Highlights from the 5/21/19 WILPF US Board Meeting

“Collaboration,” drawn by Eileen Kurkoski.

By Eileen Kurkoski
WILPF US Secretary

The following are highlights from the WILPF US Board Meeting held on May 21, 2019.

1. We heard about a number of limitations of our website, which needs many updates. Some would be costly, making the proposal of a new website more attractive than investing in an imperfect update. Michael Ippolito, who manages our ONE WILPF calls and does other tech work, has developed a prototype of a new Wordpress-based website for us, at his own expense. A report from him identified many new features viewers would appreciate. To implement a new website would cost more than updating but may be worth it. The ad hoc Website Committee has been researching ways to improve the current website and features we would want in a new one that aren’t possible on the current one. The board voted to initiate work on a new website, which would not be completed until sometime in 2020. The vote for 2019 work for a new website allowed up to $2,000 of new expenses for this year, but that amount is expected to be closer to $1,500.  
2. Darien De Lu, our president, firmly believes we need to have a strong WILPF US social media presence, in order to be visible to more younger people. She is asking for members who are interested in being on the committee to contact her at President@WILPFUS.org.
    
3. Jan Corderman, our finance chair and treasurer, noted that we are trying to cut projected expenses in many areas because income is falling short. The board considered many of Jan’s cost-cutting proposals; however, most are on hold until the July board meeting. The board did vote to cancel its face-to-face meeting for this year.
    
4. The board received reports from others from the ad hoc board committees created at our last Steering Committee meeting:
   • Sign-ons/MOUs/Collaboration — Marybeth Gardam said her committee is close to completing a proposal on how to approach and deal with these.
   • eNews Schedule — Nancy proposed that there be two editions of the eNews in September, with a data analysis afterwards on readers’ response. Jan noted that the budget already had funding allocated to cover that, so — without dissent — the board didn’t need to vote to enable that change.
    
5. The ad hoc UN Programs Committee (Practicum & L2G) got more attention. Eileen Kurkoski and Jan Corderman reported they had one fruitful meeting. In their written report, they started a list of items to be further explored and identified some expectations they had of the faculty, students, and L2G attendees. The other board members offered helpful suggestions and guidelines. The committee needs more time to complete its work.
    
6.  WILPF US Program Committee: Darien shared proposals for coming changes for Issue Committees, including some from the ad hoc Holistic Committee. Proposals include that the issue committees should have plans for one, two, and three years and should have at least three committee meetings per year, including annual leadership elections. The board discussed the need for issue committee accountability in providing reports and carrying out these expectations.
    
7.  Lastly, the WILPF US Board heard about collaboration matters:  
   • Climate Change Lawsuit Amicus Brief — Earth Democracy Chair Nancy Price asked the board to consider signing on to this brief which asserts that, through the  government’s actions that lead to climate change, it has violated the Constitutional rights of younger generations to life, liberty, and property, as well as failed to protect essential public trust resources. For more information see http://ourchildrenstrust.org/juliana-v-us. All agreed!
   • Women Cross DMZ — Darien has offered some proposals for collaborative work with this organization, including a possible media training webinar.  The board supported these collaboration initiatives with this group, which is planning to clarify its name to something like Women for Peace in Korea.