[mit-habitat-exec] YU Paperwork

[Radhika Jagannathan]

First of all, Sid kicks (my) ass by getting in touch with Mae! Go Sid! =)

Secondly, the"Radhika finds a scanner" expedition did not go as well as 
planned, so we're going to try and talk about the YU paperwork without a 
meeting and without most of you having seen the actual packet. This is a 
long email. Don't hate me.
Woohoo, this should be fun...

So Mae sent me a "Volunteer form" which *individuals* who are interested in 
getting involved with the YU board are supposed to fill out.
Now getting involved apparently means "hold a position".
So their are 7 board positions that need to be filled and 5 committees.


The board positions are:

Vice-President (Subs for President, oversees all committees, tells board 
about Habitat opportunities outside of YU)

Secretary (meeting minutes, membership lists, a ton of PR responsibilities)

Treasurer (take care of YU accounts, submit grant apps)

Education/Community Outreach Director (educate public about Habitat and YU, 
recruit members, oversee Education committee)

Fundraising/Development Director (Responsible for fundraising events, ID 
potential local/corporate sponsors, maintain $$ records w/ Treasurer, 
oversee Fundraising/Development committee)

Construction/Worksite Director (Present during all workdays!, contact w/ 
local affiliates, help site supervisor coordinate youth volunteers, design 
"small building projects")

Special Events/Family Partnership Director (Coordinate youth for all 
special events, organize event-planning committees, plan activities for 
homeowner families and YU members, contact affiliates for support and 
resources, oversee Special Events/Family Partnership Committee)


AND The Committees:

Education
Fundraising
Publicity
Special Events
Family Partnership

Each committee will have a Chairperson and members. The direct 
responsibilities of each committee are unclear.


The volunteer form asks for:

All contact and school info (ie. name, phone #, school, age, department...)
Volunteer Experience
"Do you prefer to work in a group or individually? Why?"
Rank the board positions you are applying for (including a position 
entitled "Committee member" If you select committee member, pick which 
committees you're interested in)
"Please tell us why you are interested in the position(s) you chose?"
When are you available to volunteer: mornings, afternoons, evenings, Saturdays
Emergency contact (name, relationship, phone)
"Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?"
Signature


The BIG Questions:
Does anyone on MIT Habitat have the time/ have a desire to hold any of 
these positions?
Would it be better to ask the general body for volunteers than asking one 
of the exec members (who already have plenty of other things to do) to add 
another scoop of metaphorical mashed potatoes to their metaphorical Habitat 
dinner plate?
Do we want to get involved with YU in this way?
Do we want to get involved with YU at all?
Do you all know what YU *is*?


What I think (yes I do that from time to time...):
Personally, I think Youth United is a good long-term project for us. 
However, the goal of building another house from scratch is pretty tempting 
too. And I don't think we have the resources to do both.
Also, about holding YU board positions: I think the ideal situation would 
be to have a non-exec member be our "YU contact", at least in terms of 
holding a board position. The rest of us can be committee members or 
something if we so desire... but let someone who has time to focus all 
their community-service energy on YU hold a board position. However, I 
think it's also possible for us to sponsor Youth United without getting 
involved directly in the upper-level organization of it, though we'd have 
to talk to Mae about that possibility.

What do you think?:
Now that you have read (or skimmed... or pretended to read...) this entire 
email-of-biblical-proportions...
Reply with another similarly gigantic email filled with your personal 
rants, pet peeves, and hopefully, a relevant opinion thrown in occasionally 
for good measure... =)

We'll have a meeting next week sometime anyway, but I wanted this on the 
table before then, so that, in case we decide to appeal to the general 
habitat masses, we have the time to do so. And I'll find a f*cking scanner 
by then...

Your verbose co-president,
Radhika


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