Summary Letter from the USAF Board of Directors

November 25, 2019

Dear USAF Dojo Cho and Instructors,

The Board of Directors met in Ft. Lauderdale for its annual meeting on November 7-9. Here is a summary of the main outcomes of that meeting.

The most important task for the annual meeting is the USAF budget. The discussion focused on where we are to date and developing a balanced budget for Fiscal year 2020. We will vote and approve the 2020 budget by the end of January.

A second issue of importance for our annual meeting is the election of board members and officers. I am pleased to announce that we elected a new member to the board. Sylvie Firestone, 5th Dan and co-founder of Aikido of Westchester, will join the board in 2020. As well as being an accomplished Aikidoist, Sylvie is an excellent graphic designer with great media savvy. The Board is excited that she will bring this skill set to the USAF to help us grow and strengthen the organization going forward. Julia Freedgood was re-elected Treasurer and Peter Bernath was also re-elected as Technical Committee representative.

Since Summer Camp, we have examined several recommendations from the ad-hoc Marketing and Growth committee. It was decided that, since each dojo is a separate entity with its own organizational structure, a blanket approach to internet marketing is not feasible at this time. However, we are making the committee a formal committee of the Board and will continue to work with the ad-hoc members to strengthen the USAF’s presence and offer suggestions to member dojos on ways they can better promote themselves locally. Meanwhile, both the USAF Youtube channel and Instagram accounts are up and running, promoting our summer camp classes and other USAF events.

The Board has created a “Working Group” to explore issues of gender, diversity and inclusion in our organization. To start, the group consists of Board representatives Julia Freedgood and Sylvie Firestone along with USAF members Chris Wong and Arturo Peal. It will be chaired by Sharon Dominguez. The working Group has already met and is moving forward to determine goals, structure and composition of the group and to decide on next steps.

The Board updated the Code of Conduct, clarified the Grievance Process, and will be making the entire package more easily accessible on the USAF website. This document is linked to our DDC instructor’s page, our newsletter – www.usafaikidonews.com, and our website’s Membership Benefit’s page at www.usaikifed.com. We encourage you to post the Code of Conduct in your dojo so your members are aware of and have access to the updated policy.

In addition to the Board meetings at Winter Camp, it is also the place for one of the Technical Committee’s bi-annual meetings. As TC membership is based on 4 year terms, the following members’ terms were renewed for another 4 years: Peter Bernath, Claude Berthiaume, Harvey Konigsberg, Donovan Waite.

You will be receiving information regarding 2020 renewals in the next few weeks. Please do not proceed with your renewals until then.

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving and a joyous holiday season,

George Kennedy
Chair, USAF Board of Directors
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