Hello everyone,

Please findbelow the minutes from our meeting earlier this evening:

Asha Projects Meeting

July 12, 2009

Attendees: Sirish,Steve, Hina, Mangesh, Madhav, Manju, Mona (and Madhav R joined us over the phone!)

Jagriti Proposal

Mona/Madhav R

· We do not have enough funds to support the entire proposal of 21K

· There are about 250 students in the school

· School is free for girls, there is a nominal fee for boys about Rs.30. The fee collection has not been enforced too much, they are trying to enforce it now

· They don’t want to turn anyone away

· Seattle chapter did not fund it, there were a few donors who got together to donate, but now with the recession that funding has come down

· Lodhar school does not have FCRA but money will go through Jagriti

· Vote – 6 Yes. This vote is to approve the project in principle. DC is interested in the project but we have not approved an amount yet.

· Next steps – Mona to see if there are other chapters who will be willing to fund as well.

2.  Balangan

Hina

Project is based in Chattisgarh

· The school runs from 8:30 AM – 6:00 PM

· The project has been approved by DC (in 2008)

· Social development foundation in DC is willing to partner with Balangan to work with them

· In the last year, all the kids except one has now gone to the Govt Schools

· Since all of the kids have gone to the Govt School, they have started another one in a village nearby. The same two teachers from the first one will be teaching at the new location

· They are expanding the vocational training program to now include Sewing in addition to the Photography

· Someone has provided land for building a school

· We are looking at approximately $5,700

· Hina to get a revised budget and see if another site visit can be arranged

· We need to get a site visit report since the last one was done in 2007

· At present there are about 15 students

3.  Ashis fellowship

Sirish

· There are a few groups that are working in this area already

· Santosh Padmanabhan from Bangalore has done a site visit. (Sirish sent out the reports)

· Ashis volunteers with these various groups

· Has worked with Timabaktu for 4 years

· Asha NY is interested in approving the project as well

· Votes – 5 Yes, 1 No

· DC approves $2,500 for the fellowship for one year. At the end of the year, we will review again and determine renewal?

RuralYes (Rural Youth Empowerment Strategies)

Mangesh

· Started in 2007

· He has taken the solar cells from here in the past to teach the rural youth how to make solar panels

· In addition to the panel, they also decided to make the battery as well to go with the

· The light works for about 8 hours on full charge, equivalent to about 60 watt

· It takes one day to charge on a sunny day, for a sunny day

· In India they sell it for Rs. 2,500

· This is a good income generating activity for the youth, so if there are any projects that can use this activity for the youth, please contact Mangesh (mhoskote2000@ yahoo.com)

· The model as it stands now is not sustainable since Mangesh takes the supplies with him in hand luggage. He has looked in to shipping options and it costs about $500 to send supplies from Boston to Bangalore

· There is not an immediate need at BTS right now for solar powered lanterns

· There is minimum maintenance, the panel life is about 25 years

· Mangesh to send a summary so we can share this information with our projects

5.  Work an Hour

Hina

· The WAH campaign wants a download of all the email addresses from every chapter

· That way they all receive emails on a regular basis and the local chapter cords may not be forwarding on to their donors

· Once a donor donates then they will not receive the email again, otherwise they will receive an email every 2 weeks

Next projects meeting – August 09, 2009. We do not have a meeting on the 26th since that is the day after NOH.