November 2003

NEAC Board Meets in Boston

On October 11–12, the NEAC Board met in Boston. These were among the highlights:

  • Executive Director Bill Frampton represented NEAC at eight conferences and General Convention. His triennium goals are to write a NEAC history, compile a NEAC board manual, create an “AIDS over 50” prevention resource, visit at least two Episcopalian seminaries, reestablish connections with the Parish Quilt Project, and work with the church’s Public Policy Office in Washington to explore alternative funding for NEAC projects.
  • In response to the report from co-chair Valerie Thomas of her attendance at the Province IV Network of AIDS Ministries Annual Retreat at Kanuga, originally a NEAC-organized event, the board voted to contribute $500 to the conference for scholarships.
  • The board thanked Elizabethe Payne for her work on the youth curriculum, which is in production and should shortly be released. Elizabethe is now working on the Episcopal component of the Teen AIDS Prevention (TAP) revisions. Mary Ellen Honsaker recommended that there be a rural component to the curriculum and offered a Wyoming resource.
  • Reporting on the AIDS over 50 project, Bill Frampton recommended that it be renamed AGAPE, for All Generations AIDS Prevention Education. He also suggested that it incorporate not only a prevention element for those over 50 but also materials they can use to help educate their children and grandchildren. Honsaker recommended that it also incorporate a bible study component.
  • General discussion of NEAC finances led to a suggestion that board members who pay their own way to represent NEAC at meetings should report their contributions so that the actual costs of running the organization are clear. It was suggested that NEAC consider partnering with other organizations that have similar projects to qualify for grants available only to coalitions.

Strategic Plan Revised

In revising the NEAC strategic plan for the next triennium, the board agreed that rather than sponsoring a single three-day conference every three years, NEAC will hold three one-day provincial conferences during the triennium. Scott Barnette and Alfredo Macaya are charged with preparing a concept, potential site, and organizational plan for an October 2004 conference to be held in Chicago in conjunction with the NEAC Board meeting.