The first Sunday meeting (Nov 3) is the annual membership meeting. Along with electing a officers, we will be discussing the agenda for next year. The following is being circulated by myself, April and Taylor to stimulate discussion about goals for 2014. Feel free to comment here, talk to one of us or send me a note. ———-
Billings Association of Humanists’ Goals for 2014
By Danny Choriki, Taylor Owen and April Van Mierlo
If elected to the board of directors of The Billings Association of Humanists (BAH), we would be guided by the following goal. (Obviously this is subject to discussion and approval both by our election and via acceptance by the entire board and the membership.)
Generally speaking we would like to create a larger, viable humanist community in the greater Billings area. While we do not intend to create a “cult”, “church” or “religion”, we do believe that churches at a local level have played a key role in the fostering of community mainly by celebrating and affirming life.
The BAH has successfully created the seeds of such a humanist community in Billings. We would like to explore the expansion of the humanist community, develop a plan and begin implementing it.
The following steps we feel are consistent with existing BAH policy and we would work to further them.
Increase membership through increased physical marketing.
While the meetup and newsletter are critical functions, we would like to see more physical notices in the surrounding community. Specifically we will put up posters at coffee shops, bookstores, universities, and other places where humanists gather.
We are also looking into a table at MSUB.
Increase membership through increased online marketing.
Continue to develop content on the website and begin to actively promote the website and other events through social media.
The following are steps that we would like to take with the support of the BAH community.
Increase membership through more active and activist events.
By next summer, we would like to add an event a month that is activity or activist oriented. On the activity side, we are thinking along the lines of something that makes the Billings outdoor environment a better place, clean up outdoors, plant trees, clear/build trail, cosponsor a walk or run that does the same.
On the activist side, we are thinking along the lines of events that promote STEM, such as a science fair, etc.
Additionally we will be looking for ways to engage in the public discourse (Letters to the editor signed as BAH members?)
Network and promote humanist groups within a 2 hour drive of Billings.
Generally we will be looking for other humanist/secular organizations in the Montana/Wyoming region that we can work with to promote humanist community and values. There is a likelihood that this would initially focus on Bozeman.
Explore means of reifying humanism in Montana with a physical presence and associated fund raising.
The goal for 2014 would be to develop a plan that is within the BAH community comfort and feasibility zone.
We look forward to your comments and contributions at the Annual Meeting, Sunday, November 3.