MULTICULTURAL SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP Our Association held its Annual Mid-Winter Leadership Meeting January 22-24, 2004 in Washington, D.C. I attended with the SIG Chairpersons and Division Heads and Region Presidents. Present also were Doreen Croser, Executive Director, David Coulter, President-elect and David Rotholz, President pro-tempore. It was a very intensive two days, packed with information, several workshops and small group discussions. We were assigned to ten groups, each with an assigned facilitator and recorder. The highlights of the discussions were as follows: Membership: Concerns were raised regarding the continuing decrease in membership. Some of the group suggestions focused on these areas. Student membership New member discount Dual memberships Membership rewards Fundraising: Financially, AAMR’s revenues are not meeting projections. Some recommendations for realistic fundraising initiatives were: Continue Power Of One Campaign Annual Dinner/Luncheon for Corporate Sponsors Matching Fund Grant Requests Approach Foundations, Pharmaceutical Companies Seed Grants Product Development Product Development & Marketing: AAMR’s journals are an excellent revenue source. Marketing strategy for new products such as: SIS-Supports Intensity Scale 10th Edition-Mental Retardation Web-based Products and Support Other concerns raised were the viability of Annual Conferences, due to low attendance. Proposed changes to AAMR Constitution and By-laws which may result in elimination of the SIGs and Divisions. Further updates will be forthcoming.
The Multicultural SIG Business Meeting has not been scheduled. We, however, as discussed in our last meeting, will have a workshop planned for part of the session. Currently one topic which will be presented: “How parent-professional partnerships impact on family quality of life”. If you would like to present at this time, please e-mail me with your ideas. Also, my co-chair, Beverly Abercrombie is not able to continue in her position. If you are interested, please let me know.
Please note a change in my e-mail address: Josephine.Calder@use.salvationarmy.org.
See you all at the Annual Conference in Philadelphia, June 1-4,2004! | ||||
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