SE Advisory Committee Update

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SE Advisory Meeting Minutes
CCEDC Offices  Wednesday January 13th 2010


Attendees:

Lisa and Ike Kerschner
Melissa Miles (AKA Melissa Permaculture)
Nitya Akeroyd
Kate Hunter
Greg Bowman
Nevin Mast
Mark Highland
Casey Sclar
Tom Brightman
Catherine and Al Renzi
Claire Murray
Louise Smith
Katherine Dunleavy
Tara Tracy
Mary G. Whittam
Fred and Meryle Rothman
Roberta Cosentino
Sue and Jim Myers
Jan Cauffman
Emily Cost
Chris Henwood Costa
Yvonne Post

Agenda

7-8:30  Welcome, Staff Introductions and Agenda review
Group introductions and updates from individuals
Membership Presentation by Michele Gauger (PASA Membership Director)
New Member Contact Program – Denise
Milestones from 2009 and Look ahead for 2010
Q and A

Marilyn began the meeting with introductions and a brief review of the evening’s agenda. 

 

Membership Presentation by Michele Gauger (PASA Membership Director)

Michele presented information on SE Membership Trends from 2007, 2008 and 2009.  For our region there has been a very small decline in individual memberships (1%), but a large increase in the number of student memberships from 2008 to 2009.  All other membership categories (Family/Farm, Business and Lifetime) have also shown an upward trend.  Michele pointed out that the SE is the largest membership region in PASA and that the trends we are seeing are a reflection of some of the areas that we specifically targeted in 2009.  
Michele’s introduced the importance of the Membership Survey and urged everyone to take the time to complete it and send it in.  This is the only way we have to get a good picture of our membership base, providing important data  which assists PASA in grant applications and member services.

New Member Contact Program – Denise

The idea of a “Welcome Wagon” was presented to assist new members in making helpful connections within the SE PASA community.  This is a pilot program being tested over the coming year in the SE to see if it improves our member retention and participation levels.  We are  seeking  member volunteers  to work with Marilyn & Denise on this new initiative. A volunteer sign-up sheet was circulated and so far we have about 10 interested volunteers.

 

How the program works:

Using the efforts of SE PASA staff and a small group of member volunteers, we will send several contacts to new members in an effort to increase the value to them of their PASA membership.

Denise will send out contact information for new members every 2 weeks  to Welcome Wagon Volunteers

 

Within 2 weeks of joining PASA (SE Region), each new members will receive:

  • A handwritten note from the SE Regional Office (Marilyn or Denise)
    • Upcoming event(s) they might be interested in attending  
    • They will  be added to a SE database/email distribution list so that they will be notified of all event
  • A short handwritten note from a current member (volunteer)
    • What PASA has done for you/why you joined/relevant PASA experience, etc Contact information
    • Invitation to an upcoming event

Volunteers will notify Denise via email after they have sent their welcome card

Follow up my SE PASA Staff  

    Email – events, classes, field days
  • quarterly check-in – how are you doing?/do you need anything?
  • Phone  call
  • Member to Member – connect them with other members who may have similar interests

 

Milestones from 2009 and Look ahead for 2010


Highlights from 2009  and new projects for 2010 include:

  • Implementation of Master Classes – these were very successful and are being continued for 2010
  • PASA contracted with Fox School of Business/Temple Univ  for a project to develop land lease agreements that would give farmers who leased land an opportunity to build equity without having to own the land.  We are looking forward to seeing their results  at the Keep Farming First conference on March 6th and also at the PALTA Conference on April 10th.
  • SE Ag Industry Partnership ( a joint effort of CCEDC and PASA) received  a grant for Workforce Development in agriculture for the first time in 2009 and have again been awarded a training grant for 2010.  With the money they were able to put programming together for individuals in the agriculture community.
  •  SE AG Industry Partnership programs have already been scheduled for 2010 and announcements have been sent for a variety of training sessions focusing on Human Resources for small farm and food business; PR/communication and web design/marketing; and high level business assessment tools.
  • As part of the SE Ag Industry Partnership, 24 scholarships were made available in 2009 for individuals from the SE to attend the PASA Annual Conference.  This year 100 Scholarship were made available and we still have some left to award.  Sue Milshaw from CCEDC is the administrator of this program and should be contacted by all those who are interested in applying.
  • Lands in preservation/easement – as part of program with Wm Penn Foundation we are in the process of creating an “inventory” of lands that are in easement/preservation.  Marilyn commented that it was a much bigger task than what was originally anticipated but that we would continue working in 2010 to get this done.
  • Summer Farm Start Dinner – this was successful last year in other regions and this year we will host a Farm Start fundraising dinner in the SE in May.  The tentative date is Sunday May 16.
  • Longwood Gardens Wine and Jazz Festival will be May 1st, 2010.  Last year some of our members participated as vendors, had a great time and were very successful with sales of their goods.  When we know more about Longwood’s plans we will be sending out a request for interested vendors.  
  • It was determined that we would not be forming separate advisory committees this year for the SE region, since last year’s experience indicated it was hard for volunteers to commit to a full year of service.  Instead we will be working to set dates for 3 additional “Listening Sessions” this coming year in Lehigh, Lancaster and Philadelphia Counties.  More information on this will be coming.


Q and A


The Q&A was fairly short.  The discussion centered around how we could have a stronger presence at the Farm Show both with information and activities as well as local food vendors.  There are a lot of people moving through the show and it was thought that it would be nice to see how we do things from the sustainable side.  Many ideas were tossed around including having some of our members sit in with the Farm Show planning committee to see how we could make this happen.  

The meeting came to an end at 8:30pm