others to vote and supporting US democracy in 2024, and as long as it takes. The outcome is up to “we the people.” But it always has been.