AAUW: Empowering women since 1881!

Check out our long history on the AAUW National website.

Download our local Long Beach branch history, click here!

AAUW Long Beach has a long and prestigious history. We celebrated 100 Years in 2020!

1920 – 1940:
The small group of college-educated women who had formed the College Women’s Club of Long Beach in 1911 became affiliated with the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, forbear of AAUW, in 1920.  Given that this was the same year that the 19th Amendment extended voting rights to all American women, the Branch joined with the League of Women Voters to establish a school for voters.  During these early years they also created a Toy Loan Library, an Inter-Club Legislature, a city-wide Creative Arts Festival, and a Community Arts Survey. The Branch’s focus on education emerged early—in the 1920s members were holding Scholarship Teas and raising money for scholarships.

1941 – 1945:
During World War II, the Branch set up a Speakers Bureau in connection with consumer research, worked with the YWCA in finding rooms for defense workers, bought $5000 in War Bonds, and, with American Women’s Volunteer Service, established, helped furnish, and staffed a Servicewomen’s Club.

1945 – 1970:
In the post-war years, AAUW-Long Beach conducted a survey of recreational facilities that resulted in supervised playgrounds, updated the Arts Survey of Long Beach, and did a study of juvenile problems in Lakewood, resulting in supervised recreation in Pan-American Park. Members began a Braille Transcribing Section that produced hundreds of books for blind students.

1970 – 1995:
In cooperation with other organizations, the Branch was instrumental in developing and presenting the first of the popular Literary Women’s Conferences. Among other contributions to the local community, members published Choosing Childcare: a Directory of Child Care Facilities in Long Beach. The group successfully raised money for three named EF fellowships during these years.

1995 – 2005:
These past ten years have seen an explosion of new activities by the Branch: an outstanding program where members have mentored over fifty middle- and high-school girls at risk of not achieving their potential; support of Tech Trek scholarships for twenty-one local girls; provision of reading tutors for Constellation Middle School; and a Math-Science workshop for middle-school girls. At the same time, the Branch has completed another named fellowship and has consistently been one of the leading California donors to the Legal Advocacy Fund.

2005-2025

AAUW Long Beach continued to be actively engaged in our community in support of our mission, as bulleted below.

• AAUW CA Tech Trek – a 25th anniversary event in 2023 celebrated the support of 118 camperships to rising 8^th graders since the program’s inception.
• AAUW Work Smart and Start Smart – over 3 years, conducted 32 workshops to teach more than 500 women (and men) how to improve their negotiation for pay and benefits.
• STEM Career Conference – oversaw an annual Friday afternoon program providing LBUSD Title I middle-school girls with hands-on workshops, with 3,331 ultimate attendees through 2024.
• Energizing Potential – a 6-year study published with Long Beach Unified School District verifying the STEM Career Conference’s efficacy and impact.
• College Scholarships– since 2014, raised funds and awarded $82,500 to 47 students at Long Beach City College and California State University Long Beach.
• Financial Strength – created a comprehensive Investment Policy to ensure the branch’s financial security; completed two more AAUW Research and Projects Endowments.
• Community – awarded the Friend of Education Award for Community Service by the Teachers Association of Long Beach in 2014; collaborated with the Women’s Intercultural Network to advocate for the 2016 ratification by the LB City Council to be a CEDAW city (eliminating all forms of discrimination against women).
• AAUW Long Beach 100^th – celebrated its anniversary in August 2020 by standing as suffragists with the Centennial Circle of Women and in recognition of the passage of the 19th Amendment when women won the right to vote.
• Title IX Advocacy – was recognized in 2022 by then City of Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia and by Long Beach City College Board of Trustees for 50 years of advocacy.
• Commission Activity- Was an active member of the CSULB President’s Commission on the Status of Women and advocated for the LB Commission on the Status of Women and Girls Commission which, after first being proposed by Councilwoman Renee Simon in the 1970s, was established in 2023.