[Archived 2002.09.23]

Friends of Mali Board Meeting Minutes
September 22, 2002

In attendance (conference call):
Jumana Qamruddin, President
Jenna Diallo, Vice-President
Jeff Spivack, Membership coordinator and Webmaster
Sabrina Washington, Newsletter editor

Elections
Since we have received no candidate statements and have few members, interim leaders will serve for a year. Matt Heberger is going to serve as Treasurer, therefore from now on, anything to do with bank account goes to Matt. If anyone on Board decides they can no longer serve within the next year, weÕll put out a call for candidates on an as-needed basis.

Association of Malians in DC
Jumana was recently contacted by Paula Strange, FOM Pres in Ô92, re: Association of Malians in DC. Jumana met with Kadir Toungara, rep from this group; they are very excited about working with us. They have 1,000 members. They were very active with former Friends of Mali group. They discussed possibility of doing monthly activities, and having a calendar on our website listing both groupsÕ activities. Jumana to attend the Independence Day dance organized by group tonight. [exit Jumana in green boubou]

  1. Goals and Objectives
    1. Clear definition of goals and objectives
      1. MembershipÑwe currently have 20 paid members and 40 people registered. Goal - to have 100 paid members in 6 months time through mailings and activities. Jumana sent out an initial flyer but weÕre not sure it was mailed properly. She will send out postcards while investigating with post office about flyer.
      2. Activities: Folklife festival, happy hours, fund projects (Jenna to contact Peace Corps Partnership), fund trips to Mali for schoolchildren in VA and MD?
      3. Services we could offer/benefits of membership:
        1. Discounts (ex: JumanaÕs triathlon groupÑdiscounts at Fleet Feet)
        2. Projects/Peace Corps partnership
        3. Newsletter
        4. Search for other RPCVs
        5. Voting
        6. Discounts to FOM events
    2. Current projects
      1. Smithsonian Ð they havenÕt really voiced specific needs yet, just that they will need volunteers to pick Malians up at airport, interpret during festival, etc. Sabrina suggested that we do a reunion during the Folklife festival. Weekend of the 4th would be best as people would already have vacation and be drawn even more by 4th July events going on in DC. Need to find point person for this.
      2. TeachNet Ð not much input this year, year has already started; we could provide RPCVs to visit classroom; longer termÑmake up a toolkit for Mali for teachers; we need to find a point person for this project. Jumana, Shawn and Jenna met with Anne Schleicher of Global TeachNet and sheÕs supposed to be setting up a meeting with some curriculum specialists from VA/MD so we can hear from them what they envision our contribution to be
  2. Membership
    1. Outreach Jenna dropped off flyers to Malian embassy and asked them to help us outreach to non-RPCV community; asked them for list of people, no response yet. Jenna will continue to look into reaching out to non-RPCV community.
    2. What are the benefits of membership vs. just registering?some of your membership dues will go to fund projects in Mali (i.e. Peace Corps partnership).Discounts to FOM events, other discounts.Just clarify terminology instead of changing terms to Òbasic/gold/premiumÓ membershipIdeas for activities---happy hours, reunion during Smithsonian festival-weekend of July 4th
  3. 501 (c) (3)/Tax-Exempt Status
    Jenna checked with GW Legal Clinic; they werenÕt open in August. Jumana said Matt is going to take care of it. Jenna will follow-up with Matt on status.
  4. Newsletter/Website submissions
    Sabrina to organize and collect content; Jeff will layout and publish. All content should be to Jeff by October 7, to be published October 15. Jenna will work on getting article from Bissy. Matt Heberger to contribute column on music; article from RPCV in Florida. Jumana and Bronwyn to contribute articles also.
  5. Miscellaneous
    1. Continuation of Service grantsÑthese are small grants that NPCA gives out to Friends of groups. We discussed the possibility of applying for one with Anne Schleicher, in order to do something educational on our website. Deadline for apps is in October. Jeff doesnÕt see how more money will help with website. We have enough work right now. LetÕs not apply this year.
    2. Can we put daily Africa news on home page of website to attract people to website? Jeff will look into this.
  6. Date of next board meeting
    Saturday, November 2. Perhaps we can coincide our upcoming happy hour event with Malian association with this. Plus Sabrina will be in town that weekend. Exact time to be discussed through email before then. This will give us about 6 weeks to work on the following and be capable of reporting on:
    -Newsletter
    -Tax-exempt status
    -Malian community
    -TeachNet curriculum people
    -Website developments: calendar; news on website; membership/joining; FOM development/history/what weÕre about;
    -PeaceCorps Partnership