Prospect Farm News/Minutes of December 16th Meeting
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Jay Smith
Dec 30, 2013, 8:11:32 PM12/30/13
to Prospect Farm Group, prospectfa...@googlegroups.com, ProspectFarm Brooklyn
Happy Holidays, Everyone.
After a busy couple of weeks, I am sharing the minutes from our meeting on Monday, December 16th, 2013. Please excuse the delay, and thank you for your patience.
First, we wish Tom Hinchen the best of health and a speedy and full recovery.
Tom Angotti spoke about the work that the boy scout troop had done for Prospect Farm--expanding the platform, fortifying the retaining wall, moving all the bamboo to the side, sifting compost, building a new raised bed, and expanding the leaf bin. Tom A. wrote them a thank-you letter.
Tom A. also spoke about the need for someone from Prospect Farm to attend the meetings hosted by councilman Brad Lander to discuss potential allocations in the Participatory Budgeting process. We could be entitled, according to Tom, to anything from fifty to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for any legitimate Capital Project. We need someone to commit to attending those meetings. For specific dates contact Tom or Brad Lander's office.
Jay will be moving some time in the spring and has to focus on finding a new home. So he will not be able to be the Board Secretary. Someone else needs to step up to that responsibility. Jay said he would be willing to remain on the board to help satisfy the board requirements for establishing a 501(c)3 non-profit, but cannot be more involved on the board, especially as Secretary.
The board of any non-profit organization is obviously important to the viability and performance of the organization. Board work should be taken seriously, and Jay has suggested familiarizing ourselves with the responsibilities of a board, both through online resources, and participating in free board training workshops webinars given by organizations like the Foundation Center, and its Grantspace Tools. See also www.bridgespan.org and the councilofnonprofits.org/. (If these links don't open for you, please contact me.)
Application fees for the 501(c)3 process is $450.
According to Eileen, there has been a 50% decline in the intake of food scraps for compost. We now average 40 to 60 pounds of food scraps per drop-off session.
Diana Lent has made some improvements to the Prospect Farm website.
Beatriz Pineda Revilla, our visiting researcher from Spain and Amsterdam, documenting urban agriculture for her Masters thesis, is leaving on January 18th.
Meera Bhat will be returning on or around January 21st. The next membership meeting was scheduled to accommodate her return from India.
Our next Prospect Farm membership meeting will be on Tuesday, January 27th, 2014.
The most significant agenda item will be the growing plan and schedule:
1. what we want to plant.
2. when we need to start plants indoors for transplanting outdoors.
3. garden plan--where we're planting what.
On Saturday, December 28th, Jay and Matt met with Chris of the Brooklyn Commune, and discussed doing a our community out-reach program at the Commune. Chris is still enthusiastic about the idea,
and Matt and I simply have to come up with a date and program. There are four Mondays in January--the 6th, 12th, 19th, and 26th. The 6th is unlikely, but we need to plan for one the other days.
We will need a projector and screen. Tom said he has a projector, perhaps we can find an inexpensive screen to purchase, or borrow one. Tom has also spoken to the Prospect Range, which he said would be available fro our events. They normally charge $100, but are flexible. If we were utilize their space and got 20 people, asked everyone for $5 dollars, the would cover it. Chris is willing to open his space for free, while providing store snacks that people can buy. I offered to charge a nominal fee (say $5) and offer it to the Brooklyn Commune as a gratuity. But I also think that for the first couple of programs, we should absorb the cost, and invite folks to participate free of charge, or solicit donations at the end. Since we would like to do a program in January before our next membership meeting, your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, or any feedback on this project would be appreciated. Remember, this outreach is to both perform a community service by facilitating discussion around critical issues of urban agriculture & community gardens and general sustainability issues, as well as encourage more community participation in Prospect Farm.
A reminder: The Citizens Committee For New York City Neighborhood Grants deadline is January 27th, 2014. That's 4 weeks. Is anyone writing a grant application for Prospect Farm? Even if it's for a small grant, I think we should apply.
Because I have to focus on moving, this is both the first and last time I'm submitting minutes as the Board Secretary.
Happy New Year, everyone
Jay Smith
After a busy couple of weeks, I am sharing the minutes from our meeting on Monday, December 16th, 2013. Please excuse the delay, and thank you for your patience.
First, we wish Tom Hinchen the best of health and a speedy and full recovery.
Tom Angotti spoke about the work that the boy scout troop had done for Prospect Farm--expanding the platform, fortifying the retaining wall, moving all the bamboo to the side, sifting compost, building a new raised bed, and expanding the leaf bin. Tom A. wrote them a thank-you letter.
Tom A. also spoke about the need for someone from Prospect Farm to attend the meetings hosted by councilman Brad Lander to discuss potential allocations in the Participatory Budgeting process. We could be entitled, according to Tom, to anything from fifty to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for any legitimate Capital Project. We need someone to commit to attending those meetings. For specific dates contact Tom or Brad Lander's office.
Jay will be moving some time in the spring and has to focus on finding a new home. So he will not be able to be the Board Secretary. Someone else needs to step up to that responsibility. Jay said he would be willing to remain on the board to help satisfy the board requirements for establishing a 501(c)3 non-profit, but cannot be more involved on the board, especially as Secretary.
The board of any non-profit organization is obviously important to the viability and performance of the organization. Board work should be taken seriously, and Jay has suggested familiarizing ourselves with the responsibilities of a board, both through online resources, and participating in free board training workshops webinars given by organizations like the Foundation Center, and its Grantspace Tools. See also www.bridgespan.org and the councilofnonprofits.org/. (If these links don't open for you, please contact me.)
Application fees for the 501(c)3 process is $450.
According to Eileen, there has been a 50% decline in the intake of food scraps for compost. We now average 40 to 60 pounds of food scraps per drop-off session.
Diana Lent has made some improvements to the Prospect Farm website.
Beatriz Pineda Revilla, our visiting researcher from Spain and Amsterdam, documenting urban agriculture for her Masters thesis, is leaving on January 18th.
Meera Bhat will be returning on or around January 21st. The next membership meeting was scheduled to accommodate her return from India.
Our next Prospect Farm membership meeting will be on Tuesday, January 27th, 2014.
The most significant agenda item will be the growing plan and schedule:
1. what we want to plant.
2. when we need to start plants indoors for transplanting outdoors.
3. garden plan--where we're planting what.
On Saturday, December 28th, Jay and Matt met with Chris of the Brooklyn Commune, and discussed doing a our community out-reach program at the Commune. Chris is still enthusiastic about the idea,
and Matt and I simply have to come up with a date and program. There are four Mondays in January--the 6th, 12th, 19th, and 26th. The 6th is unlikely, but we need to plan for one the other days.
We will need a projector and screen. Tom said he has a projector, perhaps we can find an inexpensive screen to purchase, or borrow one. Tom has also spoken to the Prospect Range, which he said would be available fro our events. They normally charge $100, but are flexible. If we were utilize their space and got 20 people, asked everyone for $5 dollars, the would cover it. Chris is willing to open his space for free, while providing store snacks that people can buy. I offered to charge a nominal fee (say $5) and offer it to the Brooklyn Commune as a gratuity. But I also think that for the first couple of programs, we should absorb the cost, and invite folks to participate free of charge, or solicit donations at the end. Since we would like to do a program in January before our next membership meeting, your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, or any feedback on this project would be appreciated. Remember, this outreach is to both perform a community service by facilitating discussion around critical issues of urban agriculture & community gardens and general sustainability issues, as well as encourage more community participation in Prospect Farm.
A reminder: The Citizens Committee For New York City Neighborhood Grants deadline is January 27th, 2014. That's 4 weeks. Is anyone writing a grant application for Prospect Farm? Even if it's for a small grant, I think we should apply.
Because I have to focus on moving, this is both the first and last time I'm submitting minutes as the Board Secretary.
Happy New Year, everyone
Jay Smith
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