Minutes From 2008 June 15

AFU General Meeting. 519 Church Street, June 15 2008, 2:30-5:00pm

Attending: Angel (minutes), Possum, Mike R, Christian.

Agenda

AFU bank account.
AFU money spending ideas.
Class on applied radical economics.
Radical Pedagogy workshop postponement.
Carpentry class progress.

AFU bank account & money spending ideas

Possum informed the group that the Alterna bank account created by him, in order to cash the CUPE check for $1000 of which approx. $700 remains, turns out to come with a monthly fee ($5 + $50 for checks) which continuously reduces the cash balance contained within said account. Furthermore it seemed unlikely that the account could have its fees waved by means of attaining non-profit designation through some NGO status. Possum suggested that this fee seemed counter-productive to the purposes of retaining money and that it may make more sense to close the account and deposit the cash with a long standing AFU member for safe-keeping. Possum suggested Rob Texeira as a possible choice and that he would contact Rob to ascertains his feelings on being cash holder.

The group seemed ok with this and Possum further suggested setting a provisional closing date for the account of July 28 in order to give enough time for any objections to the closing of the account to be raised. However, the July 28 date seemed a bit too soon and this suggestion on closing date was tabled.

Suggestions on how this cash should be spent were discussed, including advertising for facilitators, creating large full colour posters for distribution as advertising for the AFU, a scholarship fund, and funding help for the woodshop class. All were inconclusive.

Class on applied radical economics.

Christian suggested a class he'd like to start with a tentative start date for the second half of the summer semester centered around the area of Applied Radical economics and exploring how to look at and treat money and also exploring alternative economic models such as non-cash based.

Radical Pedagogy workshop postponement.

Christian discussed the monthly Radical pedagogy workshop postponement due to co-facilitator Maggie's impromptu departure on a summer trip to Latin America. He anticipates starting the workshop back up once Maggie returns, but is also open to collaborators willing and interested in helping the facilitations and preparations for the workshops if a sooner re-start date is desired.

Carpentry class progress.

Either Possum or Christian informed the group on the progress of Craig's woodshop/carpentry class. The information provided was that Craig has secured a nice space and is scheduling start date for September. Christian has been keeping in contact with Craig and helping and encouraging his progress.