Eliot Neighborhood Association
Meeting Minutes
March 19, 2018
6:40 – 8:40 pm
St Philip Deacon Episcopal Church NE 120 Knott St

Meeting called to order 6:40pm

*Motion to accept February meeting minutes with changes – Shireen Hasan; Anna Daggett seconds; approved

Onboarding Training: Do we want to add new member onboarding training as part of becoming an ENA Board member? (In regards to Feb. presentation by Angela Kremer)

Discussion: 

• Jessica Rojas says that NECN’s role is to help support ENA, provide resources, and can train new members; if ENA Board decides to proceed and hire someone, she suggests that we look at three quotes from different resources to determine the best fit
• Jimmy Wilson sees Angela as a good resource to help direct the Board because of her previous Board experience
• Sue Stringer is unsure about hiring a person to fill this role because that would make the ENA Board employers
• Jim Hlava asks if we could contract for resources and training or have a committee within the Board to work on onboarding
• Wes Ayers says that when he was on another board, in lieu of onboarding training, they had a yearly retreat to discuss bylaws and how the board is run; having a committee and more meetings may be circular

*Motion to create Onboarding Leadership Committee that will look into what onboarding involves, organize, and determine if hiring Onboarding Leadership Coordinator is necessary (and process to do so) – Jim Hlava; Brad Baker seconds; approved
– Brad Baker, Jim Hlava, Sue Stringer, and Mike Beard volunteer to be on Committee

ENA 2018 Project Updates

COMMUNITY GARDENING CO-OP
Guest Presentation: Heru-Ka Anu & Shireen Hasan

• Proposal to start a Community Gardening Co-Op that would educate, provide resources, and assistance in establishing both home gardens and community (plot) gardening with these goals: grow food collectively, empower our community with a degree of independence, nourish our bodies, connect us to Nature, beautify our community, unite our community
• Co-Op uses organic seeds, soil, and fertilizers only; each Co-Op member chooses their own level of endeavor
• Events throughout the growing season to involve community: seed planting ceremony, work events, harvesting ceremony, distributing harvest, marketing extra produce and harvest to raise money for community projects
• Proposed paid staff: Shireen Hasan (Co-Op Manager); Sba, Heru-Ka Anu (Guiding Consultant)
• Membership costs $15 per month in dues; in addition to fee, members pay for labor and supplies (home gardener) and plot (community gardeners)
• Scholarship available for folks with hardship
• Projected to generate at least 50 members
• 6 month projected budget is $3,000
• Requesting $1,200 grant from ENA for Gardening Co-Op starting costs

Discussion: 

• Sue asks if Co-Op would work just within Eliot or surrounding neighborhoods? Shireen says that they’d start in Eliot and then reach out to other neighborhoods.
• Jessica says that she reads a lot of grant proposals and thinks that the starting costs sound fair. She suggests that the Co-Op consider and note where materials will be stored when writing grant proposals.
• Jim asks what success would look like: number of members, volume of food, number of people participating who join and learn, growing knowledge base about gardening skills, etc.
• Monica asks if the co-op would mainly work in people’s homes. Heru says that they will work in 3 environments: within the home, in people’s yards, and in community plots

*Motion to table vote on community gardening co-op until April meeting and combine information from Albina Cooperative Garden and Community Gardening Co-Op to present for general meeting and vote – Sue Stringer; Jimmy Wilson seconds; approved

ANNUAL CLEAN-UP EVENT – May 19th, 10am-2pm
Discussion: 

• Monica says that price of a canopy for the community flea market idea is too cost prohibitive; looking for another location for the community flea and probably going to have it in late Summer as a separate event; Clean-Up will happen as usual
• Sue says we are looking to make lawn signs to advertise for the Clean Up; hoping to vote to keep the Clean Up on the same weekend every year so that signs can be reused every year

*Motion to make Clean Up event always on the 3rd Saturday in May – Sue Stringer; Wes Ayers seconds; approved

ENA EMAIL LIST

• Monica says email lists have been combined into a large MailChimp list to send communications out to neighbors. We need to choose an email address that communications would coming from.

*Vote between neighbor@eliotneighborhood.org and hello@eliotneighborhood.org; Neighbor email address has majority of votes

Meeting adjourned 8:40pm

Guests/Residents present: Jessica Rojas (NECN), Jerry Quenton, Heru-Ka Anu, Mike Beard

Board Members present: Anna Daggett, Brad Baker, Jere Fitterman, Jim Hlava, Jimmy Wilson, Maggie Gardner, Monica Choy Salazar, Patricia Montgomery, Shireen Hasan, Sue Stringer, Wes Ayers