Rules, Roles and Expectations of the National Coordinating Committee

Roles

• CC is not a centralized body. Its primary objective is to safe guard the goals and the mission of the USPCN and the united spirit of its necessary foundation. CC may take decisions between regional/local preparatory meetings and will be accountable to the USPCN participants
• CC members must be prepared to attend the biweekly conference call meeting since major decisions and approval of committee reports usually take place on these calls.
• CC members may be called on to prepare for a face-to-face meeting outside the a national conference or regional/local meeting and may call for a special meeting if it’s required.
• Coordinating Committee must elect a CC member to be a National Coordinator. National Coordinator should have the time and patience to take on the responsibility of overseeing all functions of different committees, check in, follow up and report periodically on the overall progress of the work to the CC and prep committee. They may also be asked to recommend resolution for special situation. CC members must approve decisions.
• Structures of committees and subcommittees should serve effectuating the body’s action plans—not to create a bureaucracy burden. It should ease function, not complicate it.

Expectations

• Members of this CC are to make it a top priority of their personal commitment. Minimum commitment is an average of 5 hours/week and before a major event like the conference or a regional/local prep meeting can constitute up to 10 hours/week.
• Committee will meet every other week.
• Be willing to maintain contact and stay up to date with organizational development through the CC listserv. Most communication and coordination happens over email.
• CC members must be willing and able to participate in energizing their local base
• CC members are expected to join a CC committee i.e., media, structural, programmatic, membership.
• CC members are expected to respect listserv and conference call protocol.
• CC members are encouraged to have attended one or more regional meetings.

Rules

• Quorum of the meeting is 50% of the CC +1.
• Each committee must provide a brief summary of their work, including members of the committee, primary objectives and its calendared action plan.
• Specialized committees may be formed by 2-3 members around a specific project to be reported on directly to CC members.
• Members will be placed on probation if they miss 3 consecutive conference calls.
• Calls are meant to discuss work & review and approve decisions. Political discussions are encouraged but should not constitute the thrust of the listserv traffic or conference calls. Instead, members are welcomed to call for a special meeting to discuss pressing political issues or to create a working group to explore it.