Minutes of Board Meeting of January 3, 2000
Location: IRC server irc.chatnet.org, channel #asfar
Time: 8:30 pm central time
Board Members Present: Eric Anderson, Matthew Havens, Justin Mallone, Larissa Price, Susan Wishnetsky
Members Present: Aaron B., Ian H., Alex K.P., Ed L.
Visitors Present: None
Approval of minutes.
A motion was made to approve the minutes of the meeting of December 6, 1999. The motion carried.
Reports of Officers: The President/Treasurer, Eric Anderson, reported that he had gotten a bank account for ASFAR, which permits online access. Donations made out to ASFAR can now be deposited; they may be sent to the post office box address (P.O. Box 11358, Chicago, IL 60611-0358). In order to set up the account, he had to apply for a Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) with the IRS, which made errors in both the name and address and duplicated the request so that ASFAR now has two EINs. He will work on correcting these errors. He further reported that he had just received a check from i-Give for 39 cents, which he felt certain was less than we should receive. He will access our records on i-Give's web site and try to determine how this amount was figured. The President further reported on his communications with representatives of NYRA and Youthspeak and a Minnesota youth rights organization called MORE about the possibility of working together on the Minnesota voting age bill.
The Vice-President, Justin Mallone, had no formal report. The Secretary, Susan Wishnetsky, reported that she had sent e-mail messages to the 15 members who had been inexplicably dropped from the discussion and announce lists; aside from one who responded (and had been dropped in error), all the messages bounced back as undeliverable. The current membership at the time of the meeting was around 280. She further reported that she would be submitting a brief "annual report" to the board within the next week for approval, and that she was reconsidering whether bulk mailing would really prove to be worthwhile for ASFAR.
Reports of Committees: For the zine committee, Justin Mallone reported that the Jan./Feb issue of Youth Truth was almost ready to go, and that some New York City chapter members were looking into free printing for ASFAR. Alex K.P. suggested that the ACLU might be willing to donate printing services, since they had done so for the Youth Against Curfew group. Susan Wishnetsky reported that the Jan/Feb issue of the zine could use some more submissions, and that it looked as if it would be smaller than the first issue, which would reduce the cost of printing anyway.
Old Business
Bank account: This was covered in the Treasurer's report. Position papers: No papers currently being considered had been revised, and no new papers were submitted. Aaron B. volunteered to write a paper on a topic that was already taken. It was suggested that a list of topics for which position papers are needed and a call for volunteers to write them be sent to the announce list; Susan Wishnetsky offered to do so.
New Business Board Candidates: Aaron B. and Ian H. had both announced their candidacy for the board vacancy, and were questioned by everyone present. Eric Anderson then moved to delay the decision on the board appointment to give the other declared candidates an opportunity to submit statements or attend a board meeting and be questioned. The motion carried.
Eric Anderson moved to appoint Matthew Havens as Public Relations Coordinator of ASFAR, a position which would have the following duties: setting PR goals with target dates, creating and mailing information packets, directing miscellaneous programs to increase participation, sending press releases, providing information for update and news sections, researching grants for the treasurer, and encouraging leadership and membership interaction. The motion carried.
Eric Anderson made a motion to approve the offering of three to four $100 scholarships, which had been volunteered to be donated by a member, to be awarded based on a youth rights essay contest. Winning essays might be published in Youth Truth, at the discretion of the editors. The motion carried.
Matthew Havens presented ideas for goals to be set for ASFAR. After some discussion, he said that he would present a list of goals at the next board meeting.
Eric Anderson moved to authorize Daniel M., who had offered to place ads for ASFAR in his local papers, to place an ad with the following wording: ASFAR is an organization dedicated to protecting and advancing the civil rights of youth. ASFAR fights the voting age, curfew laws, and other laws that limit the freedom of young people. The motion carried.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:58 pm central time. Respectfully submitted, Susan Wishnetsky ASFAR Secretary