Tyler Sommers' Blog

What a week!

There's absolutely no way I'm going to be able to remember everything, so here's a pretty crude list:

Volunteer meeting went well - Kr is going to be outreaching to media; Jason is going to update our facebook and fun stuff; Allison is working on some potential funding sources and a grant template I whipped up (making sure she corrects all the mistakes and things I forgot to list ); and Steven is going to keep on making our amazing database even more amazing, while running the CYPC election!

We have a list of over 100 youth run/driven organizations that we're going to look into approaching regarding partnership (we're just working on something more concrete regarding an agreement, it's difficult to give/get much if it's all loosey goosey).

We've compiled a couple of lists of possible funding (grants and whatnot) and Allison is working on getting in touch with them - one of our newest volunteers - Erin Shin - is working on getting a bit more information on a few (for some reason I like hyphens in this paragraph!).

The planning on the CYA conference is coming - I'm taking a break from writing a grant application to be used on that to write this! (btw we have a paypal donation link on our main site http://cya-ajc.ca *hint* - we're non-profit, but not charitable )

I wrote up an agreement for parties - I have to go over this and make it into an agreement, maybe I'll be lazy..or... time efficient.... and just add a signature line

We started a group planning session on the forum (see the COLLABORATIVE PLANNING section, we need YOUR input!) - this is going to outline what we want to accomplish before the 2010 elections!

Oh yeah, the CYA elections department set the date for the elections, March 2010 (see http://election.cya-ajc.ca for details). We transferred candidate registry and voter registry over there as well! Take a look - great job Steven!

I've been looking into whether CYA can become a charity (relentlessly) and I've determined that in order for us to really give youth a voice, it's better for us to remain as a non-profit organization. The CYA needs to enter into what the government has deemed 'advocacy' in order to get our point across and be sure that the youth of Canada are truly represented!

I am going to be looking into incorporating another organizations to carry out some of the other duties (training, volunteering, model parliament, etc) that will be able to incorporate as a charity - but don't worry! (I can see all you people getting ready to facepalm at the fact that we're already doing too much) This isn't something I'm going to be doing all the time, it's something that I'll do once in a while - CYA is the top priority!

Did I mention the CYA Conference? Well, taking place in November - in OTTAWA (unless the reception to that is really bad). We're looking into lodging, venue, etc. There is a conference committee board on the FORUM (http://cya-ajc.ca/forum) - so please take a look and give us a hand

There are two volunteers (one new and one returning) working on The Representative - expect movement and shaking there! Template is being worked on, but I'm sure we'll continually improve it! If you have something to submit, let me know! See - http://cya-ajc.ca/therep

That's all I can think of for now... we're making progress! We're ALWAYS making progress.

Oh, the BBQ went amazing! Thanks to everyone who went, I hope you ate enough! And Allison's Skittles game was amazing - I was wondering if people were really going to put effort into it and they did! It turned out to be a smash! Expect more random introduction games from Allison at each event!

Keep on keeping on!

Tyler

Oh! And help us! The Forum (notices section) and the http://volunteering.cya-ajc.ca have volunteer information! You CAN help if you're involved in a CYA party!