Families with Children from China – Greater NYC

Board Meeting

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Present: Marjorie Berman, Tim Stoenner, Mary Nealon, Amanda Baden, Lily Cardlin, Timothy Helck , Deb Levine, Mark Maas, Mary Sellner

Absent: Ross Lewis, Judith Fiorini, Nicki Genovese

Newsletter update – Marjorie Berman shared with the board that FCCNY and FCC New England (FCCNE) are exploring the possibility of collaborating on future productions of the FCC publication, for economic and other reasons. There will be two general issues and one children’s issue per year. Mary Childs signed on as editor. While the journal may carry articles about each FCC chapter’s charitable work in China, photos of events, and a “President’s letter” of each president, content will otherwise be devoted to issues around parenting, adoption, race and identity that are of importance to our members. Costs of production will be shared proportionately between the two chapters based on distribution volume (approximately 2/3 NY, 1/3 NE) plus each chapter will pay its own mailing costs. Local news pertinent to only one chapter will be moved to the FCC website or sent via the local list serves.

National Fundraising Appeal – FCCNY had originally decided to not participate in this year’s national appeal. However, FCCNE put together a beautiful National Appeal featuring stories of three girls who went back to their orphanages this past summer. In discussions with FCCNE, Marjorie and Tim Stoenner, it was decided that FCCNY would send out the National Appeal to members in our database who are not part of any regional chapter’s zip codes. The brochure’s total production costs are approximately $3000 and will be mailed to about 1,300 households in total. FCCNY will receive 45% of any contributions received outside FCCNE zip codes, to be donated to our Orphanage Assistance programs. Checks in response to the National Appeal will be written to FCC & mailed to FCCNE, who will process and handle bookkeeping.

FCCNE runs its own programs in orphanages in China, such as programs children living in orphanages who are believed to have contacted HIV/AIDS through blood transfusions, and direct government orphanage projects.

FCCNY Appeal – Joe Kelly & Aileen Koger are working on this year’s FCCNY Orphanage Appeal. The content will include information about Aileen’s orphanage site visits this past summer with her family; format will be the same layout as last year. We expect the appeal to reach families by mail the week after Christmas. Last year’s mailing of 4,000 households was sent to anyone in our database who has ever contributed to the appeals. An e-appeal version will be sent to members before Thanksgiving. The Orphanage Assistance Committee will coordinate follow-up efforts on this year’s appeal.

FCCNE/FCCNY Joint website proposal – The possibility of also sharing/pooling web resources was raised, the benefits being member access to more shared information and resources, and FCC could possibly present a national front as an organization. The problem is that our FCCNY website is so dated that combining with FCCNE’s more current site is a larger undertaking than we are currently prepared to take on. Also, local groups use the websites as their primary event and communication vehicles. Combining FCCNY & FCCNE regional information on one site could quickly become unwieldy and confusing for members.

FCCNY website launch – Board members, Tim Helck and Tim Stoenner, reported that FCCNY has set up a test site, to which they are currently loading up previous newsletters in better quality, KPHP framework. Our goal is to design a new searchable, consumer-friendlier website. We are looking into hiring a website designer, a technical web builder and we will need a server to host it. Tim H. and Tim S. plan to put together a proposal and seek bids. The new site will be populated with existing data and content, but with more capabilities. An estimated ballpark cost of a project of this magnitude could be close to $50,000 project.

Chinese Lunar New Year – there are lots of regional events happening, as well as two possibilities for FCCNY events.

· Children’s Museum of Art in lower Manhattan is planning an event for Sunday, January 18, 2009, which would be for families with mostly younger children.

· Queen’s Crossing in Flushing is an upscale, modern Asian mall in the heart of Flushing. The management of the mall approached FCCNY about a Lunar New Year event they’d like to do for FCCNY members, which would be a banquet dinner on Sunday, January 31, 2009. They are planning on having a typical Chinese New Year luncheon feast and holiday show for approximately $25.00 per attendee. Queen’s Crossing management would like us to publicize the event to our members. They have also approached China Sprouts and Grace Chang for involvement.

FCCNY Annual Membership renewal is ongoing year-round. We will not be raising membership fees this year.

Museum of Chinese Americas is in the midst of opening a new facility in the heart of Chinatown, designed by May Lin. MOCA is a national museum, the only institution of its kind on the east coast, dedicated to telling the national Chinese American story. The new facility, on Centre Street will have 14,000 square feet and plans to open its doors in Spring 2009. The main floor will house a new permanent exhibit, which will be a sequential walk through time as an historical account of Chinese immigrant experiences in America. The museum will include a panel about our children adopted from China as one example of the Chinese American story in its permanent exhibit. MOCA approached FCCNY members, Tim Stoenner and Kathy Urbina, to see if we would like to raise money for a plaque on the museum’s Journey Wall. Kathy has sent emails to our members with a goal of raising $25000, towards the plaque, which will be a permanent way of honoring and including our children’s story. To date, we have received about $9,000 in commitments. Tim asked the board members if FCCNY would be willing to provide matching funds from our treasury. While fundraising efforts for the plaque will continue through the end of the year, the Board decided to defer this question to a future meeting.

FCC Store closing down. Most items currently available through the FCC store website are also available commercially elsewhere. Kathy Urbina & Tim Stoenner will no longer run the store physically out of their home. We are in discussions with China Sprouts and other possible marketing venues for FCC items in the future. Last year, the store netted $2,500 on t-shirts mostly from Culture Day and web sales throughout the year. It is not financially worth the accounting and clerical work to maintain this operation in-house.

FCCNY Organizational Outreach – FCCNY recently set up informational tables at two professional conferences. Feedback on our presence at both conferences was provided.

· Asian Pacific American Institute/NYU/St. John’s Adoption Conference at NYU in October 2008: Identity and the Adopted Teen – While information about the conference was made available to our members, not many attended possibly due to the professional fees involved. Board member, Amanda Baden, was one of the key planners of this conference, and reported that the conference was successful and many adolescent issues were discussed by professional researchers and practitioners working in the area of adoption.

· Concerned Parents For Adoption Conference at Rutgers University in November 2008 – Organizers of the FCC Booth emailed Marjorie with their feedback to say that while no new members signed up at the booth, our presence at the conference was important not only for families with children from China, but also as outreach to waiting families and social workers. Volunteers at the booth observed that social workers were not familiar FCC’s many resources. FCCNY needs to better educate social workers about our many resources for parents and families, since social workers are often a primary contact with those seeking to adopt.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:50pm