COMMON COURTESY & RESPECT IS EXPECTED BY ALL PARTICIPANTS:

• Please remember to give others a chance to speak, be respectful when others are speaking, and avoid any side conversations and interruptions.
• Please try to focus on our collective plans rather than our individual personalities; 
• SAVE ANNOUNCEMENTS for the appropriate time at the END of the meeting!!!
  NO EXCEPTIONS! 
• Anyone found to be purposefully disturbing and/or disrupting the meeting and/or the organization will be told to leave and/or barred from future meetings.**

PLEASE RESPECT OUR COMMON GOALS & LIMITED TIME TOGETHER 

• POWER Meetings start PROMPTLY at 6:30 PM. Those attending should plan to arrive at least 10 minutes early to allow time to get situated & help out with any last minute meeting setup (meeting setup starts at 6pm). Please don't interrupt the meeting if you arrive late!
• Out of respect for all our busy schedules, meetings should start & end on time as much as possible. 
• If you're particularly interested in socializing & networking (as so many of us are!) please come prepared to do your socializing BEFORE and/or AFTER the meeting.
• When we're going through the meeting agenda, please try to stay focused on it as much as possible. 
• A special note about time: As an all-volunteer, low-income led organization, we are constantly dealing with a whole host of additional challenges - both organizationally and as individuals - beyond those faced by other more traditional organizations. Among these challenges is the fact that most of us are extraordinarily busy just keeping a roof over our heads and feeding our families, and as such we have an extremely limited amount of time that we can dedicate to organizing. In fact, many among us are quietly making big sacrifices just to attend meetings, including several of us who are swamped with the zillion other (often thankless) tasks needed to run and sustain the group. With that in mind, it's especially important for us to use our limited time together as wisely as we possibly can. 

PLEASE RESPECT THE FACT THAT POWER MEETINGS ARE FOR & ABOUT POWER: Monthly meetings are our only opportunity to get together as a group & many of us make big sacrifices just to be here. Members drafted this list of 'don'ts' as a means to address certain key frustrations and problems we felt were too often impeding the purpose and function of our meetings. While we truly appreciate the many important & wonderful outside groups/events/causes in our community, & while we believe strongly in coalition-building, please understand that  POWER meetings are our time to do our work!  With that in mind, & with all due respect, please do not use our meeting time to accomplish any other agenda but the one on our table. For example:

• PLEASE DON'T USE OUR MEETING TIME FOR OUTSIDE ANNOUNCEMENTS! The appropriate time for announcements is at the END of the meeting. Simply put, while we appreciate outside announcements, POWER business simply must come first. If you must leave early, DON'T INTERRUPT the meeting with your announcement! INSTEAD: write down your announcement & pass it to the Meeting Chair who'll read it for you at the appropriate time. 
• PLEASE DON'T USE OUR MEETINGS TO DISTRIBUTE OUTSIDE LITERATURE: Unless you are directly asked to do so by the Meeting Chair, please don't pass out flyers etc during our meeting time. Instead, you are welcome to display your materials on our information tables, so long as you pick them up again before you leave. 
• PLEASE DON'T USE OUR MEETINGS FOR PETITIONING: Only petitions approved in advance by POWER's Leadership Council may be circulated during POWER meetings (including the time before & after meetings).
• PLEASE DON'T USE OUR MEETINGS FOR POLITICAL CAMPAIGNING: POWER is NON-PARTISAN & does not make political endorsements. Campaigning for political parties or candidtates is not welcome at POWER meetings & anyone doing so will be asked to leave.
• PLEASE DON'T USE OUR MEETINGS TO RECRUIT VOLUNTEERS! POWER is an all-volunteer organization with absolutely NO paid staff & EXTREMELY limited resources. As it is, we don't have nearly enough volunteers of our own; taking up our limited meeting time to recruit us as volunteers for your group/event/cause is not only inappropriate, it is also very insulting to us. That said, the very best way to ask our members to volunteer for something that is not a POWER activity is to propose it to the Leadership Council in advance (click here for contact info), and better yet, offer some ways that you/your group/your group's members can volunteer for POWER in exchange. That way we can all work together!
  
  NON-PARTISAN: means that we don't support, oppose, endorse, or campaign for any specific political parties or candidates.
  
  ~ THANK YOU ~

Meeting Agenda:
The agenda outlines the basic goals & priorities for the meeting. Each month's agenda is drawn up & reviewed a week in advance by the Leadership Council. Agenda items should be relevant to POWER & POWER's mission. more about agendas & how to submit agenda items.

Meeting Chair:
Meetings are chaired by either a co-coordinator or a member of POWER's Leadership Council. 
The Meeting Chair's job is to help keep meetings running smoothly by guiding us through the meeting agenda & helping us stay as focused as possible on the tasks at hand. The Chair reads through the agenda, filling in certain details along the way and inviting questions & discussion on items.
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Meeting Co-Chair:
Meetings are co-chaired by either a co-coordinator or a member of POWER's Leadership Council.
The Co-Chair's job is to help the Meeting Chair as needed by watching the time, helps us keep our discussions focused, keeps track of those who want to speak as needed, & kindly reminds us when we need to move along. The Co-Chair tries his/her best to make sure everyone who wants to speak has an opportunity to do so. 
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The Parking Lot Model:
When an issue can’t be addressed during the time at hand &/or it isn't immediately relevant to a meeting’s priorities any member can propose to put the issue "in the Parking Lot" to be addressed later by those interested, who are then responsible for addressing the issue & reporting back any results and/or recommendations. Members may also ask the Leadership Council to address the issue.
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Guest Presentations:
From time to time we make room on our meeting agenda for presentations featuring other groups & activities that share similar goals. Presentations are approved in advance by POWER's Leadership Council. Presentations are welcome so long as a) the material presented addresses one or more key concerns of POWER's mission, and b) the primary purpose is to exchange information and/or solicit our input (and not to recruit us as volunteers).
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Decision-making process:
While some decisions are made during general meeting time, most important decisions at monthly meetings are made during Members Council by majority vote. For more information on decision-making, please refer to our Levels of Involvement page.
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Members in good standing: All those who’ve filled out & signed this year’s annual POWER member card & suggested dues* are considered POWER members in good standing.  In addition, members in good standing have duly upheld their member card pledges in good faith. Anyone who hasn’t done this yet can become a member or update their membership anytime.

Questions? Contact us!