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Sunday, February 12, 2012

Transition Catalysts Feb. 6, 2012

This was the first meeting of the Transition Catalysts of Huntsville in 2012. It was again hosted at Michele Sneed's classroom at Randolph School. The main focus of this meeting was ratifying the mission statement. We also began work on the working agreement and some initial awareness raising events. More details after the break.

In attendance was Michele Sneed, Alan Booker, Ben Clark, and Follin Clark.

Event Ideas

  • Breadmaking workshop hosted by Alan
  • First film showing at a local restaurant. Next meeting will be held at the restaurant to try it out.

Catalysts Working Agreement

One of the major areas of work we want to complete by next meeting is to produce a set of rules, or 'working agreement' to inform anyone who wants to join the Transition Catalysts of Huntsville group. We discussed many aspects of the rules including:
  • Proceedures for the beginning of a meeting: Welcome is given and the working agreement (rules of conduct) are read.
  • Decisions will be made based on consensus with training wheels. This way we will try to come to a consensus where all present members of the catalyst group agree on an action. If consensus is not initially found, time will be spent answering the concerns of any member. After some time but during the same meeting, a vote will be held to resolve the issue. A 70% vote will carry the decision. We are willing to reassess, research, and attempt to reach consensus.
  • Have a good message: speak with your best words and do not gossip.
  • Speak from a place of peace, not anger. When you are angry about something happening, deal with the anger in your own place but remain respectful of the rest of the group.
  • To be a part of the decision making process, you must be a stakeholder in the group. This is done by agreeing to the working agreement and returning to the subsequent meetings.
  • A mailing list will be utilized for new ideas and to help determine direction.
  • Money requirements of the group will be covered on a volunteer basis. If help paying for catalysts expenses is needed, the group will be notified. No treasury at this time.
The complete rules will be distributed among the mailing list for review and editing.

Possible Meeting Places

Part of the meeting was also spend brainstorming places we could meet in the future.
  • Americal Red Cross
  • Community Centers (good for smaller initiatives later)
  • Schools
  • Church buildings
  • Lowe Mill
  • Local restaurants that emphasize transition methods

Other Notes

As a group we will put together a small brochure about what we are about. These brochures will be posted in several places. Some ideas included:
  • Chamber of commerce
  • Libraries
  • Community bulletin boards - coffee shops, Earth Fare
  • Flying Monkey
  • Garden Cove
  • Dance groups
  • Starbucks ?
  • Foods for life
  • Grocery stores (indigenous, ethnic)
  • UAH, A&M, student activities
Part of this process will be moving to a registered domain to keep information in a central place. We are also looking into a logo and information to put on fliers and buisiness cards. A lot of exciting things are going on as we move out of the group formation stages and start working for the community!

Next Meetings

Our first public event will be held on April 16 at the Tai Pan restaurant at Governor's Drive and South Memorial Parkway. It will be a film viewing. Which film will be discussed at our next catalysts meeting March 12. The meeting in March will also be at Tai Pan so we can see how well it will work for our first event. Sign up for the newsletter to keep updated with our meetings and events.

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