EEAC Steering Committee Meeting Minutes
January 19, 2022 
Wednesday 5:30pm – 7pm 
Online Zoom Meeting

Attending: 
Robert Wallace, E. Shig Matsukawa, Mike Zamm, Mary Leou, Bonnie Ralston, Fran Agnone, Isa Del Bello, Ilana Weinstein, Robin Sanchez, Bethany Kogut, Many Most, Amanda Levy, Ray Pultinas, Andy Stone

Quorum for Steering Committee (SC) is majority of SC members. Total SC members: 14. Majority: 8. 

2022 SC meetings: 1/19, 2/16, 3/16, 4/20, 5/18, 6/15, 7/20, 8/17, 9/21, 10/19, Nov. Annual Mtg, 12/21.

The following bullet notes for review and approval by the steering committee on 1/19/2022:

• Meetings will be recorded to allow the secretary to later write up the meeting minutes especially if the secretary needed to participate and/or has missed part of the details of a discussion, or is absent.
• The chat will also be saved to refer to for the meeting minutes (such as, to include linked documents).
• This google doc, “EEACmeetingAgendas,” will be re-used for every steering committee meeting:
  • After each meeting, this doc will be copied with filename format, “EEACmeetingAgenda20220119”
    • After which the date of this doc will be changed to the next SC meeting..
    • Steering committee members (and liaisons) can then edit this doc for the next meeting.
    • Link to this doc can always be found in the internal home page: eeac-nyc.org/internal-item/eeac-internal (SC members, login required).
      For non-SC members without access to the internal section, the link can be emailed to them.

Committee Reports and Updates

Meeting Minutes/ Agendas

1. Approve previous meeting minutes: 
   EEACminutes20201215 [updated 1/18/2022]
   Webpage: https://eeac-nyc.org/202002-wp/2022/01/18/sc-minutes-12-15-2021/ 

Minutes were approved — Isa and Ray explained process of approving minutes for new SC members. 

Fran: Today is a bit of a learning meeting for new members, we will explain each item as we go along.

1. Nominations

• EEAC Steering Committee Ballot: (google form) [Jan. 2022]
• Google slide: Nominations-for-Steering-Committee-January-2022.pdf [updated 1/8/2022]
• Nominations Committee: Officer Slate is 2022-2025
  • Chair: River D.
  • Vice-Chair: Fran A.
  • Secretary: Isa D.B.
  • Treasurer/Membership: Bonnie R.
• Steering Committee Members, Class of 2022-2024:
  • New: Bethany Kogut, Amanda Levy, Robin Sanchez, and Ilana Weinstein.
  • Re-elect[ed]: Robert W. and Raymond P. 
• Steering Committee total members: 15
  DRAFT of “steering committee members” webpage (to replace current version): https://eeac-nyc.org/home/about-eeac/steering-committee/steering-committee-members-draft/ —bio of new SC members are not complete; need photos.

Mary: slate has been voted on and approved unanimously. Welcome 4 new members, Robyn Ilana, Amanda, Bethany. We are honored to have our 4 new members!  

Everyone did brief introductions of themselves (new and existing SC members). 

2. Committee assignments
   1. Who is/will be in what committee? – EEAC committee one-pagers (PDF) 

This is something we will cover in our retreats — new members should review at some point.

3. Adaptive Plan
   1. Retreat: 1/25/2022 (Tue) 5:30 pm

Looking at 2 retreats — ideally in person. Given Omicron etc. we will be meeting virtually, at least for the first one. Bonnie will send info to new members and a doodle poll. 

Part 1: “Who is in the room?” — this is an opportunity to learn about new members and existing members can re-introduce themselves. We will discuss what it means to be a SC member.

Part 2: SC 101 — There will be questions in advance and some documents to look at before the meeting. 

4. Finance
   1. Finance & Membership Final Report for Calendar Year / Fiscal Year 2021:
      https://eeac-nyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/EEAC-Finances_2021-12-31_final.pdf 
   2. Updating bank signatories

Thank you Mary M for your service! Such a valued member of the SC and you will be missed!

Mary will send final 2021 report via email to whole steering    committee in the coming month—Final report linked above.

5. Membership
   1. Updates on membership numbers
   2. Lists maintenance (clarifications: who/which committee manages which list)
   3. Membership management system (with Communications Committee/Website)
      1. Membership current webpage: eeac-nyc.org/membership 
      2. Draft – revised Membership webpage: eeac-nyc.org/membership-draft 

Mary put membership stats in the agenda:

6. EEAC and NYSOEA Partnership

Mary L. gave a brief background for new SC members: NYSOEA got involved with us when we were working on an environmental literacy plan ~10 years ago. There was a natural opportunity for EEAC to partner/connect/collaborate with a group that works on a state-wide basis. Like us they have an annual conference and are membership driven. We also have joint membership with NYSOEA (2 for 1). Idea that there is power in numbers. We are always open to more opportunities to partner further. 

Mike also gave some background: After the effort to infuse EE concepts into the New York State Syllabus and Curriculum, which NYSOEA helped with was successfully completed there was a time that some NYSOEA members developed an anti-urban bias which was reflected at one of their conferences. However by the end of the 1990’s EEAC and NYSOEA were working together again. When we started TEEP they were in support of that. They published the TEEP whitepaper in their newsletter.

7. Programs
   1. Sarah and Fran need to set-up regular recurring meetings to work toward setting event calendar this year. Will aim to have meetings established before next month’s meeting.

Programming committee will have their first meeting time set by next month’s SC meeting.

8. Projects Forum (Environmental Education Projects Forum).
   1. Syllabi Bank update: EEAC-TEEP-Syllabi-Bank-stats-2021-all.pdf (through 12/31/2021)
   2. Weather Station
   3. Climate Solution Center on Governors Island (City College group)
   4. Right to Learn How Nature Works (internal page; webpage: eeac-nyc.org/right-to-learn-how-nature-works/)

Mike gave background for new SC members: EEPF grew out of TEEP. It was an initiative to get colleges to adopt EE in their programs. The forum grew as a yearly workshop at Teachers College and then moved to NYU. It evolved into EEPF. The main piece of TEEP is the syllabi bank. EEPF is an annual project forum where environmental educators get together to exchange ideas. The biggest challenge is to put projects that arise from EEPF into action — this is the biggest focus for next steps. The next piece of EEPF is training for teachers (10 courses on syllabi bank). We have seen lots of traffic on the syllabi bank.18 months — over 1100 downloads. 

We also became involved in a campaign to add “the Right to Learn How Nature Works” to formal documents in New York State. Through that effort EEAC became involved in the campaign to include an environmental. rights amendment in the NYS Constitution. This was approved by the voters this past November but it did not include a mention of environmental education or nature education. The next step is to get something specifically about environmental education in a formal State and/or City Proclamation. 

Another project is to get a weather station in every school to study climate change. Covid put a big pause on this. It’s beginning to gain momentum again. The High School of environmental studies is interested in getting a station. Robyn has sent a list of 32 schools that may be a good fit. We are holding off on further recruitment until omicron has let up.  

Amanda suggested NYCHA

Shig suggested LUNGS

Update for Governors Island Center for Climate Solutions: 12 applicants reduced to 4 – competitors are MIT, Columbia (one other not mentioned) and City College. Our bid for support was for City College, which is one of the 4 finalists.  

9. Communications
   1. Communications Committee Meeting (1st Wednesdays, 5:30-7 pm)
      1. Previous meeting updates: 1/5/2022
         Details in communications committee meeting agenda: https://eeac-nyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/EEAC-CC-MeetingAgenda20220105.pdf
         
      2. Next meeting: 2/2/2022
         
      3. Branding revamp: EEAC Rebranding Plan [PDF 1/5/2022]
         1. Rebranding/Redesign of Logo – what are the next steps for this?
            (See email 12/27/2021, subject: “EEAC identity — are you sitting down?” from Bonnie R.)
         2. What sort of investment should we make?

Bonnie R. Reached out to a colleague from the New School as a potential fit for a student project but the timeline/program in question doesn’t work — the program is too short. However her colleague suggested working through a professional design group where they would work on the typography, color palette, skins for the website, printed material and other ephemera. This would amount to 3 months of work and be 10K. This gives us a ballpark as an Initial starting point. In soliciting design work we would need to do some kind of compensation: you get what you pay for. What would be the bare minimum? 10K is beyond our operating budget — what are the things we should prioritize? Identity, typography, skins for website.

Robyn suggested Bellweather, DDC’s town and gown program, FIT students. Bonnie asked if there is compensation for students? No compensation from the agency but students put this work in their portfolio. It is a prestigious program so students do their best work.  

Mary L: Many students take on this type of work as their thesis. Students are often looking for real world projects because they serve as resume builders and a foot in the door.  Mary and Bob will think of, and send along NYU contacts. 

Fran: There is a parent from PS 110 who volunteered for graphic design work and is fantastic. Rran will reach out to them to get suggestions. 

Next steps are to continue to research options and then regroup. If it is something fee or stipend based, the SC will need to agree what is an acceptable amount to pay. 

4. Revisit Membership Engagement Strategies [PDF] (with Membership committee)
   1. Would like to set aside time with Mary M and Comms to discuss:
      1. Timing for renewals
      2. Membership management systems
      3. Online membership management system

5. Newsblog
   1. Most recent 11/14/2021: Newsblog: Passage of the Environmental Rights Amendment
      1. Looking for submissions!
      2. List of newsblogs: Newsblog (Link also in Sitemap at bottom of most webpages) eeac-nyc.org/newsblog. 

6. Communications with Members
   1. Membership benefits, Member welcome packet on website
   2. SC Welcome packet as an internal page on website
   3. Social media presence: What is our identity? What are our goals? How do we increase engagement? 
      
      Isa: Regarding our social media, we have very little engagement and followers. In the coming year we would like to increase this — it will require a different approach towards what and how we post.
      
      Mary: It takes a lot of dedication, having one person dedicated. It’s a job and takes staffing time. It needs to be something of interest that is attractive to people. Our website has been successful because of the syllabi bank, where there is a clear need — it’s something people want. How do we transfer this to our social media? It’s a challenge.
      
      Another method is promoting member organizations and doing cross promotion. Another idea is to show people on the back end, providing a face to the organization. Showing the person and the voice to followers and the story behind the organization. We also want to have a call to action so that people have something to do.
      
      
   4. Listserv — Way to make more intentional?
      1. Channels that members subscribe to?
      2. System of vetting what goes out to the whole list? 
      3. Next step: ask other groups how they manage (NYSOEA, NYCMER etc.)

7. Communications among committee/sub-committee members:
   1. Steering Committee email list, 15 emails in this list.
   2. Communications Committee email list, 9 emails in this list.
   3. Others?

8. Steps to set up a paid Zoom account for EEAC (Pro account $149.90/year)?
   https://zoom.us/pricing
   There’s a 30% off right now (offer ends 1/31).

Fran will take a stab using paypal to set up EEAC zoom account. Use info@eeac gmail for account 

9. Website updates (Shig). See item #6 in the following:  https://eeac-nyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/EEAC-CC-MeetingAgenda20220105.pdf 

Definition of a few different pages: 

Local Links–  A list of environmental organizations that service NYC schools. You don’t have to be a member to access. It’s the basis for links that we provided to schools for field trips, and was the base for DOE EE field trip list. EEAC provides this free resource to the public.  

Database — Searchable list of local organizations, curricula, and services. Members can list their organizations/services. There is more information listed for the courses they offer for PD. The database came from TEEP because they found that there was no central place to find EE PD. This project has kind of stalled because organizations need to self-submit or approve that we list them. River did a lot of research for organizations that do PD and had done some outreach to gain permission to post on our website. We have 110 orgs in a spreadsheet and need to continue outreach so that we can get on the website. 

• We wiil shoehorn this into the communications committee meeting for now.  
• The database should be renamed as professional development resources. 

Other resources page — This is a list of organizations beyond NYC. It is not yet live. Still undecided if we want to make this live in the near future. Amanda suggests we have other resources as a map rather than a list

2. Other business

3. Next steering committee meeting: 2/16/2022

EEAC Steering Committee Meeting Minutes
December 15, 2021 
Wednesday 5:30pm – 7pm 
Online Zoom Meeting

Attending: 
Robert Wallace, E. Shig Matsukawa, Mike Zamm, Mary Leou, Bonnie Ralston, Sarah Pidgeon, Fran Agnone, Bonnie McGuire

Meeting Minutes/ Agendas

1. Approve previous meeting minutes: 
   EEACminutes20210921, EEACminutes20211020 and EEACminutes20211117
   
   Meeting Minutes Approved 

1. Nominations

• Google slide (PDF): Nominations-for-Steering-Committee-January-2022.pdf
• Nominations Committee: Officer Slate is 2022-2025
  • River DiLeo will be nominated again to be chair unless we hear otherwise
  • For Vice- Chair Fran is taking over the roll officially, Secretary is Isa, Bonnie R. will be taking over for Mary Most as secretary/treasurer. 
• 5 New Steering Committee Members- Bethany Kogut, Amanda Levy, Robin Sanchez, Sunny Carraro, Luis Gonzalez and then Bob and Ray for reelection. (need to follow up and see if Chrissy nominated Luis) 
• Classes need to be updated

Sarah Mixing up order! Nominations first. Keep meeting to an hour. Mary L, Mary M and Bob met to make sure that nominees are in good standing. They ironed out some errors.

Bob presented slide show of officers, members and nominees. River is in position to be re-elected. Fran is Vice Chair, Isa is Secretary, Bonnie R is Membership Secretary/Treasurer. Nominated/Elected: Bethany Kogut, Amanda Levy, Robin Sanchez, Sunny Corrao, Luis Gonzalez, Robert Wallace, Raymond Pultinas.

*Luis Gonzalez nomination is undetermined — Mary L and/or Bob will follow up to clarify.

It was determined that term limits are January 2022-December 2024 (Term technically ends at end of 2024 but the hand-off includes January of 2025) 

Next year (2023), Mary L, Shig, Bonnie R, Bonnie M, and Isa will be up for reelection. 

It was determined that the number of SC members should be 15. With all nominees, the number of SC members would be 1 more. There was discussion of best solution for this — ideas included: 

• Have one nominee postpone until next year
• Increase the number of SC members to more than 15 — change the by-laws
• Offer a ‘special role’ where one person isn’t on the SC but is still involved with some kind of special title 
• Make positions contested to elect 15
• One person might not be nominated 

Questions came up about contested elections vs uncontested. Also stated that there will not be live a ballot this year because it’s too complicated via zoom. 

Sarah will create a google form that will go to all members to vote. And make 1/19 deadline and announcement of new members. Quorum is 20 votes for membership.

There is conversation about the changing the by-laws — this is something to do in 2022. 

2. Adaptive Plan

Fran then transitioned to planning for next steps after the election. 

• Bonnie R has created all of the onboarding documents 
• There is also the retreat for existing and new members
  • Will be a nice introduction for new members and refresher for existing members
  • Also opportunity for folks to learn more about one another

3. Communications

Shig updates: Comms meeting was Bonnie R, Isa and Shig. We reviewed the membership packet. Will have it on the website as a landing page for new members and SC members. 

Bonnie R. has reached out to an Assistant Professor at the New School. She will report back when she hears back. 

4. NewsBlog

Bonnie M. still looking for news blog content. She will likely highlight something that the Rangers are doing — New Year’s hikes and Kids Week. 

5. Programs

Sarah: Thank you everyone for making the annual meeting happen. Excited to start brainstorming for next year. Begin setting regular programming meetings again for 2022. 

6. Projects Forum

Mike has tentative meeting with Robin S to discuss the weather station project and DEP’s involvement. HS of Environmental Studies is interested in getting a weather station — they have funding for it and Mike will continue to work with them to see if the project will materialize.

Sarah will create voting template. It will go out by the 5th. Agenda will be set to welcome new SC members at the top of the meeting on 1/19. 

EEAC Steering Committee Meeting Minutes
October 20, 2021 
Tuesday 5:30pm – 7pm 
Online Zoom Meeting

Attending: 
Steering Committee Members (8): Fran Agnon, Sarah Pidgeon, Mike Zamm, Shig Matsukawa, Bonnie McGuire, Ray Pultinas, Mary Leou, Bonnie Ralston.

Other EEAC Members (2): Ilana Weinstein (City Parks Foundation; formerly Urban Park Ranger Bronx), Andrew Stone.

Committee Reports and Updates

1. Approve previous meeting minutes: 
   EEACminutes20210921 (In Process!)

2. Program Committee (Fran acting program chair)
   1. Sent out a poll to gather interest/ideas from membership for a possible October meeting and for the annual meeting. Not enough interest in an October meeting for a lift off. 12 results, 3 from SC members. Results from polling members: Shifting focus to Annual meeting set for 11/17.  
      • Feedback:

• Topics to Address in Annual Meeting:

           Hearing from a school that values EE has been impacted in keeping programs on the table this fall. 

Discussed Annual Meeting, Nov 17 Wed 5:30 – 7 pm

• Google slides
• Updates from each committee
• People to reach out to
• Zoom — EEAC account setup?
• Short description of Annual Meeting and send out next week
  • Save the date
  • Topic, theme, speakers
  • Potential: WCF?; School – PS110 (Fran, Mary L); Diversity on the panel, Latino Outdoors (Ilana)
• Reminder: postponing election to January
• To the membership, where we are, update, and where we’re going.
• What is the state of EE in K-grad?
• What the field (schools) is experiencing now; lack of jobs, pay; needs support.
  • Comment (Mary L.): Teachers College got $25M with Columbia U. for Climate School.
  • Comment (Mike Z.): CCNY pursuing to be part of the Climate Solution Center proposal at Governors Island; CCNY will pick up again the Weather Stations in schools program.

Shift to State of the Field Update

• Panel Discussion: State of EE in K-12 / school / government agency / non-profit (WCS) / for-profit (Sims)
  • Oren or someone else presentation – Columbia (Sarah)
  • School reach out – PS110K/ NJ School (Fran) 
  • Parks person (Bonnie M. !! or Ranger)
  • Latino Outdoors Org (Ilana Weinstein)
    • ilana.weinstein13@gmail.com
• Let’s gather this captive audience for feedback 
  • Push for member engagement : Bonnie R. 

 Looking for help

• Need many hands on deck to plan annual meeting. 
• Much of this can be done virtually. Subcommittee leads can update their slides. 
• We will reuse our agenda from last year and could use help reaching out to guest speakers
• We’ll need a zoom link – I think we should buy an account for EEAC, but happy to have a loaner (11/17 – 5:30pm to 7pm)
  • Sarah can provide in the interim 
• Save the Date and Eventbrite
  • Text place holder – with topic and theme (goal of Monday 10/25) Launch
  • Fran will reach out to folks above with information
  • Save the date (membership)

3. Communications

For newsblog (Bonnie M.): need submissions, such as, book reviews; Environmental Rights Amendment from Mike Z.

Website update (Shig M.): 

• Database content, will review (with Fran A.) uploading EE providers from the original list (of 161 EE providers) developed/worked on by River D.; 
• Working on “Other Resources” (new webpage for EE links beyond NYC area, complementing Local Links)
• Membership online system (see testsite.eeac-nyc.org for initial example)
• Website redesign (after the rebranding is done) (to be done on testsite.eeac-nyc.org)

1. Communication Committee Meeting and updates
   • Rebranding/Logo Redesign: EEAC Rebranding Plan 
   • Review member engagement strategies: EEAC-Member-Engagement-Strategies.pdf  
   • New Member Packet–On 8/13 Bonnie Ralston and member Sunny Corrao submitted to Comms+ an outline for new member packet content, with request for feedback by Friday, August 20. A full draft will be shared with SC at the September meeting.
   • Marketing Plan
2. Website and Database Updates: eeac-nyc.org
   • New website (switched on, 1/13/2021).
     • Survey (on website and newsletter) sent out 2/16/2021 (by Bonnie M.)
     • Survey deadline 3/28/2021 (Sunday).
     • Survey Update (Bonnie M.)
   • The internal section:
     • SC members still to be given access?
     • Instructions to using WordPress (WP):
       1. How to use WP video clips (link provided with access setup).
       2. Or, set zoom appointment for a hands-on guide.
   • Website plan – upcoming:
     • Redesign of the website based on the Adaptive Plan – will follow the rebranding/logo redesign phase.
     • Membership system (coordinate Shig and Mary M.) – will be tested in our ManagemanentManagement testing site which is now at testsite.eeac-nyc.org.
     • PUBLICIZING WEBSITE?
   • Database content status report. MAILING OF PRESS RELEASE?
   • Followup on 2 requests via the website’s contact form, to subscribe to the listserv.
     
3. Newsletter-blog using WordPress.
   • Newsletter-blog landing page:
     https://eeac-nyc.org/202002-wp/newsletter-blog/password: eeac (lower case letters).
   • Newsletter-blog, first version (ready for public):
     https://eeac-nyc.org/202002-wp/2021/04/23/eeac-newsletter-spring-2021/

4. EEAC and NYSOEA Partnership

Discussed NYSOEA

1. 2021 Conference will be a hybrid virtual/in-person
   • Looking for conference proposals
   • Metro Region host: Jones Beach State Park
     • Looking for carpool coordination

5. Projects Forum
   1. Next Steps- DISTRIBUTION OF MINI-REPORT TO ALL LISTS TO INFORM THEM ABOUT THE FORUM V REPORT ON THE WEBSITE!!
   2. REPORT ON SYLLABI BANK and FOLLOWUP ON PROJECT IDEAS FROM FORUM V- focus on outreach in support of the proposed environmental rights amendment to the state constitution

Updates by Mike Z.:

• Syllabi bank
• Weather Station, recommend schools to the program, currently 7 public schools; what are the requirements? (Mike will follow up)
• Climate Solutions Center on Governors Island, letter of support (image below) from EEAC sent to City College contact on 10/1/2021

Noted: Sam Holmes passed away, age 96, a founder of EEAC, Mke suggests someone else to write about Sam Holmes.

Environmental Rights Amendment to be on the ballot as question 2; New York State would be the 7th state to have it; about 80% in favor, but need people to vote; there’s really no opposition; Environmental Rights Fact Sheet by Environmental Advocates NY: https://eany.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Enviro-Rights-Fact-Sheet.pdf

3. To EEAC listserv to be done by Mike.
4. To Eventbrite list?

6. Adaptive Plan Accountability
   1. Retreat — purpose and date discussion — to be discussed
   2. COOP (Bonnie M.)

Updates by Bonnie R.: 

• Member packet, next is to format it:
  https://eeac-nyc.org/202002-wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/UPDATED-111821_Member-welcome-packet.pdf
• Identity – brand/logo, if can’t find someone (graphic artist?), Bonnie R. may be able
• Meet and Greet (?)

7. Membership and Finance: Mary Most 

Updates: will create invoices; Eventbrite for Annual Meeting – create “2022 Membership Drive”; Eventbrite list should be moved to another committee?

1. Finance Report (see separate file)
   
2. Question: Usually memberships received in October (eg with registrations for Nov Annual Meeting) are good through Dec of the NEXT YEAR. I suggest we offer that again?  

TO DO: 

• Create “2022 Membership Drive” Eventbrite, then edit link on website at www.eeac-nyc.org/membership — invite all GoogleGroup subscribers and Eventbrite subscribers to join or renew. We’ve held off since the pandemic. 
• Current Link: https://2021-eeac-membership.eventbrite.com 
• Create “invoices” for organizational memberships, email each organization’s primary contact including a chart showing their current members, titles, and contact info. 

3. TO DO: Contact the remaining senders of checks dating back to Nov 2019 recently (spring 2021) located by Mary Leou at NYU, and make arrangements for replacement payment via PayPal or Eventbrite. 
4. For the record: Amalgamated Bank still shows Judith Hutton at NYBG as primary contact. River is also on the account. Requested in Jan 2020 that they update signatories to Mary Most, Sarah Pidgeon (remove Jacqueline Pilati, Judith Hutton). 
5. Eventbrite list maintenance should move to Programs or Communications. Has this happened yet? 

8. Nominating Committee
   1. Looking for potential candidates for the steering committee
      • Among members in good standing
      • Deadline December 10
      • The nominate and self-nominate form will be resent.
      • 1 candidate: Bonnie R. for Treasurer
      • Need 3 new, 1 is interested.

EEAC Steering Committee Meeting Minutes
September 21, 2021 
Tuesday 5:30pm – 7pm 
Online Zoom Meeting

Attending: 
River DiLeo, Robert Wallace, E. Shig Matsukawa, Joy Garland, Mike Zamm, Mary Leou, Bonnie Ralston, Sarah Pidgeon, Mary Most, Isa Del Bello, Fran Agnone, Bonnie McGuire, Andrew Stone, Christina Tobitch 

Committee Reports and Updates

1. Approve previous meeting minutes: EEACminutes20210818 

2. Program Committee (Fran acting program chair)
   1. Held a meeting on 8/12 at 4pm
   2. We were able to think of a number of programming ideas to explore the complexity of why Environmental Education is a field that contends with low wage jobs and a lack of diversity. 
   3. We’d like to host a month of virtual sessions this fall to focus on the issue from multiple angles, from confronting the policies  shaping the field to individual actions an employee can take to advocate for their salary or professional advancement. 
   4. To see our full notes, take a look at slides 2 and 3 in this google slide (PDF): EEAC-Programs-Meeting-8_12_21.pdf 
   5. We are meeting again 8/25 at 4pm to discuss the structure of the event. We will send an open invite to the listserv too.

3. Communications
   1. Communication Committee Meeting and updates
      1. Rebranding/Logo Redesign: EEAC Rebranding Plan 
      2. Review member engagement strategies: EEAC-Member-Engagement-Strategies.pdf  
      3. New Member Packet–On 8/13 Bonnie Ralston and member Sunny Corrao submitted to Comms+ an outline for new member packet content, with request for feedback by Friday, August 20. A full draft will be shared with SC at the September meeting.
      4. Marketing Plan
   2. Website and Database Updates: eeac-nyc.org
      1. New website (switched on, 1/13/2021).
         1. Survey (on website and newsletter) sent out 2/16/2021 (by Bonnie M.)
         2. Survey deadline 3/28/2021 (Sunday).
         3. Survey Update (Bonnie M.)
      2. The internal section:
         1. SC members still to be given access?
         2. Instructions to using WordPress (WP):
            1. How to use WP video clips (link provided with access setup).
            2. Or, set zoom appointment for a hands-on guide.
      3. Website plan – upcoming:
         1. Redesign of the website based on the Adaptive Plan – will follow the rebranding/logo redesign phase.
         2. Membership system (coordinate Shig and Mary M.) – will be tested in our Managemanent testing site which is now at testsite.eeac-nyc.org.
         3. PUBLICIZING WEBSITE?
      4. Database content status report. MAILING OF PRESS RELEASE?
      5. Followup on 2 requests via the website’s contact form, to subscribe to the listserv.
         
   3. Newsletter-blog using WordPress.
      1. Newsletter-blog landing page:
         https://eeac-nyc.org/202002-wp/newsletter-blog/password: eeac (lower case letters).
      2. Newsletter-blog, first version (ready for public):
         https://eeac-nyc.org/202002-wp/2021/04/23/eeac-newsletter-spring-2021/

Shig: newsletter will be available on website

4. EEAC and NYSOEA Partnership
   1. 2021 Conference will be a hybrid virtual/in-person
      1. Looking for conference proposals
      2. Metro Region host: Jones Beach State Park
         1. Looking for carpool coordination

5. Projects Forum
   1. Next Steps- DISTRIBUTION OF MINI-REPORT TO ALL LISTS TO INFORM THEM ABOUT THE FORUM V REPORT ON THE WEBSITE!!
   2. REPORT ON SYLLABI BANK and FOLLOWUP ON PROJECT IDEAS FROM FORUM V

Mike stated that he would like to start working with the NY State Senator in his area to get a constitutional amendment measure to be passed (advocacy for clean water, air, environment etc.) SC is in support so he will pursue next steps and update the group as needed. 

In addition, Mike has been contacted by CUNY professors who have asked for support for Governors Island Climate Consortium. Pose question to the group: Should we partner or should we pass this opportunity on to our members and their organizations? Mike offered to act as conduit and will send out the letter for review by SC and then follow-up after the letter is reviewed.

6. Adaptive Plan Accountability
   1. Retreat — purpose and date discussion — to be discussed
   2. COOP (Bonnie M.)

Bonnie: R requested that SC members review membership documents over next 2 weeks. Once feedback is provided these docs will be turned into a membership packet. In addition, Bonnie R is working on the SC welcome packet which outlines roles/responsibilities/expectations. Is asking for SC to review and contribute to this document as well.

7. Membership and Finance: Mary Most –
   1. Membership: NO CHANGE from 5/19/2021 stats:
      About 50% of members have renewed for 2021; only 24% of our Organizational memberships have renewed. 

20 Individual Members, 1 student, 35 Indiv thru 7 orgs, 32 LIfetime 

(vs 2019 = 42 Indiv, 12 Student, 79 Indiv thru 29 Org, 30 Lifetime)

2. Finance 5/31/2021 report:
   no change except + 35 cent interest = $8,866.42 current balance
   
3. Tasks COMPLETED

• Filed IRS Form 99N for 2020 to renew EEAC’s tax-exempt status. 
• Eventbrite lists updated: Bonnie Ralston and Mary Most compared and updated the Eventbrite lists to include membership list, TEEP lists, and Google Group list, prior to sending invites for the June 15 Skill Share, which promoted the Membership options but yielded no new memberships. 
• Mary Most to contact the remaining senders of checks dating back to Nov 2019 recently located by Mary Leou at NYU, and make arrangements for replacement payment via PayPal or Eventbrite. 
• For the record: Amalgamated Bank still shows Judith Hutton at NYBG as primary contact. Requested in Jan 2020 that they update signatories to Mary Most, Sarah Pidgeon (remove Jacqueline Pilati, Judith Hutton). 

TO DO: 

• Mary Most will initiate “2021 Membership Drive” — invite all GoogleGroup subscribers and Eventbrite subscribers to join or renew. We’ve held off since the pandemic. Link: https://2021-eeac-membership.eventbrite.com 

• Eventbrite list maintenance should move to Programs or Communications

8. Nomination committee: 

Many changes to steering committee:

• Sarah is stepping down as programming chair but remains on SC
• Fran will to step in as program chair but opens floor to anyone else who has interest 
• Ray stepping down as secretary but remains on SC 
• Isa willing to fill vacancy until election 
• Lynn will be stepping down from SC but still wants to be invited to meetings and events
• Joy will be stepping down from SC but will be honorary SC member and continues to  be involved and would like to be invited to meetings and events
• Mary Most will be stepping down from SC and role of Treasurer and Membership Manager — everyone is very grateful for Mary’s hard work behind the scenes
  • Very important vacancy to be filled 
  • May break up role into two separate roles 
  • Shig will be assisting in building membership into the website 
• River: doesn’t want to but may need to step down as president — received serious health news: advanced aggressive cancer 
• Bonnie M: suggested vice chair role as successor to chair 

Given these changes, the nomination committee suggested that we potentially postpone the election given that we need to fill some vacancies and want to recruit more. SC was in agreement that because we have so much moving around with SC committee chairs its best to postpone to January. Mary M asked how a delay in elections would affect folks who are stepping down. River stated that the timeline for the election andf new people stepping in won’t affect a person ending their role. The beginning and ending of roles are at the end of January. So new SC members will be elected before the switch (we don’t need to delay when a person begins or ends their role in accordance with the election). River then stated that it is ideal to have a person in acting position and another ‘in training’ if the timing works out.

The nomination committee then discussed changes in term limits. New term limits go into effect after the next election. The point of term limits is to motivate SC to actively recruit because of a higher rate of turn over. 

Nominations: 

• River has made a form that has a list of current members: SC members can mark up to indicate who they have reached out to.
• Nominations needed by Fri Dec 10th
• Nomination form open to edits – edits due 9/24
• River created form to indicate who is nominating who — will send out soon
• SC members each need to reach out to 4-5 people 
• River will send out a packet of what to send to folks nominated by SC

EEAC Steering Committee Meeting Minutes
November 17, 2021
Wed 5:30 pm – 7 pm
Online Zoom Meeting

Attending: 
Shig Matsukawa, Bonnie Ralston, Bonnie McGuire, Fran Agnone, Mary Leou, Mary Most, Mike Zamm, Andrew Stone, Ray Pultinas, Robert Wallace, Isa Del Bello

Visiting: Ilana Weinstien

Committee Reports and Updates

1. Approve previous meeting minutes: 

EEACminutes20210921 and EEACminutes20211020 (in process!)

2. Program Committee (Fran acting program chair)

Planning Annual Meeting Document: Year-47-2021_EEAC-Annual-Meeting_Faciltators-Guide-20211208.pdf 

 General Annual meeting logistics

• Shift to “State of the Field” update — Panel: State of EE in K-12 / school / government agency / non-profit / for-profit 
• Sarah unable to attend but setting everything up via zoom in advance 
• Bonnie McGuire will act as MC (Give intro, overview of talking points, and facilitate transitions)
• Fran will be the behind scenes person (zoom, q&a, panel, etc.) 
• Isa will monitor chat 
• Sarah will send out the email to google group for promo

Panel Discussion: 

• Fran curated panel with 180 degree approach: 3 different perspectives in the field, Consensus that 3 panelists is enough
• EEAC will provide a stipend through paypal for the moderator.
• Mary L volunteered to provide a lens to the panel question bank and collaborate with Fran.

Slideshow updates

• Mike and Mary L. will collaborate in creating memorial slides honoring Sam and Terry   
• Communications will create individual slides to promote newsblog entries and youtube
• Nominating committee
• Mike will send slides to fran 
  • asking for volunteers 
  • Deadline for noms is dec 10 — meeting is 2 days before (if anyone is feeling inspired, email us) 
    • Tell how to nominate and self nominate 
    • Elections in january  
• Fran will reach out individually if there are any issues with slides 

Networking and member feedback

• Group consensus is in favor of breakout rooms with attendees randomly assigned
• SC members will be distributed evenly in breakout rooms
• Bonnie R will generate prompts for breakout rooms

Additional thoughts

• Update on River? Or, they might attend…

Fran will walk Sarah through tracking the number of attendees through her zoom account.           

3. Communications
   1. Communication Committee Meeting and updates
      • Held a meeting on 11/3/2021 at 5:30
        • Much time spent was onboarding new acting secretary (Isa) 
        • Need for streamlining document storage (Dropbox & Google Drive)
        • Change ownership of eeac.info@gmail.com? 
      • Rebranding/Logo Redesign:
        • Still looking for a volunteer graphic designer!-  
        • EEAC Rebranding Plan
          1. Rebranding/Redesign of Logo
          2. Identity system for print and web
          3. Templates for regularly produced ephemera (e.g. ballots and flyers)
      • Member engagement:
        • Next steps: collaboration between Membership and Communications committees — Plan for this in the new year?
          1. Will revisit EEAC-Member-Engagement-Strategies.pdf and formulate action plan for 2022    
          2. New Member Packet– Most recent drafts have outstanding questions/comments.
             1. DRAFT membership benefits for website
             2. DRAFT EEAC Steering Committee Member Welcome Packet
          3. Listserv: EEAC-NYC@googlegroups.com
          4. Online membership system 
      • Marketing Plan: (Annual) – status report

2. Website and Database Updates: eeac-nyc.org
   • Site stats update [Shig]
     As of 11/3/2021: https://eeac-onyc.org/files/stats/Statistics_eeac-nyc.org_2021.pdf
   • Page to edit, “Other Resources” (new webpage for EE links within and beyond NYC area, complementing local links page):
     DRAFT: https://eeac-nyc.org/202002-wp/home/local-links/other-resources/ (password: eeac)
   • Website redesign: Set up redesign process gdoc with steps; testsite.eeac-nyc.org [Shig]
   • Internal website: accessibility and usability by Steering Committee members. [Shig]
   • Website projects:
     • Completed, now in routine/updates:
       1. Syllabi Bank (EEAC-TEEP-Syllabi-Bank-stats–google sheet, updated monthly; Mike Z. then reports about the locations where the syllabi were downloaded)
       2. Professional Learning Database (Shig, Fran)
       3. Other on-going updates: Local Links, Newsletter Archive
     • To be developed:
       1. Membership online system (see testsite.eeac-nyc.org for initial example)
       2. Website redesign (after the rebranding is done) (to be done on testsite.eeac-nyc.org)

3. Newsletter-blog using WordPress.
   • New webpage 10/26/21: Newsblog (now in Sitemap at bottom of every webpage)
     eeac-nyc.org/202002-wp/newsblogThis page auto-fills whenever a new Newsblog post is published with category set to Newsblog.
   • New webpage 10/26/21: About EEAC newsletter & blog (eeac-nyc.org/202002-wp/newsletter-blog)
     (Now public, previously password protected. Also, now in Sitemap.)
     This is the landing/credits page linked from the bottom of every newsblog and email newsletters**.
     Next newsblog post: TBD (waiting for submissions for the newsblog)
     • The newsblog will be published whenever one or more items are ready.
     • EEAC-newsletter-blog-flow-dev-20210426.pdf (PDF from google sheet: newsblog production steps).
   • First EEAC newsblog: Newsblog: Environmental Rights Amendment
     https://eeac-nyc.org/2021/10/26/newsblog-environmental-rights-amendment/
     • Second newsblog posted (11/14/2021):
       “Newsblog: Passage of the Environmental Rights Amendment”
       https://eeac-nyc.org/202002-wp/2021/11/14/newsblog-passage-of-the-environmental-rights-amendment/ 
4. Social Media (current numbers, posts that were successful, future posts)
   • Facebook – facebook.com/eeacnyc (feed in homepage: eeac-nyc.org)
     EEAC NYC @EEACNYC  Facebook page created 2/8/2012.
     • As of 11/3/2021:
       1. Likes: 300
       2. Followers: 348
       3. Posts: 
   • Twitter – twitter.com/eeacnyc (feed in homepage)
     EEAC-NYC @EEACnyc  Joined June 2014.
     • As of 11/3/2021:
       1. Followers: 248 (to see list of followers, sign in to twitter)
       2. Tweets: 134
       3. Following: 376 (to see who we are following, sign in to twitter)
   • Instagram – instagram.com/eeac.nyc (feed in homepage)
     eeac.nyc Env. Edu. Advisory Council  12/10/2020.
     • As of 11/3/2021:
       1. Followers: 63 (to see list of followers, sign in to instagram)
       2. Posts: 12
       3. Following: 2 (to see who we are following, sign in to instagram)
   • Eventbrite – eventbrite.com/o/eeac-4619649759
     EEAC  First event via Eventbrite 11/13/2013.
     • As of 11/3/2021:
       1. Followers: 18
       2. Events hosted: 30
   • YouTube – youtube.com/channel/UCqBe8uXo9bPXgSHKHgmR1oA
     EEAC nyc  Joined 2/23/2021.
     • Need 100 subscribers before we can get a custom URL link,
       example, youtube.com/channel/eeac-nyc 
     • As of 11/3/2021:
       1. Subscribers: 7 
       2. Views: 41
       3. Videos: 2
   • Ways to increase engagement? Project for 2022? 

Bonnie R. will join the communications committee at their next meeting (Dec. 1, 2021) to finalize membership benefits to be posted on the website. There may be time to discuss potential transition to an integrated membership system embedded in the website. Regarding a marketing plan, Bonnie M. will share planning document with Isa so that she can begin working on next steps for this project.

Mike raised a question as to why we have less submissions in the professional learning database that anticipated. The response was that the first strategy was to build a database and “people will come” — this did not happen. They then decided to take a different approach by EEAC preliminarily posting materials and then reaching out to respective orgs for approval to put on the website. This was also tabled due to bandwidth. We have since decided to use the annual meeting as a push for folks to submit on their own. We will assess further need for outreach in the new year. If outreach is needed, Mike has draft press release but we will hold off until database is more robust.

Bonnie M is looking for any EE related topic to go on newsblog — she has continued outreach for submissions to no avail. She clarified that blogs can be shorter than the size of articles that went into the newsletter — it can be a paragraph as part of anthology (book reviews) or content that is just a few paragraphs. Essentially, submissions can be varied in length and all are useful. In gathering ideas for the newsblog, Mary L. has student reviews of braiding sweetgrass. She will also think of collaboration for students in future. Ilana is interested in writing nature highlights to contribute — she has a whole bunch of stuff to share. Other ideas include member highlights as well as using social media to boost outreach.

4. EEAC and NYSOEA Partnership
   1. Conference was great! 

5. Projects Forum
   1. REPORT ON SYLLABI BANK and FOLLOWUP ON PROJECT IDEAS FROM FORUM V- focus on outreach in support of the proposed environmental rights amendment to the state constitution

Mike thanked everyone for their support of the environmental rights amendment effort; there were 2m votes. For TEEP database there have been 900 downloads. Unexpectedly, there hasn’t been much participation from NYS colleges although parks and community associations in the state have downloaded syllabi. Mike will reach out to Eban Goodstein to see if he will submit a course. Mike next wants to start an effort “right to learn of how nature works,” and idea that came from forum last year. Mike also mentioned the weather stations that City College is distributing. It’s 5k to put a weather station in a school. Mike will provide a list of all schools that are currently participating. No updates for the climate solutions center on GI — it was a highly competitive bid.

6. Adaptive Plan Accountability
   1. Retreat — purpose and date discussion — to be discussed
   2. COOP (Bonnie M.)

Bonnie R. reported that member engagement work is the biggest item in next steps. This year we had virtual semi-retreat. In the coming year, Bonnie would like to have a larger scale retreat once we have new SC members. Everything else in progress. 

7. Membership and Finance: Mary Most
   1. Finance Report (see separate file)
      
   2. Question: Usually memberships received in October (eg with registrations for Nov Annual Meeting) are good through Dec of the NEXT YEAR. I suggest we offer that again?  

TO DO: zoom

• Create “2022 Membership Drive” Eventbrite, then edit link on website at www.eeac-nyc.org/202002-wp/membership — invite all GoogleGroup subscribers and Eventbrite subscribers to join or renew. We’ve held off since the pandemic. 
• Current Link: https://2021-eeac-membership.eventbrite.com 
• Create “invoices” for organizational memberships, email each organization’s primary contact including a chart showing their current members, titles, and contact info. 

3. TO DO: Contact the remaining senders of checks dating back to Nov 2019 recently (spring 2021) located by Mary Leou at NYU, and make arrangements for replacement payment via PayPal or Eventbrite. 
4. For the record: Amalgamated Bank still shows Judith Hutton at NYBG as primary contact. River is also on the account. Requested in Jan 2020 that they update signatories to Mary Most, Sarah Pidgeon (remove Jacqueline Pilati, Judith Hutton). 
5. Eventbrite list maintenance should move to Programs or Communications. Has this happened yet? 

Mary has no additional updates since the PDF she shared last month. She is Looking forward to getting new members through on Eventbrite. She suggested that we get an EEAC annual zoom account as it is only $150 and we have regular use for it. There is also the issue of switching names on the banking account. That is still in process. There was also the suggestion that we move away from Gmail as a main email account, although it was mentioned that google drive is very useful for shared working documents. We will continue to think of ways to organize our existing accounts. We will assign the task of setting up an EEAC Zoom account at the next SC meeting.

EEAC Meeting July 21, 2021 Wed 5:30 pm – 7 pm   Online Zoom Meeting

Committee Reports and Updates

1. Approved previous meeting minutes: SC Minutes 6/16/2021

2. Program Committee (Fran acting program chair)
   1. STEM Expo Recap – Mary + River
      1. Questions to consider before pursuing future promotional events 
   2. 6/15 Program – Partnership Building for Environmental Educators
      1. Posted on YouTube + website 
      2. Lots of good suggestions from participants on the role EEAC can play to support partnerships worth considering at next Programs meeting (see 6/16 agenda for ideas captured)
      3. Sarah’s notes from last meeting: In thinking about upcoming events, I am wondering if we should consider planning for the more in-depth topic of diversity and pay in our field for the Fall, and try to do a socially distant in-person/outdoors event this summer. It would be great for our community to gather in person on a weekday afternoon. Maybe we can see if any members with parks or outdoor spaces would be interested in hosting a tour with light snacks or something?

Discussion over whether to hold Same or different event?  Brainstorming will take place between now and next steering committee meeting.  Program Committee will send invite to list serve to get fresh inputs.  Step one will be finding the date.  

Mask wearing is discussed – different rules now – norms are variable

3. Communications
   1. Communication Committee Meeting and updates
      1. Rebranding/Logo Redesign: 
         At least 3 people interested in August 2 communications meetings now regularly scheduled for the first Monday of the month.
         
         Discussion of work flow for the blog- discussion of how we will solicit articles, what the editing process will be like and where and how we will be saving.   Shig has set up the blog format and has put together a sample.  Formatting is easier – single articles have been recommended rather than waiting for a collection of articles which would make it more like a newsletter.  The advantage of single articles is that it ensures more constant connections to what we are doing. 
         
         On Shig’s end – he has created a landing page – It was agreed that the last unpublished newsletter will be finished and published but not advertised.  Sarah suggested that we send out an announcement on the list serve.   – Every subsequent post will also be a social media post. 
         – at info@eeac-nyc.org?  There maybe an inactive EEAC Instagram page out there.
   2. Website and Database Updates: eeac-nyc.org
      1. New website (switched on, 1/13/2021).
         1. Survey (on website and newsletter) sent out 2/16/2021 (by Bonnie M.)
         2. Survey deadline 3/28/2021 (Sunday).
         3. Survey Update (Bonnie M.)
            
            Problem identified that folks aren’t responding to updating database – the most desirable situation would be if Shig were able to make it easy for organizations to revise and change.  Once the listing is there is the first step, but hoping that more responsibility can be assumed by organizations for evolving content.   Shig reassured us that a private link will be generated so organization contacts can edit themselves.
            
      2. The internal section:
         1. SC members still to be given access?
         2. Instructions to using WordPress (WP):
            1. How-to screen recording (video) #1 – Login Steps:
               https://eeac-nyc.org/202002-wp/login-steps/
               Next videos will include, navigating in WP, and using Dashboard.
            2. Or, set zoom appointment for a hands-on guide.
      3. Website plan – upcoming:
         1. Redesign of the website based on the Adaptive Plan – will follow the rebranding/logo redesign phase.
         2. Membership system (coordinate Shig and Mary M.) – will be tested in our permanent testing site which is now at testsite.eeac-nyc.org.
         3. PUBLICIZING WEBSITE?
      4. Database content status report. MAILING OF PRESS RELEASE?
      5. Followup on 2 requests via the website’s contact form, to subscribe to the listserv.
         
         
   3. Newsletter-blog using WordPress.
      1. Newsletter-blog landing page:
         https://eeac-nyc.org/newsletter-blog/
         password: eeac (lower case letters).
      2. Newsletter-blog, first version (ready for public):
         https://eeac-nyc.org/202002-wp/2021/04/23/eeac-newsletter-spring-2021/

4. EEAC and NYSOEA Partnership
   1. 2021 Conference will be a hybrid virtual/in-person
      1. Looking for conference proposals
      2. Metro Region host: Jones Beach State Park
         1. Looking for carpool coordination

Share out in person – details will come – EEAC 2 days virtual and 1 day of regional meet ups.

5. Projects Forum
   1. Next Steps- DISTRIBUTION OF MINI-REPORT TO ALL LISTS TO INFORM THEM ABOUT THE FORUM V REPORT ON THE WEBSITE!!
   2. REPORT ON SYLLABI BANK and FOLLOWUP ON PROJECT IDEAS FROM FORUM V

Here is a mini-report related to the EEPF projects.

1. There continues to be significant downloading of syllabi from the TEEP Syllabi Bank. There were 115 more downloads in June, almost as many as May (118). There have been 352 downloads during the first six months of this year (through July 3) and a total of 488 for the 12 months, 7/1/20-7/3/21.

Thanks to Shig for continuing to upgrade the numbers.

There has also been a response to the outreach Mike has been conducting. Since Mike renewed and expanded the distribution of our syllabi bank statement to colleges of education in mid-April there has been an increase in downloads, from 41 in April 2021 to 233 in May and June. There have been increases in demand for all ten courses in the bank. Mike has now sent outreach to over 60 colleges of education. There are 131 in New York State.

We still don’t know for sure which schools and educators are downloading and how the syllabi will be used. No college has contributed any courses to the syllabi bank since Cornell became the fourth school to do so in mid-May.

The status of the proclamation on the “right to learn how nature works”, hasn’t changed. State Senator Jackson’s office still hasn’t responded as to whether the Senator will move forward with it. Mike is going to sit on it for awhile since he thinks it is better to have the proclamation announced in the context of the election campaign in the Fall when the amendment to the constitution calling for all New Yorkers to have clean air, clean water and a healthy environment (not exact wording)comes before the voters.

Also, suggestion made that we may want to consider asking Eric Adams to issue a mayoral proclamation if he is elected (which I assume he will be but I take nothing for granted these days). Adams and his staff have shown some interest in sustainability and environmental education in the past when they suggested that all sustainability coordinators in the public schools should be given one paid period a day to do their work- as you know the position is currently all volunteer. His staff was responsive when we approached them about expanding the number of paid periods for the coordinators beyond one period although we were not able to get that done.

We should also think about whether we want to approach Adams about increasing overall support for EE beyond the proclamation. Some EEAC members have worked with his staff in his role as borough president.

Note: The last time Mike looked a third organization had submitted information to the EE database. If we can get it up to ten, as we said at the last meeting, we can send out the public outreach notice.  River it working on this- Mike offered to help make some calls and/or send emails to some groups to elicit their participation.

6. Adaptive Plan Accountability
   1. AP planning team regroup
      1. Membership change
      2. Meeting July (date TK), review progress/capacity and adjust timeframes accordingly
   2. COOP (Bonnie M.)

Trying to figure out a steering committee retreat – making some big decisions in the fall, some amount of time virtually and then a time for in person meeting.  Member engagement – really pulling them into our learning process.

The earlier and most advanced notification will be best for this – This is a priority for the Bonnies.

A date, sooner than later.  

7. Membership and Finance: Mary Most –
   1. Membership: NO CHANGE from 5/19/2021 stats:
      About 50% of members have renewed for 2021; only 24% of our Organizational memberships have renewed. 
      20 Individual Members, 1 student, 35 Indiv thru 7 orgs, 32 LIfetime 
      (vs 2019 = 42 Indiv, 12 Student, 79 Indiv thru 29 Org, 30 Lifetime)
      
   2. Finance 5/31/2021 report:
      no change except + 35 cent interest = $8,866.42 current balance
      Monthly Finance report saved as pdf on Google Drive (eeac40@gmail.com)
      
   3. Tasks COMPLETED
      • Filed IRS Form 99N for 2020 to renew EEAC’s tax-exempt status. 
      • Eventbrite lists updated: Bonnie Ralston and Mary Most compared and updated the Eventbrite lists to include membership list, TEEP lists, and Google Group list, prior to sending invites for the June 15 Skill Share, which promoted the Membership options but yielded no new memberships. 
      • Mary Most to contact the remaining senders of checks dating back to Nov 2019 recently located by Mary Leou at NYU, and make arrangements for replacement payment via PayPal or Eventbrite. 
      • For the record: Amalgamated Bank still shows Judith Hutton at NYBG as primary contact. Requested in Jan 2020 that they update signatories to Mary Most, Sarah Pidgeon (remove Jacqueline Pilati, Judith Hutton). 

TO DO: 

• Mary Most will initiate “2021 Membership Drive” — invite all GoogleGroup subscribers and Eventbrite subscribers to join or renew. We’ve held off since the pandemic. Link: https://2021-eeac-membership.eventbrite.com 

• Eventbrite list maintenance should move to Programs or Communications