Community Council

“Board of directors are elected at the annual meeting of the corporation. Directors serve three-year terms, on a rotating basis, with no more than one-third of the directors' terms expiring at any one time. Members vote on the board of directors. The nominating committee made recommendations to the membership for the new board positions, and nominations are accepted from the floor.”

“Board members and officers provided copy of 990 with an opportunity to ask questions.”

“Annually the conflicts of interest statements are reviewed by the executive director for appropriate action.”

“The board obtains information on local salaries for non-profit organizations in the community prior to hiring the executive director.”

“Prior year form 990s, form 1023 and organizing documents are available upon request by telephone 509-540-6720 or at the office of community council at its office located in the drumheller building at 5 w. Alder, walla walla, wa 99362.”

“Community council fosters a trusted gathering place where people engage in dialogue, inquiry, and advocacy to build a vibrant region for everyone. The region includes columbia and walla walla counties in washington, and northeastern umatilla county in oregon.”

“(continued from part iii) encouraging natural allies to collaborate toward achieving positive outcomes. Though community council's role in supporting implementation of the recommendations has concluded, the many organizations that have been working on these issues continue to do so. Results of the advocacy efforts are detailed in the improving food security implementation report, which was released at the full circle celebration, and is available on our website at www.wwcommunitycouncil.org. Enhancing outdoor recreation the enhancing outdoor recreation opportunities implementation task force, co-chaired by kate bobrow-strain, mike denny, and kevin mills, completed a second year of advocacy. One highlight of this effort is the blue mountain region trails project. In 2017, the task force helped facilitate eight public outreach meetings (two each in dayton, walla walla, milton- freewater, and burbank); renewal of the technical assistance grant from the national park service - rivers, trails, and conversation assistance (rtca) program; and additional public outreach and general support. More than 30 federal, state, regional, and local public entities collaborated on the development of a plan for a non-motorized trails and transportation network throughout the region. The plan was completed and celebrated at an event with more than 200 people in attendance. Once the plan has been adopted, both public and private funding opportunities become available. Information about the blue mountain region trails project can be found at www.bluezonetrails.org. Education as a path to economic growth the education as a path to economic growth implementation task force completed its first year of advocacy. The task force is chaired by andrea weckmueller-behringer, executive director of the walla walla valley metropolitan planning association, and supported by more than 25 community members. Several new individuals have joined the task force this year after having indicated their interest in the topic through the community conversations process. During the past year, the task force has been conducting research and meeting with stakeholders in support of its advocacy efforts. One of the subcommittees has conducted an inventory of collaboration between our local arts economy and educational institutions in order to identify gaps in service or areas of need. Another subcommittee has researched educational collations and met with experts to identify the best approach to developing a local educational attainment alliance. An additional subcommittee has worked with educational institutions and local foundations to identify opportunities to provide diversity and inclusion training for leaders, educators, and community members as a step towards increasing educational equity in our region. This year, community council expanded its institutional capacity through successful hiring, ruthell martinez, community council's new advocacy coordinator, who joined the team in october. Her role is to support on- going and future advocacy efforts and build community outreach.”

“(continued from part iii) working with columbia and umatilla counties' departments of health, along with many community members, in a group now called the blue mountain regional community health partnership. In addition to continuing to work with the blue mountain regional community health partnership, we also plan to identify effective ways in which to move the additional priorities forward, and continue the important community outreach and engagement that made community conversations so successful.”

“This marks the end of community council's ninth year of community-building - bringing citizens together to learn from one another, identify shared goals, address common challenges, and advocate for positive change. This year, we have focused on building institutional capacity and financial sustainability in addition to sustaining our advocacy work and continuing to support community conversations and develop community indicators. 2017 brought significant recognition of community council's work. In the fall, community council was awarded the duane wollmuth catalyst award, by the walla walla valley chamber of commerce. In november, philanthropy northwest recognized community council as one of eight innovative change- makers in the pacific northwest in its report, pacific northwest changemakers: innovative approaches to community-based sustainability, which can be found on our website at www.wwcommunitycouncil.org. We were honored to be recognized by the business community and the philanthropic community”