The mission of AAUW since 1881 has been to empower women by advancing equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research. This continues to be AAUW’s mission, with emphasis on education and training initiatives, research and advocacy for economic security policies, and identifying and breaking barriers to women in leadership.
OML Branch began in Orinda in 1957 with 87 women, expanding to Moraga and Lafayette in 1966. Our Branch has many active members and a large engaged Board of Directors. We have accomplished much in our 60+ year history. A few years ago, we created a 501(C)(3) organization for our community outreach projects, so donations to them would be tax deductible. Our current community outreach projects are:
Scholarships
Almost since our founding, we have been awarding college scholarships to local public high school senior girls and a Saint Mary’s College senior continuing to graduate school. We recently began awarding a grant to two Saint Mary’s College students to attend AAUW’s National Conference of College Student Women Leaders.
Tech Trek
We have been involved with Tech Trek for over 20 years. Every year we send 6 or 7 middle school girls to a week long camp at Stanford University to participate in STEM related workshops and activities, with the goal of developing their confidence to stay in STEM related classes and choose a STEM career.
STEM Conference
We sponsor a 1 day STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) conference for over 200 middle school girls at Saint Mary’s College. Our objective is to ignite girls’ passion for STEM through hands-on experiences, to provide opportunities to interact with professionals, and to expose girls to STEM careers.
Burckhalter Elementary School
Our Branch adopted a Title I school in Oakland over 25 years ago. We provide several reading and/or math tutors every year, and have opened and staffed their school library with OML volunteers 2-3 days per week, totaling well over 50,000 volunteer hours at this school.
Salary Negotiation Workshops
AAUW sponsors Start Smart and Work Smart salary negotiation workshops for college seniors and working women, to learn skills to negotiate higher salaries in support of our goal of reaching pay equity for women in the workforce.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
AAUW seeks to promote inclusion and awareness for all members to create an equitable, sustainable, and inclusive membership reflective of today’s world. First attract and retain a more diverse membership and create an atmosphere of belonging and inclusivity for all members. We seek to encourage ongoing dialogue about DEI awareness and turn these conversations into actionable goals and strategies to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in our Branch and communities.