Unitarian
Universalist
Affordable
Housing
Partnership

Steering Committee Minutes

UUAHP STEERING COMMITTEE
Minutes, October 10, 2002
First Universalist Church

NEXT MEETING: THURSDAY, NOV. 7, 7:00 PM, FIRST UNITARIAN SOCIETY

Attending: Ron Dueltgen (FUS), Nan Corliss (UUCM), Jo Haberman (FUS, FUC), Barbara Weatherhead (FUS), Lynnanne Warren (Unity)

This meeting included UUs representating from Habitat for Humanity (Victoria Runnels, Gary Erickson, Dick Duerre, Shane Albertson) and Leila J. Erlandson, Ex. Director of Person to Person.

Gary Erickson (WBUCC) discussed the Habitat doll house that will be built and raffled at five UU congregations, under the theme of "Home for the Holidays." He distributed raffle tickets ($5 each or 5 for $20). The doll house will be on display at several congregations in November and December, and the raffle will be held on Dec. 15. An expected $10,000 raised will be used as the UUAHP payment for the two-week Habitat build in the summer of 2003 plus one build in winter 2002-3 season plus UUAHP membership in Habitat.

Leila Erlandson then spoke about Person to Person's main areas of focus: Homelessness Prevention, Critical Living Skills, and the Warm Hands Warm Heart coat drive. Regarding UU volunteer opportunities, she mentioned ESL teaching, family mentoring, congregations adopting a family. Ms. Erlandson agreed to send attendees a form that captures skills sought in volunteers (and she undoubtedly will do so as soon as the recording secretary sends her the attendees' email addresses!).

Jo Haberman presented an overview of UUAHP involvement with both H4H and PTP as well as the Corporation for Supportive Housing, Neighbor to Neighbor, etc.

At the ensuing UUAHP Steering Committee meeting, Jo Haberman presided, and announced that she and Bob Aderhold (FUS) would be co-convenors for the 2002-3 program year.

UUAHP needs to appoint a new representative to the Minnesota Housing Partnership. MHP meets more-or-less weekly at the State Capital. The representative must have a somewhat flexible schedule, especially during the legislative session. This is a great group of housing advocates from around the state. Anyone interested should contact Jo or Bob.

The cancelled bus tour of affordable housing sites will be rescheduled on a Saturday when more can attend. That will require sufficient lead time for the CSH staff to be available on a Saturday. A suggestion was made that attendance be opened to high school youth.

The treasurer reported that the UUAHP balance is $22,710, which clearly includes a recent donation of $10,000 from the FUC Foundation.

Jo H. handed out a proposed outline of activities for the annual conference in late January or February 2003. Proposed keynote speakers, in order of preference, were Jim Scheibel, Alan Arthur (Central Community Housing Trust), and Mary Keefe (Hope Community). The planning committee received an OK to proceed with plans as outlined.

Upcoming events for UU Social Justice advocates were announced:
Nov. 22 + 23: Economic Globalization at Unity
Dec. 8: UU Mideast Peace Forum at FUC
Jan. ??: UUAHP Annual Meeting at FUS

Agenda items for Nov. 7 Steering Committee: Annual Meeting, Funding, Team Reports, Service/Volunteerism, Social Justice Network

Re: communications. Jo H. agreed to communicate with the UU SJN regarding setting up a social justice listserve separate from the UUAHP list so that non-housing SJ announcements