Attending: Julian Agyeman, Molly Anderson, Mauricio Artinano, Melissa Bailey, Eleanor Bates (facilitator), Lisa Brukilacchio, Dale Bryan, Janet Kovner, Kwabena Kyei-Aboagye, Lisa Waters

Next Meeting: Thursday, December 12, 9:30-11:00am (TIE)
Facilitator: Janet Kovner

Membership:
Lisa B’s student, Mauricio Artinano, is interested in becoming a member of the MWC. Bill Maer has decided to resign as a member of the MWC. The MWC needs representation from the upper and the lower Mystic. Molly talked with Charlie Lord from the Ecology Institute and he is interested in becoming a member of the MWC. To address the concern of diminishing community membership for the MWC an advertisement needs to be placed in the next MyRWA newsletter asking community members to join the MWC. Another idea is to have a social gathering to invite community members to raise their awareness of the MWC. MyRWA will attempt to recruit at least two new members by the next January meeting.

Anonymous Funding:
The funds were awarded and the committee met to discuss how the funds were going to be utilized. The funding for the River Institute is the primary need and Dale has already begun to implement solutions.

Funding:
Molly A, Grace, Wendy, and Monty Pierson met and developed a funding plan that listed 40 organizations and corporations. The plan is not ready for public review. This plan will hopefully bring in additional corporate funds to the MWC. Ideas addressed in the plan include which corporations are the most likely to fund, and which corporations are the best prospects. For the next meeting an update is needed from Wendy and Grace on funding. Furthermore, we need to know discrete types of needs and identify relationships of who to try to get to contribute. Determine what the River Institute, Water Watch, student projects, and EJAM’s needs are also essential. Molly will prepare a draft strategy of what the priorities are for the MWC.

The Watershed Initiative Grant is available and open to 501cb. The deadline is 11/26/02 and the grant is for the amount of $25,000. Currently, Grace and Paul are working on this grant.

The Coastal Zone Management Grant, “Mass Coastal NPS Pollution Control Grants, Coastal Pollutant and Remediation Plus Program” is available and open to MyRWA. The deadline is 12/31/02.

EJAM:
Training Sessions: The training sessions will be held on January 16th from 8am – 3pm at the Wyndham Hotel in Chelsea and on April 5th from 9am – 4pm at the Arlington Library. The attendance goal is 40 people at each. There will be a mixture of elected officials, municipal representatives, activists, business leaders, and community people participating.

Public Forums: They will be held on:

• Dec 2nd from 7pm – 9pm in the Medford/Somerville area. The location is TBA. The speaker will be Jane Sherman

• Feb 18th (snow date Feb 25th) – Location: East Boston Harborside Community Center. Speaker, Marianne Paley

• March 12th from 6pm – 10pm in Woburn, Speaker – TBA.

Summit: The Summit will be held on April 12th.

Marketing: The logo for EJAM is still being decided upon. A web page will be placed for EJAM under the MWC web site. A direct link will be placed on the MyRWA site. Representative Jim Marzilli will be asked to sign a joint letter being sent to colleagues to solicit people to announce the forum and to attend the training sessions.

River Institute:
The River Institute is in need of funds to pay for this summer. There is not a future funding plan built into the River Institute to sustain the program. It is very costly for a student to be a River Institute Intern therefore; it is often discouraging to apply. A three-year request has been submitted to Massachusetts Environmental Trust for funding to pay for one staff member to develop internships, and to hold a Riverfront Festival in September at the Boy’s and Girls Boat House. Another possibility of funding is through the Watershed Initiative program with the state. The state is in process of developing internship programs. Projects will be developed and submitted to departments for review. Upon acceptance of the projects, students will be placed within the department.

EMPACT:
An advisory committee needs to be developed for the education and outreach component of the EMPACT grant. This committee will meet quarterly. Funding for the future needs to be determined. Different ways of outreach need to be identified. Anyone interested in joining this new committee, please email Paul Kirshen.
The web site is currently down for the season. There will be no new data until mid-April. Lisa will place a link to the EMPACT web site on the MWC web site.

Volunteering:
Melissa Bailey responds to requests made via the listserve and the TIE web Site concerning volunteer interests. For now on, the TIE web site will host a page for volunteer opportunities. Janet will send over all of MyRWA’s and other community organization’s opportunities to Lisa to post on the site. If you have a volunteer opportunity please email them to lisa.waters@tufts.edu.

MWC PowerPoint Presentation:
TIE has developed a general, brief PowerPoint presentation on the MWC. This will be available on the MWC web site shortly and on cd at the TIE office. You can add your own slides into the presentation to personalize the talk accordingly.
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