Every year, our community has an annual business meeting, facilitated by our council (aka board) to which all members are invited. At this meeting, members of the community have a chance to hear updates about how our center is doing and what our goals are going forward, engage in discussion, and also to vote on important topics like our budget and the election of new members of our council (aka board).

This year’s annual meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 24th at 7pm, and will be held virtually via zoom. Here’s the link: https://commonstreet.zoom.us/j/99306609037

Attendance at the meeting is highly encouraged, because we are seeking to have a solid quorum of members present. If you are getting this email, you are a member of the Spiritual Center community and we do ask that you attend the meeting if possible.

***

Our community functions as a small democracy where each member has a voice and a vote, and the most important decisions come before the community as a whole for discussion and a vote. The annual business meeting is open to the wider community, like “friends” of the center who may be interested in learning more, but only members are allowed to vote.

If you cannot be there on Feb 24th at 7pm, our council  is working on a way to include more members in the process by sending out a recording of the meeting afterwards, along with a survey that would at least informally give folks who missed the meeting a chance to vote or voice questions or comments for a two week window after the meeting.

***

This year, we will be asking the community to vote on this proposed budget for 2025. [insert link] If you have questions about the budget, please do ask them in advance by emailing the council at council@commonstreet.org.

We will also be sharing a report about our spending in the last calendar year with updates about what we accomplished, how the community is growing and developing, and forecasts of our plans for 2025, including invitations for community members to get more engaged.

***

Currently, our council is working to recruit new members to fill vacancies, both for our council itself and for key teams that we are seeking to build around fundraising, membership, and volunteer engagement. Hopefully, at the annual meeting, we will be ready to present candidates for the council to the community for a vote. We will keep you updated as we learn more, and let you know more about who the candidates may be in advance of the meeting. Also, we want to invite members of the community to view this page to find out more about the openings on our council and to express interest if they feel called to serve in this way. https://commonstreet.org/growing-our-council/

Similarly, if you feel called to serve, or if you simply want to learn more about the volunteer openings in the key areas of fundraising, membership, and/or volunteer engagement, please visit this page to learn more and express interest: https://commonstreet.org/forming-core-volunteer-teams/

As we move into 2025, one of our goals is to strengthen the volunteer structure of the community, which we believe will add to our overall resilience and our ability to accomplish the goals we envision.

***

Current member of the Common Street Council:

Laura Hake, Samuel Gloyd, Michael Corthell, Damon Farnum, Ian Mevorach

The council can be reached by email at council@commonstreet.org