Sunday, April 22, 2007

Focus the Nation organizing meeting for April 20 2007

Attending: Matt Hutton, Chad Worth, Dominique Luong, Ben Eckold, Neil Bulger, Jorge Montezuma (students), Kate Lancaster, Steven Marx (faculty)

A.  conference report

Chad is in contact with focus the nation students from UNC Chapel Hill. A short video about their FTN effort is available online. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTYifQEE3ME

B.message from provost

     Bill Durgin, our provost, has expressed his support of FTN.

C.Immediate Tasks

    1.Budget - Budget has been finalized and will be submitted.

        a)modifications

        b)setting up account - Funding for FTN will be through the Empower Poly Coalition's account.

    2.Reserving Venue

        Chad and Matt will complete E-Plan paperwork before the next meeting. We will make any necessary changes at the meeting and submit the E-Plan on May 1st.

        a)Chumash January 31 all day

        b)UU 220 and others

        c)UU Plaza

   3.Scheduling meetings

        a)Every Friday noon in Garden Grille - Steve and Kate cannot make it to the next meeting. Student's, please bring other interested students to the organizing meetings.

   4.Planning committee

        a)one faculty and one student from each college

                (1)college subcommittees?

        b)representatives from staff and admin

        c)representatives from student and faculty organizations, e.g. clubs, sustainability committees

                (1)empower poly

                (2)academic senate sustainability committee

                (3)SARC

                (4)CENG

        d)community organizations

                (1)Seachange

                (2)Sierra Club

                (3)Ecoslo

                (4)Hopedance - Bob Banner from Hopedance would like to be involved in FTN at Cal Poly. We need to get into contact with him.

                (5)religious groups

                (6)high schools and community colleges

                (7)Rotary

                (8)SLO chamber

  5.Draft Mission statement: objectives

D.Long range Tasks

        1.Coordinate with Step-It-Up, Campus Climate challenge, etc.

                I will look into how our FTN program fits into other national programs.

        2.Fundraising

                We have a list of companies that may be interested in support Cal Poly FTN and will begin drafting letters to them before the next meeting.

        3.Produce Educational/Promotional materials

                Everyone should start thinking about what type of educational material they can produce to encourage faculty, administrative, student and community involvement in FTN. Steve has                                         suggested the following format.

        a)Global warming-climate change primers

                (1)1-2 page paper

                (2)SLOFocus website - Neil has some experience with web design and will begin working with other students on getting FTN into the digital age.  

        b)Smart Energy Solutions

                (1)1-2 page paper

                (2)SLOFocus website

        c)What you can do: personal and political

                (1)1-2 page paper

                (2)SLOFocus website

   4.Create Program

        a)format

        b)FtN Webcasts—Major speaker and interaction with students

        c)late afternoon plenary with politicians

        d)lewis and clark sample: http://www.focusthenation.org/curriculumlc.php

        e)corporate recruiting booths - Green companies may be interested in setting up a card table at FTN and doing some recruitment?

   5.Audience recruitment

        a)On Campus

        b)Off Campus

   6.Faculty recruitment to make this subject of class

        a)target every professor

        b)training students 10-15

        c)email to all faculty

   7.Recruitment of politicians

                Chad and Matt are beginning to draft some letters to politicians about focus the nation. We're shooting for the stars here, because the worst they can say is no!

        a)National

        b)State

                (1)Sam Blakeslee - If we can get Sam Blakeslee onboard, he may be able to help us get through to Arnold Schwarzenneggar. Boxer and Feinstein will also be contacted. President Baker's support                 may also give us some leverage with politicians at the local and state levels.

        c)County

        d)City