Western States Zonal Forum
Meeting Record

Friday, January 27, 2012 – Sunday, January 29, 2012

Record taken by Samantha Chess, scrapperchick@gmail.com.

Action Items

Action	Assignee
Write WSC 2012 Report and post to Yahoo Group	Laura
Send minutes to website@todayna.org and post to Yahoo Group	Samantha
Send 2013 event information to website@todayna.org	Doug C.
Research the possibility of fellowship development in coordination with 2013 Zonal Forum and report to Yahoo Group	Doug C.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Opened at 5:00pm by Dan F.

Traditions read by Robert.  Concepts read by Clif. Vision for NA service read by Ira.

Serenity Prayer

Roll Call

Name	Region	Position	Name	Region	Position
Matt S.	Northern California	Delegate	Julia RV	Washington Northern Idaho	Delegate
Traci P.	Northern California	Alternate Delegate	Nick S.	Washington Northern Idaho	Alternate Delegate
Deb	Southern California	Delegate	James C.	Sierra Sage	Alternate Delegate
Lisa C.	Pacific Cascade	Alternate Delegate	Richard I.	Sierra Sage	Delegate
Freddy O.	Rio Grande	Delegate	Rex A.	Central California	Delegate
Laura B.	Rio Grande	Delegate	Mary Ellen	Central California	Alternate Delegate
Doug C.	California Mid-State	Delegate	Oscar L	California Inland	Delegate
Clif G.	California Mid-State	Alternate Delegate	Ken F	Arizona	Delegate
Shelly S.	Region 51	Delegate	Nila C.	San Diego Imperial County	Alternate Delegate
Ira Z.	Region 51	Alternate Delegate	Pam J.	San Diego Imperial County	Delegate
Robert G.	Alaska	Delegate	Loraine L.		Participant
Doug P.	Alaska	Alternate Delegate	Joe B.		Participant
Dan F.		Facilitator
Samantha C.		Secretary
Franney J.		World Board Member

Reports – 5:21pm

Sierra Sage 

Sierra Sage Region Report to the WSZF                               January 27, 2012

The Sierra Sage Region stretches from Truckee/South Lake Tahoe in the West to Elko Nevada in the East and from Susanville, CA in the North to Tonopah, NV in the South.  Geographically it consists of the high desert Plateau on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.   I has a distinctly rural demographic with Reno, NV being the largest city in the region.  There are 154 meetings in the Region.

The Sierra Sage Region consist of 6 areas:   BLAW (Biggest Little Area in the World) focused around Reno, NLT (Truckee/North Tahoe Basin Area), SLT (South Tahoe Basin Area), GOVA (Greater Owens Valley Area)—Northeastern California, the Capital Area–focused around Carson City and RNA (Rural Nevada Area)–a newly formed Area.  The last two areas were mostly formed from what used to be GWNA, the Greater Western Nevada Area, because it was difficult to get support from the already established Areas.  NA groups in this newly formed Area are sometimes separated by distances of over 100 miles.  The groups are using technology as a way to bridge the gap between the service groups and the meetings.   We will see how this works.   More will be revealed.

For most of its existence, the Regional Service Committee has met monthly on the second Sunday of the month.   The location rotated through the 5 areas in existence at the time.   Because of the size of the Region and the expense involved in traveling to the various locations, the committee this year decided to hold its’ meeting bi-monthly and rotate it through the six Areas.  This is also a coming of age for the committee.   It is now comfortable enough with the planning cycles and its own inner dynamic to take care of the business of region on a bi-monthly basis.

         The big event, that our region focuses a lot of energy on every year, is the Regional Convention.   About 5 years ago we went from a biennial convention to an annual convention.   Prior to that change we averaged about a $5000 contribution to the WSO after every convention.    In 2010 the Region was able to make a $10,000.00 contribution to the WSO after all the beans were counted.   It appears that the region is going to be able to do the same for 2011.   We are fortunate to have a lot of experience embodied in the convention guidelines, and in active members of the fellowship who have served on the convention committee.  The marketing and production of the convention gets a little more sophisticated every year.  This year’s 2012 convention will be held November 2, 3 and 4^th at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, NV.  This year’s theme is “Trust the Process”.

Throughout the fall of 2011, Issue Discussion Topic Assemblies were held at 4 different locations in the Region:   Reno, Fallon, South Lake Tahoe (in concert with North Lake Tahoe) and Carson City.   Because of the small nature of these assemblies (average attendance 10), there weren’t any attempts to break into discussion groups and the NAWS profile was modified to fit them into a 3 hour format.   The Service System Project and one of its’ PowerPoint Presentations was added to the discussion.   When it became available the Social Networking IP was added to the discussion (with a locally produced PowerPoint Presentation).

         On Sunday January 22, 2012 BLAW hosted a CAR Assembly.   There were 10 in attendance including the presenter.   Of those in attendance, three were former Delegates to the World Service Conference.   The discussion was spirited and lively, especially among the former Delegates.  Both the presentation material and the presentation were well received.     There are 4 more assemblies planned in the February and March.  Carson City, South Lake Tahoe, Rural Nevada Area (Silver Springs) and an encore assembly (post CAT) in Reno.  Below are the results of the balloting on the resolutions, straw polls, motions and proposals:

Results of the BLAW CAR Assembly Balloting
ITEM	Yes	No	DK/NEI	Total		DN/NEI = Don’t know; Not Enough Information
Resolution 1	7	1	1	9
Resolution 2	7	2		9
Resolution 3	7	2		9
Resolution 4	8		1	9
Resolution 5	8		1	9
Resolution 6	8	1		9
Resolution 7	4	2	3	9
Resolution 8	4	2	3	9
ITEM	SS	S	DNS	NMI	Total		SS  =  Strongly Support
Straw Poll a	2	5	2		9		S = Support
Straw Poll b	3	2	3	1	9		DNS = Do not Support
Straw Poll c	2	2	4	1	9		NMI =  Need More Information
Straw Poll d	2	1	4	2	9
Straw Poll e	2	2	5		9
Straw Poll f	2	2	4	1	9
Straw Poll g	2	2	5		9
Straw Poll h	2	2	5		9
Straw Poll i	3	3	3		9
ITEM	Yes	No	DK/NEI	Total
W Board 1	8	1		9
W Board 2	6	3		9	Common Comment:  “Drop:  ‘and other similar corrections.'”
W Board 3	5	3	1	9
W Board 4	5	3	1	9
W Board 5	8	1		9
ITEM	SS	S	DNS	NMI	Total
Reg Prop A	2	1	5	1	9
Reg Prop B	2	2	5		9
Reg Prop C	1		8		9
Reg Prop D	2	5	2		9
Reg Prop E	1		6	2	9

         The Sierra Sage Region has moved forward in the services provided to addicts by providing strong H&I and Public Relations sub committees in all its Areas. Some of which include the Herlong Federal Prison Meeting (attended by over 50 incarcerated addicts weekly), The Jane & John Doe Radio Interview Series, and “The Entering The Criminal Justice System Coming Out Clean H&I Public Relations Workshop For Professionals and Addicts”.  These events and activities have been supported from their inception by WSO Public Relations Manager Jane Nickels.  Sierra Sage would like to thank Jane, without her support these events would have been almost impossible to have put on.  The combined bodies have also two annual events:  “Freedom from Addiction” on the 4^th of July and “A Pancake Breakfast” in the late winter.

         Sierra Sage is a dynamic innovative region constantly striving to carry the message of recovery to the addict who still suffers.  The Region is proud to be part of the World Service Conference and a participant at this Western States Zonal Forum.

With Love in Service,

Richard Ippolito, Regional Delegate

James Cross, Alternate Regional Delegate

            Questions?  None

California Inland

Oscar – California Inland region is comprised of 244 meetings, orange county to Arizona, San Diego to Barstow.  6 areas participate at region.  The RD will present the CAR material to each area individually.  Last year the assembly had only 9 people in it, so they are trying a different way this year.  No topics for the agenda, here to listen and learn. Fiscally, if not for a convention their region does not exist.

Questions?  None 

Arizona 

Arizona Zonal Report Jan 2012

Help from the land of dry heat.

Jim B your RDA send his regrets that he is unable to attend due to the lack of funds within out region.

 The RCM’s put forth and idea to have all sub committees reduces their budgets by 40%.

 At this time we are not sure that there will be finds to send Jim B. to WSC2012. 

We have done 4 assemblies this year based on the service system. We have meet with resentence at all of them. 

Below are the results from our CAR workshop

Resolutions	Description	Yes	No	Abstain
1	Our service efforts will be carried out through a system that includes structure, process, people, and resources.	27	8	5
2	The service system is group-focused and includes a local- level body dedicated exclusively to addressing group concerns.	6	28	6
3	Training and mentoring of trusted servants are essential functions of the service system.	30	22	6
4	Service bodies are purpose- and vision-driven.	24	18	7
5	Service bodies work together to utilize planning processes to organize and coordinate their efforts.	41	16	4
6	Service bodies make decisions by consensus.	30	27	7
7	The service structure includes local service bodies, state/nation/province service bodies, and intermediate bodies if needed. Service bodies follow established geographic boundaries. They are not self-determined, but are formed, based on need, through a collaborative planning process and agreement with other affected service bodies at the next level of service.	3	60	4
8	State/national/province boundaries are the primary criterion for seating consideration at the World Service Conference.	16	34	9

Straw Poll	Description	YES	No	Abstain
A	There is a small, neighborhood-sized body devoted to group needs. This group forum, which is typically not part of the delegation stream, is informal in nature and operates through conversation not formal decision making.	5	38	20
B	Groups send a delegate quarterly to a local service planning meeting. One of those quarterly meetings is a general assembly where all interested members are encouraged to attend and input is given to help plan service activities for the cycle.	3	38	10
C	Services are coordinated by a local service board and carried out by members, committees, and project workgroups who report to that board.	11	42	10
D	Local service bodies follow county, city, or town boundaries, where practical. (They are much larger than the group forums mentioned above and in many cases larger than the current ASCs.)	7	34	10
E	The boundaries of those local service bodies are agreed to at the state or national level.	10	46	7
F	Planning cycles are synchronized from level to level (local to state to global) as well as across each level.	17	32	9
G	When service needs cannot be accomplished effectively by local service bodies and state/national/province bodies, an intermediate level of service can be added.	16	32	8
H	Most states, provinces, or countries have one state-, province- or nationwide service body that is responsible for state- or national-level public relations and coordinating efforts such as training across local service bodies.	14	38	7
I	Zonal boundaries are decided through a collaborative process with neighboring NA communities, other zones, and the WSC.	33	16	8

MOTIONS	Description	YES	No	Abstain
1	To approve the book Living Clean: The Journey Continues contained in Addendum B.	58	3	0
	FIPT Motions require 2/3 majority of GSR’s to pass	48	0	2
2	To allow the World Board to make non-substantive corrections to Fellowship-approved literature which do not impact the original meaning of the Fellowship-approved text and which fix typographical errors, obsolete references, references to outdated literature, and other similar corrections. The World Board will announce such corrections in advance of publication.	29	26	4
3	To allow the World Board to bundle, excerpt, and repackage Fellowship-approved literature without changes to the texts themselves. The World Board will announce these actions in advance of publication.	4	51	4
4	To allow the World Board the ability to create and approve enhanced electronic or digital versions of texts that include supplemental materials or connections to other NA materials. The World Board will announce such enhancements in advance of publication.	11	34	6
5	To hold the World Convention of NA every three years, beginning 2018, alternating North American and non-North American locations, as follows and contained in the revised World Convention Map contained in Addendum C.	40	10	6

Proposals	Description	YES	No	Abstain
A	Carolina Region: For the Fellowship of NA and the WSC to consider a proposal for the creation of Written Service Material dedicated to assisting the members of NA as a whole on (1) how to actively participate in literature and publication projects as well as (2) to have resource material available in providing guidance for the development of Literature and Publication processes locally.	25	14	9
B	Hawaii Region: To produce a book-length publication called ‘The NA WAY: Celebration Edition’ comprised of a compilation of articles published in the NA WAY 1982-2012.	9	28	13
C	Tejas Bluebonnet Region: For Board Approved Literature be clearly marked on front “Service Related Material” and not intended to be read during recovery meetings.	23	10	8
D	South Brazil Region: That members who wish to receive the NA Way Magazine in hard copy format pay a subscription fee to cover the costs of printing and mailing.	45	2	4
E	Upper Midwest Region: Our idea is to revisit the discussion of the world board members no longer having voting status at the world service conference.	29	13	4

Our larger ASC’s are in the same position as region. But our smaller ASC’s are doing well and making regional donations almost each region.

One of the ways we are looking at cutting cost is on the gas mileage paid. We not pay $0.30 a mile if round trip is over 125 miles. This is the largest expense. 

Our H&I chair is new this term is doing a great job and the committee growing and needs to look at doing more for the ASC’s chairs that come to meeting. Most of the H&I meeting are tied up with Sponsor ship behind the walls along with the budget.

Our  PR chair is new  this term and doing a great job on building a strong committee and resources to help the areas with. 

Our directories committee is doing a bang up job on keeping the meeting directory up to date along with our website. We need to start working on updating the NAWS database. 

Our Convention committee has been putting on great events at fantastic properties. But the problem is that they are being nickeled and dimed to death. We as a fellowship need to look at the size of properties that we book at and keep the price were more members can attend and stay.

We broke out our WEB team from PR last year and they are working on getting the committee on there feet. The chair is working on building the committee.

One of the items we did at our fall assembly was to try to hold three different assemblies thru out the region. We had to do this due to our facility to hold it at had a scheduling miss up. So I came up with the idea to have one in the Northern part of the state one in the Phoenix metro area due to the timing I choice not to fight our West Valley Area yearly H&I book drive and dance. This was well attended and I hope this helped out the book drive/dance.

We were trying to have one down in the Southeast area of the state but was not able to come up with a date and the GSR’s were not willing to give us time so we sent down the service system handouts.

What was suggested was to have an assembly in the northern part of the state then have one down between the major parts of the state were the members are. More will to come. 

It has been a privilege to server with everyone within the zone and look forward to serving in the future. We went form a 4 yrs. as RDA and 4 years as RD to 2 years RDA then they move into the RD position after the WSC and elect a new RDA.

            Questions?  None

Central California

            Questions?  None

San Diego Imperial County

San Diego / Imperial Counties Region

January 27, 2012 Report to the Western Zonal Forum

Greetings from sunny San Diego where we now represent 10 areas (a new Area called Area de Habla Espanol (the Spanish Speaking Area was added), have over 600 meetings per week and still counting. 

Activities:  Has always put on the annual New Year’s Eve dance, the Mother’s Day Spiritual Retreat in Julian, and last year added an annual Desert Campout great for the RV enthusiasts.  It started as a joint campout co-sponsored by two areas and became so successful it grew to a Regional activity.  This continues to be a viable promoter of zero cost events as well as various ranging cost events.  They just finished a highly successful “We Be Broke Dance” held at a church I assured him would flop as a small venue with low ceilings; they had a huge profit!

Convention Committee:  The Convention Committee held their convention on Memorial Weekend despite the impending World Convention.  Unfortunately, it was poorly attended and had a loss of funds, especially with the ongoing problem of lack of support in payment of registration to attend the event by those that do attend.  The other money making events put on routinely throughout the year remained highly successful.  Our Chair would like to speak to representatives from our fellow Zonal members with convention experience and/or Convention Chairs to see if a collaboration of some ideas he has can be incorporated by all to boost the performance of the conventions held.  I recommended the WSC as being a great place where many of the RD’s have either experience or knowledge and many Regions are close enough to where someone could attend.  We would greatly appreciate input from your Regions on this.

PR efforts: Each of these entities has incorporated the principles of the PR Handbook in their day-to-day dealing.  

Behind The Walls remains a strong presence in the local as well as many non-local facilities being one of handful of these Sub-Committees in existence.  They have been receiving about 25 new sponsees per month, but are considering ways to deal with released inmates and the struggles of relapsed writers.

H&I efforts remain strong as the areas are coming together to support meetings at 46 facilities.  We do occasionally have some Areas with no H&I Chairs to coordinate their panels leaving them without direction and/or sometimes training.

PI  has remained a strong presence in the public eye from the annual Del Mar Fair, to Farmer’s Markets, the local PACT meetings for recently released paroles, medical conferences, etc.  We have eleven TV stations to air our approved PSA as well as a Spanish PSA.

RSO news; the RSO continues to be plagued by our bank accounts.  Several months ago, I asked for your input on your Region’s sponsoring of Area bank accounts, insurance, and tax filings.  That information was greatly appreciated, however, being a non-profit (c) (3) corporation, has made it challenging to allow the Areas to obtain their own bank accounts without losing our Region’s current support in other ways (mentioned above).  We will continue with this.

Phonelines: we have regional as well as two areas co-hosting a hotline together. We still have an “addict to addict” on the phoneline 8 am to 10 pm at our Regional Service Office, but this year added “after hours” which are currently covered every night of the week.  They were offered the option to forward the office phones to the World Convention and offered the opportunity to answer them at the World Convention, which all volunteers accepted.  This allowed them to participate in the fun rather than being stuck in the office giving directions to the fun.

Policy:  Policy spearheaded the creation of an Ad Hoc to review our Guidelines and Standing Rules with monthly Regional reports to clarify contradictions and inconsistencies.  This has been a huge undertaking with a lot of success.

Regional Outreach:  Regional outreach and continues to take “Addicts on Asphalt” crews to meetings needing a boost throughout the Region.  Their projects have expanded to also include the RSC Trusted Servant orientation with handouts.  We feel this should be done for any person new to the workings of a Regional meeting to more effectively participate.  Outreach chair has attended a newly started “Deaf Meeting by Deaf People”.  They felt they were not getting the support they needed from other meetings they attended, but they are not self-supporting and cannot afford an interpreter, which leaves them without much support in the way of mentoring.  Additionally, they felt others did not appreciate the slower pace of the randomly hand signed meeting.  Any experience with this would be greatly appreciated.

RSC:  For the second year in a row, received funds from the Convention Committee’s budget, this is not standard practice in our Region.  The funds enabled the Region to recover from dropping below prudent reserve towards the end of the year.  Our donation to the World this year was only $2,214.94.  Once funds to cover my cost at the WSC this year are removed, this leaves little to support the World’s needs.

Youth Committee is very successful in having a representative participate on each sub-committee as well as co-facilitating events which have been financially successful.  They would like to put on more events like the hugely successful “Un Dance”, an event that played underground music and was UN like the traditional NA dance, but there has been discussion on their intent as being a profit making committee (as they have no budget).  Motions to revise this will be forthcoming.

Website  has supported the Convention in creating successful on-line registration.  There is a calendar of upcoming events including links to actual flyers.  There are Area sites which are updated by their own website committees.  We added an RD Corner where I can pass on links to the World information and downloads as well as my own request for support for ongoing projects, like participating in Living Clean, etc.

New Literature. We have no Regional Lit Review at this time.

Nila and I put on a post-CAR assembly including a lot of interactive IDT topics covered this year.  We put on (3) Service System workshops which had limited input, mostly negative, but had many more trying to actually grasp the concepts with an open mind than last year.  We are actually seeing many people attend multiple workshops now to ensure better understanding.  Our new plan for the year is to put on (7) CAR workshops in February, let them take the information to their groups, then hold a Regional Assembly in March with more open discussion and collection of vote, if available, then allow them to provide any remaining votes no later than the weeks before the WSC.  We are also looking into online voting which has been discussed at previous Regional meetings with our Website coordinators support and will continue to review this option in the future.

In loving service, Nila and Pam

            Questions?  

Doug P. – Wanted clarification about the non-profit status for region and why that affects areas.

Answer – Pam – Becoming a non-profit the insurance covers every area meetings and events.  Region also opens the bank accounts for areas.  This has become a lot of work. Banks are requiring that all signers physically appear at bank, in addition bank cards are sent to areas.  The idea of cutting ties is complicated because in order for areas to have bank accounts they have to become their own entities.

Washington Northern Idaho

Washington Northern Idaho Region

We have 20 Areas consisting of approximately 800 meetings spanning over 74,000 square miles that include Washington State, North Idaho, and a bit of North Eastern Oregon.  

We will present 6 RD workshops at 3 of our Annual Conventions; this year we have done many Service Structure workshops around the region, many at ASC meetings, and have a lot of people thinking about the possibility of change and what that might look like.  Some are strongly opposed, others think that the current structure can be overhauled and made more group focused and meet some of the other goals, and some are ready to start now.   We have done one CAR workshop to date, and have 9 more scheduled.  Our region has participated in the literature survey and the membership survey and we are still actively recruiting people to take the membership survey.  This one has required a lot of education around what the information is used for.

Our combined RSC and Regional Subcommittees have been a great success.  We meet quarterly for Friday evening and Saturday.  Participation at RSC and the subcommittees remains steady and it is nice to see our fellowship get fired up for service.  Our region has recently added a technology sub committee to our standing committees rather than just having a webmaster in PI.  We are also actively looking at forming a regional PR subcommittee.  We will be having a regional inventory at our April RSC and are looking for a facilitator.

Our RD team continues to utilize a quarterly report to the region that summarizes NAWS News, NA Way Magazine, World Board reports, and Western States Zonal Forum.  The goal is to increase communication throughout the levels of service reaching the individual group member.   We are utilizing an online survey to solicit input on the CAR proposals.  We will also be handing these out at our largest convention in March. 

Our Conventions and Events committee is working through issues with our largest convention and struggling with a few members sense of ownership of the event which has caused some disunity within our fellowship.  The adhoc committee we had re. increasing seed money for conventions to decrease fund raising resulted in a recommendation to slightly increase seed money for the event that is held in the same location every year, but each convention committee that rotates will continue to do fundraising to increase awareness of the events.  Our Conventions continue to allow WNIR to donate several thousand dollars quarterly to NAWS.   Our Region has also been very excited to hear about the plans of the Southern California cruise committee to have an Alaskan cruise departing from Seattle in Aug of 2012 and our PNW convention will be hosting a bon Voyage party for those coming into town for the cruise. 

RD Team:

Julia Reed-Voldal, RD   jrservicejunkie@yahoo.com

Nick Schoolcraft, RDA  psycoticnick@fairpoint.net

            Questions?

Northern California

Fellowship Services Team:

This year we have continued to develop our process/plan driven and flexible structure; which hinges on the new Regional Fellowship Services Team (FST) as a replacement for our RSC administrative Committee.   We have elected new positions, including a Regional Resource Coordinator (RRC), who is responsible for maintaining the Regional Pool, Human Resource recruitment, and supporting our Regional Nominations Panel.   The FST continues to work from an “Action Plan” created in collaboration with the RSC that tailors regional services to what we realistically believe we can and should accomplish (priorities).  Although we still need to continue to improve and refine the planning process itself, the RSC has shown a high level of trust in delegating work to the team and its project work groups.

CDCR and Public Relations:

Our biggest success story in terms of moving to a project-based system has to be with the Fellowship Service Team’s H&I Fire Camps workgroup and the collaboration of our Regional H&I/PR Coordinators.   As far back as 2005, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation had asked us to bring H&I panels into these remote fire camps that are populated with non-violent drug offenders.  Under our old system, our Regional H&I Subcommittee discussed, discussed, and continued to discuss addressing this need, but never seemed to gain any momentum.  We are now approaching year 3 in our project-based model, and the NCRSC has twice affirmed the Fire Camps Work Group, which answers directly to the FST, as the number one priority of regional services.  We are successfully serving several facilities in Northern California.    We will distribute a map of the camps we are currently serving.

We are continuing to participate, along with Jane N from NAWS, in the CDCRs Volunteer Advisory Task Force.   As a direct result of those relationships, particularly with the Chief Secretary of CDCR Adult Operations, as many of you are aware, we were able to have all 33 California State Prisons on the WCNA 34 Conference Call.  These relationships continue to thrive and plans are in the works for having all 33 Prisons join in for the call at WCNA 35.

NA 101:

NA 101, our regional version of World Wide Workshops, continues to be a popular service with the fellowship.  Members of the FST conducted an NA 101 in Santa Rosa in January while our RDs conducted a Regional CAR Assembly in the south bay in San Jose.  In March, we’re going to rotate the workshops and hold a CAR Assembly in the North Eastern part of the Region and simultaneously hold an NA 101 in Santa Cruz to the south.   

Northern California Convention:

The XXXIII Northern California Convention, held April 2011 in Sacramento, was financially successful, netting $18,599.23.    Although this may sound like a lot, this actually represents less than 7% of the overall NCCNA operating budget.  The Convention Committee developed a detailed financial analysis factoring in the escalating costs for main meeting halls, labor and facility accommodations for over 7,000 members.  Given that only about 3,400, on average, are actually registering for the Regional Convention, trending in the analysis showed that NCCNA could very well begin losing money by 2013.  After extensive discussion over the course of several months, the NCRSC overwhelmingly adopted a motion that all future NCCNAs, starting in 2012, will require attendees to register; similar to the policies in place for WCNA.  NCCNA 34 will be April 5-8 in San Jose.  We’d love for you all to join us; provided that you registerJ  You can do so online at: http://www.norcalna.org

Regional Service Office:

The Northern California Regional Service Office financial outlook improved over the course of the 2010-2011 fiscal year, ending with expenses over income in the amount of $28,272.81.   Of course, $10K of this was a subsidy paid by the NCRSC in late 2010 when the office was struggling with a 20% decline in overall sales from the previous fiscal year.  The board has placed $10,000 of the net income in a Certificate of Deposit and has developed an Emergency Action Plan similar to the NAWS ERP.

Western Russia – ECCNA 28

The Western Russia RSC resolved in March 2011 to create a subcommittee responsible for organizing and promoting the annual celebration of recovery of the areas of our Region. ECCNA28 in Moscow will be the first Convention that the WRCNA Committee is responsible for. They have translated and adopted the NCCNA Guidelines as their working guidelines.  We have appointed Michelle S from San Jose, our former NCCNA Chair, to be their primary contact, and she has been sharing experience with them regularly on a wide variety of matters. In their December newsletter, you will find the following statement issued by the Western Russia Host Committee:

“We would like to express our gratitude to the former and current members of the Northern California Convention of Narcotics Anonymous Committee for their time and patience in helping us to structure our work.”

Thanks for all you do in service, 

Matt S – Northern CA Regional Delegate

Traci P – Northern CA Alternate Delegate

            Questions? None

Southern California

Southern California Region

WSZF REPORT 2012

This past year we had two new areas join our Region to bring the total of areas in our region to 22. Our region has approximately 1340 meetings and 270 Spanish Speaking meetings throughout its 22 areas. Of those 1340 meetings, 6 are Armenian, 3 is Farsi, 1 are Hebrew and 2 are American Sign Language. 

Our Region meets every month on the third Sunday. We still have standing committees that provide direct services on behalf of the Areas of our Region. 

The Southern California Region was awarded the opportunity to host the WSLD in 2013. Are subcommittees are presently putting together an ad-hoc to begin the planning process. More will be revealed!

Regional Service Office (RSO):  Our RSO is maintaining itself. They are still below their prudent reserve but are working on operating more efficiently. The RSO carries insurance for all of the meetings listed in our Regional Directory as well all events listed on our Regional Calendar. 

Hospitals and Institutions (H&I):  All 22 areas including the Spanish Speaking area attend or send a report to the monthly H&I subcommittee meeting. The region carries 55 panels that go into Institutions within our Region that would be difficult for the Areas to facilitate. The 20 areas, along with the Spanish Speaking Area carry approximately 724 panels. The subcommittee holds an annual Learning Day in the month of May. 

Public Information (PI):  The subcommittee continues to reach out and inform the community about Narcotics Anonymous. This is also the committee that coordinates the facilitation of requests for presentations that are forwarded to us from the WSO. They also continue in their efforts to do presentations, booth sittings, and community literature distribution. They also host a quarterly meeting at which they provide food and spend their time doing PI training sessions. They are now only holding three of these a year, yet haven’t renamed the event.

Regional Activities:  The regional activities committee puts on 3 major events per year. The NA Birthday, New Years Eve and the Regional Campout. They also help with the H&I Learning Day and the Regional Assembly Workshop as well as the Young Peoples Unity Day. They help out the 22 areas with their events by providing a calendar so that the areas can have regional dates so that no area event conflicts with another areas regional event. They post all areas events whether they are a regional or area event on the regional web site.

Phone lines (PL):  Phone lines are currently operating a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week 1-800-Today NA number with live addicts answering the phones. They are able to do this by having Area help lines man individual days. The Spanish speaking area is helping the region man the Spanish speaking hotline, 1-800-NAAHORA.

Website: This committee is no longer meeting at the RSO, instead they have started having their meetings on Skype. The website committee is still hosting the WSZF website on our server. To contact them for updating or adding content to the site simply e-mail them at website@todayna.org.  In December of 2011 our website had 5195 unique visitors that accounted for 8397 visits to 36325 pages for a total of 2.53 gb of bandwidth.

Literature:  We currently have no Literature Review committee because of lack of participation.

Regional Convention:  The Convention committee has begun getting ready for this years’ convention and it will be Thanksgiving weekend at the Ontario Doubletree.

Cruise Committee:  The Cruise Committee will be going to Alaska this year from August 26^th to September 2^nd 2012. 

Youth Committee: They are experiencing a little trouble getting enough support to handle all the liaison positions for subcommittee positions.  They are still working on getting Youth Committee Reps from each Area. They are currently unable to send a representative to all of the Regional subcommittees.

Sponsorship Behind The Walls: This committee is very busy with requests from inmates who wish to find recovery. They have 29 Sponsors and 83 assigned Sponsees. Assigned 2 new Regional Sponsees and 8 were passed on to Area Subcommittees. They are still working on their PowerPoint Presentation and designed a Rejection Letter for applicants that don’t have enough time and that the Committee was unable to place. There are also 4 active Area Subcommittees and another is in the process of forming Guidelines. 

In Service,

Deb W.

RD Southern California

            Questions? None

Pacific Cascade

Pacific Cascade Region Regional Report                                            January 27, 2012

Good Evening everyone, and Welcome to Oregon. A few announcements first, please get with me at some point over the weekend if you need a ride back to the airport. I cannot guarantee that I will be available to take you but it may be possible. Second, a reminder that to meet our F&B we have set up a non-hosted lunch in the restaurant below us, it’s $26.20, which includes the mandatory 20% gratuity. I believe this can be billed to your room. Thirdly, we are not in this room tomorrow, we will be in the room next door. We have the room as of 8am and will have coffee and breakfast pastries available at that time.  And now our report…

Our region includes areas with the North boarder of the Columbia River east to Bend, OR and South to Southern Siskyou Area (which covers a northern sliver of California). A new area resulted from the split of a couple neighboring areas, and they joined the RSC this past weekend. We meet quarterly, with 3 meetings having either an assembly or learning days attached to the RSC and one meeting being just the RSC and recently voted to meet centrally on the I-5 corridor between Salem & Roseburg. Our RSC has historically traveled throughout the Region, and now if an area that is not in the agreed upon locations, they can host with the assistance of one of the centralized areas. The Regional body just adopted a CBDM format, which seems to be going smoothly so far (cross your fingers…) Our Region is in process of being incorporated. We’ve retained a lawyer to help with this process and he will be attending our next RSC for a short Q&A session available for all members of the region to attend and ask questions at. Our Regional PR & H&I sub-committees are discussing combining to a unified PR committee. They will be meeting for the first time as such at our next meeting in April.

This year our Regional Convention will be held in Eugene, and our 2013 convention in the beginning planning stages. An area in our region hosted the WSLD this past October, which seemed to be marginally attended but was attended by people passionate about service. 

We held our Regional CAR assembly this past weekend with an average of over 40 participants.  This was attended much better than our last cycle’s assembly which only had about 11 people. There was some heated debate and a few members who strongly opposed all things World Board and the SSP. Overall though, we had overwhelming support for many of the SSP topics, overwhelming opposition to many of the regional proposals and a mix on the motions and straw polls. We also have a couple Areas that have attempted the GSU / LSU concept. One reports that it is the attempt is going VERY well. They hold the GSU just before the LSU and that GSRs are allowed to stay for the LSU or go with no punishment. The second area that tried this reports the attempt “was a bust” and have requested additional workshops on Building Stronger Homegroups or Creating an Atmosphere of Recovery in our Meetings.  

            Questions? None

Region 51

Region 51 Report

Western States Zonal Forum

January 27, 2012

Portland, OR

Region 51 currently consists of 7 areas:  Southern Nevada Area, East Las Vegas Area, North by Northwest Area, South Valley Area, California Arizona Nevada Area, Mohave Area and our newest edition, Southern Utah Area.

Geographically, our region spans from central Nevada (Tonopah) to the bottom tip of Nevada (Laughlin), eastern California (Needles area), western Arizona (Bullhead City, Kingman, Lake Havasu areas) and the southern part of Utah (Cedar City and St. George Areas). A 200 mile radius of recovery!

Our regional weekly meeting account is approximately 240 meetings that meet anywhere from 7 am to Midnight with several multiple day day meetings on the schedule.  Meetings are held in various locations including recovery club houses, churches, community and organizational facilities and occasionally parks.

H&I-We currently have approximately 40 weekly H&I commitments which are all full.  The member areas have slowly been combining their resources to one regional H&I committee.  There are a few areas that have yet to join the Regional H&I subcommittee.  The Southern Nevada area used many of their funds from the Southern Nevada Area Convention to cover their expenses for H&I and since they opted for a Regional Convention instead of their own area convention, they no longer have the funding for such a necessary committee.  The Southern Nevada Area looked to the Region for assistance and moved their entire committee to the Regional level.  The new administration with their new ideas have propelled this subcommittee forward and it is becoming very streamlined and organized.  More facilities are being addedd as a result.  In addition, the number of facilities they service are getting at least two panel leaders for each commitment they hold.

PR/PI-Our PR/PI committee is doing fabulous with a lot of support.  We are still managing a 24 hour helpline where addicts can actually reach a live addict.  This is especially important as we have 48 million people that visit our touristy main city, Las Vegas, each year and a good portion of them desperately need a meeting.  The phone line has several volunteers per shift so if one phoneline volunteer is on the phone, it will bounce to the next volunteer and the calls are not being missed.  We have a 70% or higher answer rate and are always trying to improve.  The system will break down how many calls get answered, missed, hang ups, messages left, and how many calls go to the informational side of the system.  It also separates the Spanish speaking calls from the English line as well so we can track what the interest is.  We still need more Spanish speaking members to volunteer on the phone line.

Our Regional website is being revamped to include a page for each area.  Once this is up and running, the member areas will be able to eliminate their own area websites which will free up service positions, resources and money spent on hosting.  This is very exciting to have that online and do away with the duplication of services.  Sounds like we are moving into a Local Service Unit!

Our Region has been toying with the idea of creating a Regional Facebook page similar to what the Minnesota Region is doing.  They want to get the website finished first before this is created.  One member area, the North by Northwest Area has created an adhoc committee to create social media guidelines (again, similar to what the Minnesota Region has developed) and to create the page in a way that would protect anonymity.  The basic idea would be that it would not be developed by any one individual’s page and would be administered by a trusted servant of the area, no blogging or photos would be allowed, and the group would be private.  It would be used to post upcoming events, download flyers, Subcommittee, Area and Regional meeting reminders, etc.  Many of the principals of the guidelines are being created with the use of the new Social Media Pamphlet.  One of our very savvy RCM’s who is very Facebook literate is  facilitating the adhoc committee and visiting home groups who aren’t just sure how it all works.  This has been very informative.  Once these guidelines are created, we would be happy to share these with the fellowship.

PR went “Postal” this past year.  Our committee was asked to bring in an open “NA meeting” for the attendees of the US Postal Service Convention held at one of our local convention centers in Las Vegas.  There were members that opened a meeting up for them 4 nights in a row and by the 4^th night, there were well over 50 addicts in attendance.  Talk about “Postal Stress!”

Regional Activities has had a bit of a struggle this past year with a new inexperienced chair who had the clean time and the willingness to serve.  Our Activities chair is in charge of 3 activities a year:  a New Years Eve event, Day of the Dinosaurs speaker jam, and Unity Day Picnic.  Unfortunately, all 3 events went over budget this year, a misappropriation of funds occurred and our Region has lost almost $5000 this year.  Our region has put a hold on all future activities at the present time until we can have clearer guidelines of each event being held, if any.

Our 2^nd Regional Convention is being held the first weekend in June, 2012 at the Orleans Hotel & Casino on Tropicana just 1 mile west of the “Strip” in Las Vegas.  This will be the 2^nd year in a row we will be holding our convention in this location.  We have developed a great working relationship with this facility and have an unbelievable cost-effective convention contract with them.  

Upcoming Projects and Plans:

Ira and I will be taking the Conference Agenda Report on the road, starting next weekend.  We will be visiting each area and going over the CAR.  We also have a separate CAR workshop scheduled for our Spanish speaking GSRs as well and getting assistance from a new member who speaks fluent Spanish who was very involved in the Southern California’s Spanish speaking Region and recently moved to our Region this past year. 

We are in the developmental stage of a Consensus Base Decision Making process except for elections.  Ira has been taking the lead on this and making his way to member areas and giving presentations as to how it works.

Our Region will be participating in a regional inventory which we have not done, ever since we formulated from an informational body to a service body several years ago.  

We will be asking the Convention Committee again to give us space on the program at the convention for a Regional service related workshop which may include Social Media, Scanning or any of the other IDTs that come out of this year’s WSC.

We will also be discussing the ideas of hosting the 2013 Western States Zonal Forum and possibly hosting WSLD in 2015 or 2016.  I was unable to attend our last RSC which was last weekend due to a family emergency and was not able to present all the information so we will keep you abreast of those ideas as well.

Our Region just made a $10,000 donation to the WSO.

RD/RDA Team-My position is ending after this next WSC our July Regional Assembly.  During my short term of 5 months as RDA and then 4 years as RD, I have attended 5 Western State Zonal Forums and this WSC will be my 3^rd.  I have learned a tremendous amount of information of NA and it’s global functions. I applaud each and everyone of you who has been a mentor to me in your own way.  This has been a great experience and one that I will forever cherish.  My Region has put forth a nomination for me for a position on the World Board and I have made it through the initial selection process.  I recently had my phone interview with the HRP this week and awaiting to see if I “make the next cut”.  I appreciate your support in this new endeavor and hope that I may continue the work that I have set out to do for the Fellowship that has saved me over and over.

Love you all!  

Investing in the Vision,

Shelly S.                                              Ira Z.

Region 51 RD                                      Region 51 RDA

rd@region51na.org                             rda@region51na.org

            Questions? None

California Mid-State

California mid-state is a 501c4.  They are able to register with the state and federal government and interact with banks. 

            Questions?  None

Rio Grande

Rio Grande Region of NA

Report to the Western States Zonal Forum

January 27, 2012

  The Rio Grande Region encompasses all of the state of New Mexico, as well as Durango, CO, and some surrounding southern Colorado towns and El Paso, TX.  We have six Areas, one of which does not have a functioning ASC, due to several factors that include large geographic area, low membership numbers in small towns, and members that are uneducated in the current service system and the value it may bring.  Our six areas conduct 175 meetings per week, 5 of which are in Spanish, or bilingual.  Our active H&I area subcommittees take over 100 meetings per month into facilities throughout the region.  Our region meets bimonthly, rotating between Albuquerque, a city in the north and a city in the south.  Our region does not have standing subcommittees, but RCMs volunteer as resource persons during their terms of office.  We have not found an effective strategy for all of these resource persons to consistently serve the areas of our region, but we currently have a very effective H&I Regional Resource person who is working with NM Corrections and communicating with the area H&I subcommittees.  His efforts, in concert with those of several other members around the state, have created trusting relationships within the New Mexico Department of Corrections.  Due to these relationships, the Rio Grande Region is currently the only region we know of that has an H&I speaker meeting at our regional convention where Level 1 inmates from facilities around the state are in attendance as speakers, sharing their experiences with recovery from behind the walls.

  The RSC is in the middle of its first planning session, using the processes from Planning Basics to do environmental scanning, brainstorming, project prioritization, action plans, resource allocation, monitoring and evaluation. 

  Our region is funded primarily by proceeds from our annual regional convention.  We have a Regional Convention Corporation that is responsible for our annual regional convention, which moves around the region.  We have some difficulties with the current processes for putting on our conventions and have an ad hoc committee working on revamping them.  Our region purchases event insurance for the convention, but does not carry insurance for any other events or meetings.  Protecting individual members’ liability is a recurring conversation that arises when, in particular, the Greater Albuquerque Area is planning an event that may merit or require insurance.  Also, since none of our areas are legal entities, none file or pay taxes on goods sold, such as literature, or have the ability to sign contracts or purchase insurance.  The conversations around these issues continue without any current plans to remedy them.  

  In the Greater Albuquerque Area, the largest area in our region, the number of young people coming to NA continues to grow, and many are staying in recovery, accumulating clean time and being of service.  They continue to support PR efforts as speakers in the high schools, support outreach efforts, open new meetings, create fun activities and attract other young people to the fellowship.

  We have a regional website at www.riograndena.org  that provides information about meetings and activities, area and subcommittee guidelines.  There are email links for H&I, PR and general information, links to online registration for our regional convention at http://www.riograndena.org/RGRCNAXXIII/ and links to the World Services website for the NA Way, NAWS News, and general information about NA.

  May 10-13, 2012 our regional convention will be held in Albuquerque, and online registration is available as of last week.  There is also a live link to the hotel for reservations.  Please come join us for a really great event which includes, in addition to the many workshops, a newly written recovery play, a fabulous hospitality suite, quirky entertainment options, real time English/Spanish interpretation of all main meetings through headsets and Level 1 NM Corrections inmates in attendance as H&I speakers.

  Freddy and I have conducted workshops around the region on Home Group service, the current service structure and the Service System project.  Between now and the conference we will conduct another Service System workshop and CAR workshops in the north and south part of the state.

            Questions? 

Alaska 

Alaska RD Report  Jan 2012

Howdy folks,

I am glad to be here and looking forward to learning as much as I can from you all.

Alaska has four areas (Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, and Kenai.

We have meetings 54 meetings in Anchorage, 12 in Fairbanks, 4 in Juneau, 12 in Kenai, 2 in Ketchikan,

1 in Seward, 1 in Sitka, and two in Valdez.

We do not have a regional office. Our regional website is  http://www.akna.org.  Our region meets on a quarterly basis, with out of town members attending via teleconferencing.  The region maintains a regional phone-line for all areas.   Currently in October we have an annual regional convention that rotates between areas.  In the last year we held our first GSR assembly.  We are planning to hold out 2^nd  GSR assembly for our CAR/CAT March 31.

We have a new ARD which is Doug P.

ILS

Robert G.                     

5:20pm – Moment of Silence – Dan F.

Agenda Review

Apathy in Service

How are regions presenting CARs? 

How many regions are doing an assembly – 10

Other format(s)

1.     Presentation at ASCs – 3

2.     Presentations in areas – 2

3.     Workshops – 2

a.     Outside of ASC – At regional conventions – At RSC

Discussion –

How is group conscience distilled and gathered in your region?  Directed at WNIR

WNIR – With 20 areas, the areas will vote at the RSC and that information will be delivered to the conference.  Due to geographic locations going to individual groups has proven to be ineffective.  Several other areas do their “vote” gathering this way.

Rio Grande – Concern with so many items being proposed at once in the CAR.  Without a background of the SSP how do people participate in the straw polls.  Rio Grande is doing many workshops to get ppl up to speed on the SSP.

Sierra Sage – is funded to go to each area to gather the conscience of that area/group conscience.  Have tried a regional assembly as well.  Find the travelling to be more effective.  It takes a lot of communication to get ppl involved.

No. Cal – Multiple ways to obtain group conscience.  New service system does not dictate group conscience process.  No. Cal allows individual members to ballot.

SDI – Takes workshops out to the areas.  Question posed about how to gather conscience, the answer was that they would have 1 – 2 months after workshops to bring to assembly.

WNIR – One area asked for a workshop and then the groups decided not to participate.  So, how do you get people involved??

Region 51 – How do you get ‘real’ answers without putting the SSP in to practice.

AK – Specifically around SSP, tons of information for people to follow.

Central Cal. – CAR and resolutions are conceptual.  Areas are not on board conceptually. 
The same people seem to come to the workshops.  This CAR is concepts.

RG – Worth sending a personal invitation to members in the area.  The important piece of the SSP is that course correction can happen now, not later. Freddie offered to build a lawn period in the name of anyone who read the CAT (why don’t I live there??) J

PCR – 7 – 8 workshops on SSP, in several regional reports.  Had a lot of participation at last CAR because of “beating the pavement”. Through doing workshops the delegate team has a good sense of what direction the areas/groups in the region are leaning.  Train the trainer workshop. RCMs are getting votes at ASC and bringing them to region.

WNIR – SSP workshops as stand-alone events was not successful, so they started talking individually with people and have ASCs put business on hold for time to do SSP presentation. 

What pieces of the SSP will help address apathy?

Franney – Are we really tapping in to our available resources? Conventions and events that host service workshops (not during dances or relationship workshops) are packed. Be creative in gathering thoughts.  Don’t forget who has the experience to share and invite them in.

What pieces of the SSP will help address apathy?

            RG – GSU addresses this by having a calm loving area to involve new members.

SS – CAR, SSP workshops, etc. are for those already passionate about service.  Willing it otherwise is futile. 

AZ – old timers asking, ‘is this going to help bring new people in to service?’ yes, but the amount of misinformation about SSP going out is causing significant issues. Making it fun and presentable works. 

No. Cal – SSP seems to be a good short term solution to apathy. One foundation of the project was to solve the lack of attractiveness to service. Concern for the GSU is that it live up to building up groups and not turning in to a complaint-fest. Perhaps removing the policy, Robert’s rules from the structure will allow more freedom for participation. Critical element for the SSP is planning and allocating available human resources.  Hopefully the new service structure will be more attractive.

CC – The GSU is a place of support for home groups, create a passion for service through a nurturing environment.  SSP is able to make a much better use of human resources.

51 – Don’t have a lot of the complaining that larger regions see. Mock GSU presentation will show the things that worked. 

How many regional assemblies and what other formats are being used?

Solutions to apathy in service, and will the new service structure address that?

8:15pm

Meetings/Reports 

2013 zonal forum bid

            California Mid-State Bid – Bid for either 2013 or 2014

                        The offer was made to move the weekend from the last weekend.

            The 2013 WSZF will be in Fresno, CA Jan 25-27, 2013

2012 Conference Meeting

Is a meeting necessary at the conference?  Purpose of the meeting would be a get together only.  In the past there have been issues discussed.  It has been a shortened version of this meeting.  If the meeting was just for a dinner, multiple people would not be interested in that.

The meeting can get delegates out of the ebb and flow of the conference to talk with familiar faces.

Preference to not meet at the WSC proposed.

Would the meeting be worthwhile if it were mid week due to the amount of discussion happening at this conference?

Would it be possible, and not inconsiderate, to reserve the space and mayhaps not use is?

Franney – Wednesday night is an allotted zonal forum time. When the meeting is onsite a small board room is probably available at a cost.  If you meet with a meal a room may be had for free.

Straw Poll

In favor of meeting at conference – 8

            Not really in to meeting at the conference – 4    

More discussion in order to reach a consensus.

Is there going to be things that come up for discussion mid conference?

Is it possible to have a productive meeting without the energy/politics of the conference bleeding in to the meeting?

Are there people under consideration for nomination that may be nominated in the zone that this body may want to discuss at the conference? 

Franney – If the HRP were going to look to zones for a recommendation from the zone the zone would already have been contacted.

No. Cal – What if we all made a commitment to sit in on another zonal meeting at the conference?  Does anyone have a topic that they would like to specifically talk to at the conference?

Two options –

1.     If there is a specific topic you would like to speak on at the conference in a meeting that could be discussed on the groups and decided upon there.

2.     Some/all members of the zone could go to another zonal meeting.  Be sure to have the permission of that zonal meeting to attend.

3.     Agree to meet poolside and decide if a meeting is necessary

Consensus

1.     If nothing comes up on yahoo groups, then a decision could be made at the conference to meet or not.

2012 WSC Report

Report to be written and made available.  The report should be a brief synopsis of the activities of the zone in the previous conference cycle.

1.     Topics for Report

a.     Who is in the zone?

b.     What happened in New Mexico?

c.     What happened in Portland?

8:58pm Break

9:11pm Re-open with Moment of Silence

WSZF webpage

Southern California hosts the website, but it falls on the body to send the information to the So Cal web person to get information posted.

            Does this need to be a floating position?

            Could the host committee be responsible to get the information to the So Cal web person?

Should the secretary be given the contact information to forward the information to the So. Cal web person? 

So. Cal Web contact information – website@todayna.org

            Items that need to be posted – guidelines, 2012 minutes, meeting location

            2010, 2011 minutes to be sent by Laura today

            2013 Meeting location to be sent by Doug

            Guidelines – Laura to send latest draft to yahoo group, to be discussed Sunday morning

Going forward – Hosting RD will ensure that minutes are posted.  RD for following year meeting will make sure the meeting location is posted. If this is agreed on then discussion will happen on Sunday.

Meeting adjourn – 9:25 with Circle of Unity and Serenity Prayer

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Open at 8:00am by Dan with a moment of silence

Julia read the Twelve Traditions. Nick read the Twelve Concepts. Samantha read the Vision Statement

Review of agenda

Presentation from World Services on the CAR – Franney

Presentation on Yahoo Groups – Freddy

Yahoo Groups

Wszf-subscribe@yahoo.com

Freddy gave a tutorial of the yahoo group.  An email is sent to the entire group.  If you want to see the group content go to http://groups.yahoo.com. Groups you are a member of are listed on the left.  Choose your group by clicking on it.  Once you are in the page, it is like looking at an Inbox.  All messages are shown in the group.  On the left navigation there is a clickable link for files, this is where files should be uploaded.

8:35am – Franney – CAR Overview

NAWS Reports

Please encourage people to sign up for NAWS news, a lot of misinformation is being given out in social media about the SSP that is contradicted in NAWS news.  Make sure people have the correct information.

It’s important to start using uniform language.  Please use the language, your community, our communities, as opposed to Region, ASC, etc.

Projects
PR – Because PR has been put on hold due to fiduciary concerns for the last cycle it’s important to start doing PR at this time.  If you haven’t started working with local judges, etc. start doing so.

Literature – 

Intro to Narcotics Anonymous Meetings – Would like to put through a proper literature review process and become a fellowship approved material

Traditions Book – Will likely be a two cycle project to prepare and get input in first cycle, first year of gathering data, second year to plan and then to start workgroup in second cycle (third year).

Trusted servants support and development

Looking at PR, H&I, Planning and perhaps service book.  Are people being given the tools to step in to positions?  Particularly at the regional/world level. 

Financials

World is officially in the black. And will begin hiring positions that have not been filled.  Audit results have not been complete, but will be available at the conference.  The Iranian fellowship money is being included, none of the Iranian money is directly brought in to the states, so they are offsetting costs for APF, European Conference and others.

Questions – Why is the friendly link donations and not contributions? This is due to tax implications.  However, as you see these items please send an email to worldboard@na.org

Could you speak to Directed Donations/Contributions? Employer matches contribution to a non-profit, is this a violation of any traditions? The board discussed, and if the employer gives the same matching to any non-profit or employee then it is not a violation of tradition. 

Can donations be made in the name of someone else?  If a check is not sent on behalf of then a check will be returned.  For instance if you send a check and say it is from Samantha Chess it will be accepted.  If a check is sent to NA from a grateful family member of Samantha Chess, but not identified as on behalf, it will be returned.  Donations from a will are accepted.  Donations in memory of are more difficult if an estate is not left.  

9:10am Break

9:25 CAR Presentation – Franney

Introduction

Motions – Most motions are coming forward from past conferences.  Why does the board get motions and regions don’t? Because the business of the day still has to be conducted and because of California law business must be done in a certain way.

            Resolutions – part of decisions making that will direct, or focus, the SSP.

Straw Polls – Are you really going to use that for making decisions? Straw polls are used to gauge support for a proposal.  There was a significant majority at the last conference that asked to try the straw poll for this cycle.

Regional Proposals – Writing a motion can feel exhausting and combative.  The board has to use language that is consistent with doing business.  The board is also responsible for thinking forward and how it is going to impact staff as well as how it will fit in the strategic plan.

Service System Proposals – All of NAWS news about the development is posted: 

9:54pm – Service System

See notes in the PowerPoint.

11:02am – Break

11:24am – Moment of Silence, starting back with Resolution 8

Page 13 and 14 of the CAR have tools to help with doing CAR workshops

11:50 Break for Lunch

1:00pm – Moment of Silence

See notes in PowerPoint

2:03pm – Break

2:15pm – Reconvene with Regional Proposals

Link to consolidated SSP information: www.na.org/servicesystem

2:30pm – Complete CAR presentation

2:35pm – Moment of Silence

CAT Overview

Memo outlines what is coming out of the CAT. 

Long term goals keep us focused on a vision and the plan.  This can be tough to explain in a workshop setting.  Invite people to have conversations about the plan and history over lunch/dinner, etc.

Printing definition of terms (page 8 of CAT) and having many copies available at meetings would be a great idea.

The board prioritization process is given to the conference participants, if they want a different prioritization they may change.  This will happen at the conference.

Purple parts are the highest priority items.

Page 14 – Initiate the 3-year campaign…

This is not so groups give more to NAWS but so that local communities can financially support their services needs.

If your communities have been putting out any other information besides the SSP please find it and get it out to the WSO.  Specifically looking for input around financial items.

RG – If the data collection for issue discussion topics is so important wouldn’t it be prudent to have a location on the web to gather this information.

Franney – Due to shifting resources at the WSO it is impossible to do this now.  The best way to get information to the board is to send it to worldboard@na.org

            Laura – Is there a way to use the world pool as a targeted audience for getting input?
                        Franney – the world pool information is confidential to the world board.

Budget include a lengthy word introduction, this is to give more information about how the numbers are derived for the budget.

Seating Proposals

Of the current regions requesting seating, 2 did not meet requirements, 1 did, though it was a result of a regional split.  And the board did not believe that was in the fellowship intent for seating.

A Russian region that is not seated requested funding to the conference, it was decided that it would be better for the Russian community to send them to the European Delegate Meeting (EDM).

3:08pm – Break

3:20 – GSU Mock Presentation – Region 51

Had the people at the area form mock regions with money and had them put together a budget.  What organically happened was that neighboring communities did assist each other.

Over the course of 3 workshops, 75 people attended.   Ira and Shelly went to the area and asked if they could come to the next month area and do the GSU as an experiment/example.

How to do the mock GSU

Go around the room and have each home group give its name and what concerns/issues they have.

Capture concerns on a flip chart, also have secretary capture items and prioritize on a list as the group discusses. i.e.:

4 – Home group members

            1 – Lack of trusted servants

            3 – Lack of attendance

            2 – Old timer participation

            5 – People willing to participate in business meeting

            7 – Lack of 7^th Tradition money

            8 – Overwhelmed with newcomers

After the exercise you will end up with a list that looks like the one above.

They then allowed a time at the end for struggling groups to share their issues.

Next, go in to GSU format and start addressing the topics.  In the hour available for topic discussion the area was able to get through a couple of topics, resulting in an open discussion and direction on action. 

The next area was also done in the GSU format and they have been successfully following this format for the last 5 months.

They eliminate area reports by moving to an issues/announcement only format.   When business has to happen it can be brought in to the agenda and still allow the GSU forum to occur.

Moving away from lengthy reports can allow time for other discussion points, i.e. Issue Discussion Topics (IDT), CAR, etc.

Structure of ASC in area in Region 51

            1. Business

            2. GSU 

Questions?

Was this outside of Area? No, this was presented in the ASC meeting.  You could have your GSU and LSU meet separately, although in your community it may make sense to have them together or one after the other.  

Is this truly the linear approach as outlined in the SSP?  No, this is a way to get the conversation started.

            Does the RD team continue to run the meetings?  No the area chair has become the facilitator

Take 30 minutes at area to discuss IDT, this has been a great way to get people involved in the discussion.

British Columbia region had been doing this structure for a couple of years when Shelly was looking in to doing this at her region.

Look to na.org for more information.  

If the proposal moves forward then the world board will begin to gather information about “beta” test areas/regions.

Contact Minnesota and Florida RD for information regarding their success with service system.

Lisa will send to group the guidelines from the Tualatin Valley where they have implemented a GSU/LSU structure.

Guideline updates

Additions highlighted

·        The winter meeting is hosted by the region selected through the previous year’s selection process.  The following guidelines apply to this meeting:

1)     The site for the following year’s meeting is selected by the site selection process described below.

2)     The host region is responsible for facilitating the meeting and producing and distributing a written summary of the meeting’s discussions, called the “Meeting Record.” The “Meeting Record” shall be sent to website@todayna.org, for updating of http://www.wszf.organd uploaded to the Files section of the yahoo group.

…. 

 Site Selection and Hosting Process

3)     The next year’s hosting region is selected by consensus of the forum at a prior meeting.

4)     The selected host site sends a flier with all pertinent hotel information to everyone on the WSZF contact list at least 9 months in advance of the event, and sends the event information to website@todayna.org in order to update http://www.wszf.org.

….

Consensus reached.

Zonal Forum Discussion

What is the purpose of the zonal forum?  Are we missing value?

            Doug – Had specific questions around how to help areas in their region who are struggling with s            services.

Laura – There is a great deal of experience and knowledge at this zonal forum.  A great deal of value is received at this body.

            Deb – In agreement with Laura.  The networking available has turned out to be invaluable.

Freddy – Standing up at the conference as a zone and putting forth a proposal would seem to have an impact.  The zonal forum gives confidence to go back to region and really feel empowered to share.

Matt – What more unrealized potential is in the zonal forum? Can we perhaps tie in some fellowship development with the forum?

Pam – Remembers this conversation from her first zonal forum.  Mirrored Laura and Deb’s comments.  This is a place to gather different perspectives without opinions being imposed.

Mary Ellen – What would an alternative look like?

Franney – CANA meets from Saturday – Sunday for a week, ending with the convention, which integrates the RDs in to the program.  They incorporate IDT and other items in to their meeting.

            Robert – Has much more knowledge now due to the level of input at the zonal meeting. 

Matt – One of the issues with zonal seating is that the zones are all so different in their makeup.  Brought up that fellowship development could be really good given the amount of experience in the room.

Shelly – EDM has a “pay it forward” model, where when a new region joins another one pays the way.

Consensus reached to have Doug look into doing fellowship development at the next Zonal Forum, understanding that it may require more space and cost.  Additionally could Doug see if the need for fellowship development exists in the mid-state region.  This information will then be shared with the group via yahoo group.  Details to be fleshed out in the discussion on the yahoo group.

Freddy – Proposed that going forward 20ish extra chairs are available for a gallery.  

Lisa – In order to include additional chairs at this region the cost for the space would have doubled.  Do we allow all regions in the zone to invite people?  How do we cover the cost of the additional space?

Sunday, January 29, 2012

9:00 am – Open with a moment of silence and serenity prayer

Traditions read by Shelly.  Concept read by Ira. Vision Statement read by Mary Ellen.

Time for regional teams to talk about the service system project and the specific questions that may come before the conference.  Separate from the CAR information.

California Mid-State – Doug – The conversation he seeks is not information with what to take back to the region, although they will do that, but he has some personal observations about the project.  Is enthusiastic about looking at changing the service structure, but has some concerns about the way it is going forward.  Would like to see the proposal ideas in practice first and see what happens with a test bed program.  Why can we not have a temporary guide to service for one or two service cycles and see how the structure goes.  RD team from California Mid-State were in Oakland and Florida.  Very disappointing experience in Florida.  Was concerned about the downsizing of the conference and wanted to participate and was told that there was no time to discuss that. In Oakland it was obvious that there would be no time to participate in a meaningful way. Feels that Consensus Based Decision Making (CBDM) is a great idea, but that they really don’t exist at a world service level.  Would like us to embrace a fuller implementation of the underlying ideas of CBDM.  Concerned with the words around some of the proposals, as an example in proposal 8 it says state/province/country. And Doug is concerned that this will lock us in to a too rigid structure.

Discussion – 

SDIC – Deals with a large group of people in her region and has experienced that the information from the workshops is just not flowing down to the group level.  Now that the CAR has come out there seem to be a whole new section of ‘old timers’ who are seeing the SSP information for the first time.  This is causing misunderstanding and frustration.  She has concerns that there is simply not enough time in the next month to do proper education. 

RG – Would like to understand the hope for the length of the project. At this point we are agreeing with the direction of the project.   At this conference it could be said that the RDs don’t approve of the project, although more than likely it will go forward.  At what conference will it be at the yay/nay stage? Given the conference time cycle where is the opportunity for course correction? Wants the board and workgroup in the next iteration with one last hurrah send one more paper mailing to the NA Way mailing list.  This mailing should be concise and clear.  

            Matt – Is no longer on the workgroup.

Franney – Due to the amount of hands on that the board had with the workgroup they need to be involved in the transition ‘group’.  For predicting the future, we are at least two years away from putting something to the fellowship for approval.  This is merely an opinion; it could be 2, 4, 6 or more years. The next phase of the project will need to have very clear direction.  There is no way to determine what would happen if the project “dies”.  The next stage after the conference depends entirely on the outcome of the proposals.  The direction will change depending on the number of proposals that are ‘approved’ at the conference. The board will be the next workgroup, there will not be an outside of the board workgroup though additional people may be brought in.

Dan – What was the length of time to transition away from world level sub-committee?

Matt – 94 -96 (2 years): Inventory of World Boards and Sub-committees.  6 months after that to review the inventory results. 1996: transition group for 2 years.  1998: new board seated.

Franney – the best way to communicate to our communities is to use planning basics. Using the planning basics instead of an inventory process may get people very excited about moving forward.

AZ – Blanketed communities with information, but now the ‘old-timers’ are coming out and reading it and bringing feedback. Is it necessary to communicate I the same ways again? Can see how the SSP would be very helpful in Phoenix. Can see how the pooling of resources would really help. 

RG – We are talking about geographic boundaries and that does narrow down the meaning. In discussion it’s important to talk about the flexibility.  It is clear that geographic boundaries are necessary for outside entities, and inside ones to find services and meetings.  The definition of the areas is not part of the proposal.  Can we make geo-political boundaries that make sense for outside entities to find us for services? We recognize the state of New Mexico as a geo political location.  The next stage would be then to define how the next split of areas, etc. would happen. This is not about defining regions, it’s about defining geo-political areas. It’s going to be very important for the board to come to the conference and be able to get these points across and be leaders.

Sierra Sage – Has no problem with the principles around this. Where we get in to trouble is with the regional boundaries and the seating at the conference. Wouldn’t have any trouble sending one delegate from the forum to the conference. Believes narcotics anonymous will survive even geo-political upheaval.  Leaving us with how do we manage seating at the WSC? Doesn’t believe that having geo-political lines is necessary for outside agencies to locate NA. No matter how this comes out the fellowship of the spirit will survive.

No. Cal – Are we screaming in an echo chamber?  The vast majority of members couldn’t tell you what the current structure is. Do we really have to get every member to understand the service system proposals? Is that necessary to this process? What really seems to be defeating this project is the political efforts waging against it. People that are so entrenched in the way that the system is now that they are lobbying against it and this is what will kill the project.

Mid-State – Clif – If nothing else the SSP has gotten people out of apathy. The underlying problem is that the communication is not effective from one place to the next. The by-product of making our communications skills better through this project is great. The concern of the appearance of moving too fast is worrying people. Concern about the details of our current problems being addressed by the SSP. There is no mention of the word communication in the proposals. In my experience group conscience operates best with many voices while getting business done happens best with fewer voices. 

WNIR – Sees the misconception that all must be up or down. Knowing that some can move forward and some cannot may take some of the fear out for people. Nowhere in the CAR does it say there’s an up or down on all of the proposals. 

Cal Mid-State – Doug – Believes that the heart of the proposal that allows us to have discussions and give and take. Most concerned with the fear mongering that has come out of this project and the proposals. 

Region 51 – Saw the project as a way to get away from duplication of services. Maybe this group needs to do “beta testing” on its own. Maybe this zone doesn’t need to have 13 regions represented at the conference, maybe there’s a way to be proactive on the part of this zone.

Dan – believes that the regions in this zone in the last two conference cycles have voted approximately 98% the same.

Cal Inland – It doesn’t matter where information comes from but it’s important to read all the information. If the resolutions didn’t “pass” at that point it would become a world board issue?  Is that correct?

Franney – I am one individual and the answer to that question has not been discussed. In the event that any one proposal does not go forward there will be a re-grouping. At that time a new direction may be shared.

(Oscar)Would saying no to all the proposals stop the train? (Franney) No, however saying no to the budget would be a way to stop the train.

So. Cal – The idea of doing the mailing that Freddy spoke of is good, but the database has been proven to be faulty. It’s important to hear all ideas, not just the ones we agree with. Maybe it would be a good idea to have RDs present some of the information at the conference instead of board or workgroup members since they may not carry a stigma with them.

No. Cal – Loved the idea that Shelly was going with, unfortunately with seating recognition as it is today that would not have effect.  However if we did go on the geo boundaries this zone would have the same number of seats as Shelly proposed. The reality is that the people this really affects are states with large numbers of regions.  The reality is that the power in service lies with the regions.

Mid- State – Cliff – Given the discussion about stopping the train and the funding issues, brought up some anxiety that if the proposals all “fail” that this project in some form may go forward.

Region 51 – Ira – Trying to get everything to everyone at one time may not be effective. But implementing it a step at a time gets people excited.

RG – The couple of paragraphs below the proposals clarified some of Freddy’s confusion.  The conference asked for this project and the board is responsible for seeing it through.  The purpose of the proposals is to gauge support. This is meant to gauge support and not define our future.

10:30am – Break

10:45am – Picture

10:50am – Picture of departing members – Doug, Pam, Laura, Mary Ellen, Ken, Oscar, Robert, Shelly and Matt.  Thank you for your years of service.

10:55am – Close with Serenity Prayer.