All About SMS-IBC

Santa Clara County IBC is now the SMS-IBC!    Wait – what is the Santa Clara County IBC?

The Santa Clara County Interbranch Council (IBC)  consists of representatives from the seven Santa Clara County AAUW branches (Gilroy, Los Altos/Mountain View, Los Gatos/Saratoga, Morgan Hill, Palo Alto, San Jose, Sunnyvale/Cupertino) and encourages interbranch communication and collaboration.

The council meets 5 times a year, and sponsors county-wide events such as the March 2022 panel celebrating 50 years of Title 9 ‘What you Don’t Know Can Hurt You’, organizes the yearly Ice Cream Social for Tech Trek girls, and Leadership training. AAUW CA assigns a liaison to the IBC to offer advice and support when needed.

SMS (Santa Clara County-Monterey Peninsula-Santa Cruz County) – IBC(Interbranch Council):

This 2022-2023 year, Monterey Peninsula Branch and Santa Cruz County Branch joined the SCC-IBC to form an association called the SMS-IBC to share ideas and events, and support one another, while we continue to operate our finances separately. As of now, no bylaws changes have been required.

Branches have shared events all through the year including (i) San Jose’s Proposition Exposition to explain all 7 propositions of the November election (ii) SJ online scholarship fundraising to help San Jose-area women complete their degrees, (iii) English Tea fundraiser with the Monterey Peninsula Branch in June, and (iv) Talk by National Geographic Explorer Erica Woolsey in October 2022 by the Santa Cruz branch, etc.

How has our Morgan Hill branch connected with IBC branches?

We have enjoyed cooperation between branches over the years, and we strive to increase this interaction. We share our programs with IBC member branches, and we attend other IBC branch member events to support them. Examples include:

  • Los Gatos-Saratoga members attend the Wildflower Run to support us.
  • Gilroy AAUW attends our 4th of July parade.
  • We have joined San Jose and other branches for Women’s Marches & rallies on reproductive rights.
  • Our branch attends the IBC TechTrek ice-cream social held for camp attendees and their families.

Watch for these noteworthy events from IBC member branches:

  1. Sunday, January 22, 2023: Zoom event with speaker, Lauren Rankin from Colorado author of Bodies on the Line: At the Front Lines of the Fight to Protect Abortion in America. Details will be shared soon. (Los Altos/Mountain View)
  2. Friday, January 27, 2023: “Brave Little Nell: The Eleanor Roosevelt Story”, 11:00 am, Immanuel Lutheran Church ~ Fellowship Hall, 14103 Saratoga Avenue, Saratoga, CA 95070, Admission is FREE, Open to all – accessible location. (Los Gatos-Saratoga Branch)
  3. Wednesday, February 8, 2023: Sisters in Crime fundraiser. (Sunnyvale-Cupertino Branch)

Suman Ganapathy, Chair, SMS-IBC

Return to January/February 2023 Newsletter