Meeting Notes 9/26/2022

Nova Roots tasks and notes from 9/26 Roots meeting

  1. Advocacy (Tor expressed interest)

    1. Organize students and families to advocate for Nova to the school board

    2. Attend school board meetings, coffees

    3. we should collate a group of staff/parents/students in each school board director’s district and have it ready to go if funding on 10/1 is inadequate

  2. Food pantry (Deilyn and Jessica to lead)

    1. Work with Byrd Barr Place to get food to stock Nova’s pantry

    2. Run food and grocery card drives

    3. Involve students

    4. Connect with other non-profits (local farms, other food banks and kitchens) Veronique volunteered to connect with Bridges.

  3. Fundraising

    1. December craft fair and silent auction (art sale rather than silent auction for logistics)

    2. Seek out, apply for grants

    3. Plan other fundraisers, working with student fundraising committee

    4. Attend budget/fundraising committee meetings monthly

    5. Lance is looking for band equipment - going to have a Donors Choose set up for this

    6. help with set up for events (Tor was interested), provide potluck food, use connections to get donated art for art sale

  4. Budget

    1. Work with Nova’s financial specialist Susan and Alliance for Education to manage the Nova Roots account

    2. Create a working budget

    3. Attend budget/fundraising committee meetings monthly

  5. Teacher appreciation events

    1. Start of year breakfast

    2. Thank you events (coffees, lunches, etc) throughout year

    3. pies for teachers for Thanksgiving

    4. would be nice for staff to have a Nova Roots point person they can approach with needs and requests. I think I can be that person if needed. This is a duplicate of #8 below but I am too lazy to delete and renumber. (Deb Z)

  6. Communications and publicity

    1. Update Nova Roots website, newsletter, social media accounts (Newsletter: Hafidha)

    2. Create flyers, signage for events

    3. Answer hello@novaroots.org email messages

  7. Tech support (Ashley volunteered to do back end tech support; Jen doing website updating)

    1. Renew Nova Roots domains, etc (Squarespace, Google Workspace)

    2. Renew Zoom account 

    3. Troubleshoot web and email issues

    4. Set up access to website and email as needed for other Roots folks

    5. do we want an interactive family forum eg a FB page or ?? I seem to recall SPS has rules around this but as long as it’s through Roots and not the school could be ok?

  8. Point person for communication with staff

  9. Point person to run Nova Roots meetings (Hafidha)

    1. Set up the space/Zoom 

    2. Create and publish an agenda

    3. Facilitate during the meeting

    4. we need to figure out a meeting schedule that works for Nova staff. ?3rd or 4th Mondays?? Sounds like we decided on Zoom format rather than in person?or maybe alternate in person meeting with Zoom meeting? 

    5. Teagan volunteered to bring snacks to meetings, moot point if we do Zoom

  10. Record and publish Nova Roots meeting notes (Laurie)

  11. Overall volunteer coordinator (yay Amy!!)

  12. Lots of other possibilities… Specifically, recruitment? Of students to Nova (though there is apparently no shortage) and of families to Roots?  

  13. there was interest in building some regional connections, eg. neighborhood get togethers, ride share. We discussed possible regional breakout rooms during meetings. Also may be helpful to try to collect zip codes for our list so we know who is where?? 

The following volunteer positions were filled at the meeting

  • Volunteer Coordinator: Amy.

    • Keep track of needs and recruit volunteers

  • Advocacy: Chair (Carol; Tor).

    • Coordinates Advocacy Efforts, Point Contact with NOVA Staff. Go to School Board Meetings, District Coffee Mornings, Advocates for NOVA.

    • Volunteers: Region Rep District VII (Jim)

    • Volunteers needed: Region Rep District I; Region Rep District II; Region Rep District III; Region Rep District IV; Region Rep District V; Region Rep District VI;

  • Food Pantry: Chair (Deilyn; Jessica).

    • Coordinates Food Pantry and Volunteers: Work with Byrd Barr Place to get food, Run food and grocery card drives, involves students, connects with other non profits to get food donations.

    • Volunteers: Amy, Veronique, Ane, Anne, Brandon, Carlos, Jessica, Kristi, Mariah

  • Fundraising: Chair (TBD).

    • Attend budget committee meetings monthly, works on fundraisers and works with student committee

    • Volunteers: Craft Fair (Doree, Katie, Wendy); Grant Writing (Gabriel, Veronique, Jessica)

  • Budget: Chair (TBD).

    • Works with Nova fiscal specialist: Susan and the Alliance for Education to manage the account. Creates a working budget, attends budget meetings

    • Volunteers: Needed

  • Teacher Appreciation Events: Chairs (Jessica, Deb)

    • Coordinates Teacher Appreciation events: Start of year breakfast, Thank you events (coffees, lunches) throughout the year

  • Tech Support: Chairs (Ashley, Randy, Bill)

    • Update Nova Roots domains (SquareSpace, Google Workspace), Set up/renew Zoom account, Troubleshoot web and email issues, set up access to website and email as needed for Roots volunteers.

  • Communications and Publicity

    • Update Nova Roots website, social media accounts. Create fliers and signage for events, answer hello@novaroots.org email messages

    • Website updates: Jen

    • Social Media Accounts: ???

    • Newsletter Editor: Hafidha

    • Meeting Coordinator: Hafidha

    • Point Person for Staff Communications: Deb

    • Note taker: Lorie

    • Roots Events Snacks: Tegan