Friends of Mali

Board Meeting Minutes

May 15, 2004   2:00 pm

 

 


I.          Old Business

            A.        Website – finding members with website design/Dreamweaver

                        No progress yet but will keep asking.

 

            B.        Nagelene bottles and Peace Corps training

                        Training is August.  Bottles on hold until we have a logo.  Use the griot                              that Michelle Diallapiazzo made currently on the newsletter and then the                           font from the website.  Sabrina will follow up with Michelle and Jumana                            will follow up with Heather to find out what the image should look like                              and colors.  Jumana will follow up with Peace Corps on timing.

 

            C.        Post office announcement in newsletter

                        Didn’t get in the newsletter because it went out before this agenda item                              came up.  Sabrina posted it on the announcement board on the website.                              Andrew also sent a message about this out.  Jumana will look into moving                         the post office box location if this problem looks like its going to persist.

 

            D.        Calabash Music – FOM usage?  Don’t know yet.

 

            E.         Regional Reps

                        1.  list of candidates – Jumana sent out list of candidates.  Moon Yun Choi                                     is fine to be the rep in Hawaii.  Her behavior in Mali may not                                              really be pertinent for this role.

 

                        2.  Divise requirements – Jumana will send out an e-mail describing their                             responsibilities.  Regional reps should be prepared to:

                                    1) organize 3-4 national events

                                    2) participate in a biannual national conference call

                                    3) write up a paragraph of their events with pix if available.                                                 4) contribute ideas for what they can do to raise awareness                                                      of FOM in their cities.

 

                        3.  We will advertise who the regional reps are on the website.

                       

                        4.  First activity – June 19.  Organize a raise awareness event and advertise                              that we are looking for new board members.  We will send job                                             descriptions for open positions, print out a list of attendees, list of                                     contact information.  Jumana will draft an e-mail to board members                                     who should comment on it by Monday morning May 17. 

 

            E.         Hotpoints are sent to non-members to encourage them to become                                        members. Access to entire article for members.

 

            F.         Member Networking Database  - No progress but Andrew will get to it                              after school is finished.

 

            G.        Getting info from NPCA on recent COSers

                        NPCA will not divulge this info.  Sabrina will contact the Country                                      Director in Mali to send FOM info to COSers in country.

 

            H.        Renewing Friends of Mali

                        1.  Tom Bruns is not really interested in translating the website but is                                      interested in being a liasion with Malian community.  In interest of                                     time and to ensure quality, Jumana will look into find a professional                                   translator to do it.

 

                        2.  Member survey – No responses so far.  Maybe send the survey out as a                                       separate item via e-mail to get a better response.

 

            I.          Election

                        1.  Mark Niles commutes from Florida so Jumana hasn’t been able to talk                                to him yet.  Jumana will try again to get in touch with him and try to                                  get him interested.

                        2.  Job descriptions – everyone please resend to Jumana

                        3.  Advertise that statements of interest should be sent to the Secretary by                                          July 1.

                        4.  Ballots registered in inbox by August 1.  Sabrina will ask Jeff to create                                an inbox at voting@friendsofmali.com, where members can register a                                   ballot.

 

II.        New Business

            A.        FOM store/merchandise – Paypal notifies Andrew that a purchase has                               been made.  Andrew notifies Allison.

 

            B.        NPCA request for direct deposits for rebate checks – Jumana will check                             on this on Monday.

                       

III.       Other

            Jumana spoke with Megan Doherty.  She’s heavily involved in new immigrant             support issues. She’s hoping FOM could participate in activities supporting new             immigrants such as in Philadelphia.  Megan will write up a   proposal on how             FOM can be involved.

 

            Newsletter deadline:   June 1

 

Next Meeting: June 26, 2004  10:00 am