Submitted by Karen Price, LWV-Needham

Cheryl Clyburn Crawford, co-director of MassVOTE, will attend the June 6 Annual Meeting of the League of Women Voters of Needham to speak on "Civic Engagement: Despite the Progress, Challenges Remain." She will discuss what is at stake in 2012 and why voters must remain engaged.

LWV-Needham members, guests and the public are welcome to attend the League of Women Voters of Needham Annual Meeting, which will be held at the Needham Free Public Library. A reception will be held from 6:30-7:15 p.m. Guest speaker Cheryl Crawford will speak from 7:15-8 p.m., and the LWV-Needham annual business meeting will follow. The event is free.

Crawford is a critical public face for MassVOTE, recruiting coalition members, new donors and volunteers. She sits on the executive board of the NAACP-Boston Branch as second vice president and is an executive board member of Emerge Massachusetts. Before MassVOTE, Crawford served as campaign manager and then chief of staff to State Representative Willie Mae Allen.

MassVOTE works to promote a culture of active political participation by providing civic organizations the tools they need to organize, register and educate voters, with an emphasis on historically disenfranchised communities. MassVOTE builds civic coalitions to advocate for democracy reforms that make the electoral process more accountable and accessible to all people. For further information visit massvote.org.

For information about LWV-Needham, visit lwv-needham.org.