Tuesday, January 26, 2010

MEETING SUMMARY & UPDATES

Dear Students 4 Ayiti!

Thank you! Last weeks meeting was absolutely amazing, we had over 60 people in attendance and even more on the sign-up lists. We look forward to working with all of your in these next couple months and beyond to support the relief efforts in Haiti. For those of you who could not make it to the meeting, and as a brief summary, here are the things we covered:

The collaborators of Students 4 Ayiti (Alex, Edna, Francesca, Krys and Lindsey) have decided to delegate tasks, interests, and responsibilities into four committees: Relief & Aid, Political & Education, Community Service Trip, and Communications.

COMMITTEE DESCRIPTIONS AND INITIATIVES

We ask that all Students 4 Ayiti join a committee (or two) that is relevant to their interest. Below is a brief description of what each committee will focus on and a short synopsis of what was discussed.

Relief & Aid -- Alex and Lindsey
The relief committee will be focusing its attention on collecting small medical, first-aid, and hygenic supplies to provide to the Haitian Consulate. We want to encourage people to continue to attend fundraising events. Some of our current ideas include:

  1. We are going to coordinate with administrators to get barrells put in place in Mailman and P&S as well as getting a closet for us, while I will be in touch with student affairs offices at the nursing and dental school to arrange with them.
  2. We anticipate the initial interest to die down in a few weeks as media attention wanes and we would like to organize a "Remember Haiti" event (perhaps a bar/happy hour event) to solicit donations as well as re-energize people on the plight of Haitians.

Political & Education -- Edna
The political and education committee plans to identify a list of Hatian community organizations, radio stations, newspapers, etc, to identify the logistics for Temporary Protective Status (TPS) and the free legal resources for ensuring immigration protection. They also aim to support petitions that provide equity and organised planning for Haitians. They also have begun planning for intermediate and long-term political action steps including: monthly education night about Haiti that will incorporate Haitian American professors and students across the city.

Community Service Trip -- Francesca
As you may know coordinating a trip to Haiti will be a difficult task because of the lack of resources (housing, transportation, etc.) available at this point, so we need to have a strategy taking that into consideration. Our initial steps will be identifying organizations that we could potentially collaborate with in Haiti. This includes connecting with organizations that may work out of NYC but travel to Haiti several times during the year. As more information comes out regarding what types of services students cal provide or are most necessary, we will select the appropriate organization.

Communication --Krys
The communications committee will be in charge of all "official" statements made on behalf of Students 4 Ayiti. This includes answering e-mails, posting on the blog, facebook, twitter, our weekly e-newsletter and coordinating events. Keeping the calendars from all affiliate Students 4 Ayiti organizations up to date on our events as well as promoting other events that are being coordinated by students in and around New York City. Immediately, the communications committee will be in touch with administrators, faculty, affiliate organizations, and the other committees within Students 4 Ayiti to maintain a seamless streamline of information. If you are an affiliate with any other organization, as well as Students 4 Ayiti, we encourage you to join the communication committee to assist as a liason.

Which committee should you join? Which committees are you interested in? If you're not sure, or want to help in more than one, that's fine! Please keep up with our emails and you will find out about all the ways you can assist! Please e-mail us! Students4Ayiti@gmail.com

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • WE HAVE A GOOGLE CALENDAR! Check out our google calendar for upcoming events supported by Students 4 Ayiti. Events are located throughout the city and are updated almost daily, so check the calendar often!

  • The Communications committee wants to know: Are you creative? We are trying to come up with a logo for Students 4 Ayiti! Any help would be appreciated. If you have ideas e-mail them please!

  • Students 4 Ayiti would like to highlight Edna Bonhommme for her recent article that has been featured on SocialistWorker.org. Edna looks at the distortions in the media and the politician's depiction of Haiti, and what they won't admit about the real sources of the country's crisis. Check out the article here: Racism in the Portayal of Haiti

  • The Relief & Aid committee would like to remind everyone to stay updated for volunteer opportunities, please sign up with www.idealist.org for hands on opportunities in New York City. They would also like to encourage everyone to check www.volunteermatch.org to register with the Haitian consulate for information about how to be a volunteer counselor.

  • The Political & Education committee has a task to ask of Students 4 Ayiti. They need help with assisting Haitians to fill out the Temporary Protective Status (TPS) forms. They are asking for volunteers. No experience is necessary. The information is here:

THANK YOU! Everyone, for all of your support, ideas and enthusiasm.

--S4A

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