Community Council

“Board of directors are elected by the board. The board shall consist of no less than 18 and no more than 26 individuals (including the officers). Directors serve three-year terms, on a rotating basis, with no more than one-third of the directors' terms expiring at any one time. The nominating committee, named by the president, consists of 7 committee members to include 3 board members, and 4 non-board members. The committee identifies, cultivates and recruits potential board members in a manner consistent with the core values and grass-roots, inclusive nature of the community council. The committee nominates board members for election by the board of directors. The chair will be determined by the committee. The officers are selected annually by the board of directors.”

“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 and determining the annual compensation and benefits for the executive director.”

“Form 990s, and form 1023, are available on the website: https://wwcommunitycouncil.org”

“Mission to foster a trusted gathering place where people engage in dialogue, inquiry, and advocacy to build a vibrant region for everyone. Our region includes columbia and walla walla counties and the milton-freewater area.”

“Activities and impacts affordable housing implementation task force community council wrapped up over four years of work around affordable housing at its full circle celebration for the affordable housing implementation task force (itf) in march 2023. During that event, we presented the implementation task force report. Some highlights from the implementation task force's advocacy work include: 1.creating common roots housing trust, our region's first community land trust, which will provide permanently affordable housing in our community; 2.producing an affordable housing data & measurement report, which we used widely when speaking with decision-makers; 3.developing an infographic, our region's affordable housing crisis, which combined data and graphic design to raise awareness on housing issues in our region; 4.creating a short video explaining affordable housing; 5.producing covid-19 housing and utility relief information sheets in english and spanish, during the pandemic, to inform the community about legal protections and relief programs; and 6.working with the cities of college place and walla walla to encourage mobile home park resident protections, including the right to purchase when residents' mobile home parks are up for sale. College place was the first, and walla walla the third, city in washington to adopt these protections. The effort earned statewide attention, contributing to washington adopting similar protections statewide. An october 2023 article highlights several communities across the state utilizing the new law, "mobile home residents are seizing the opportunity to buy their parks" our affordable housing study report, affordable housing data & measurement report, and our region's affordable housing crisis infographic all continue to be used by community members, including decision-makers. All of this work was accomplished thanks to the leadership of our affordable housing implementation task force chairs and to the dedicated efforts of the implementation task force members, even during the pandemic. Internet for all study committee community council conducted its internet for all study from september 2022 - march 2023. The all-volunteer study committee met weekly for 26 weeks to learn about the barriers, opportunities, and solutions for equitable broadband internet throughout our region. The committee heard from a variety of resource speakers who spoke about the importance and the complexities of providing broadband internet for all. We heard perspectives from port districts, state contractors, internet service providers, cybersecurity experts, academic researchers, educators, librarians, healthcare organizations, digital literacy providers, members of the agricultural community, and nonprofits working with seniors, job seekers, racial and ethnic minorities, and other populations represented in our community. We celebrated the work of the study committee and the release of the internet for all study report at our luncheon in june, which over 430 people attended. The internet for all study is particularly timely and has already made a significant impact on our region. One thing we learned through the internet for all study was that to access the unprecedented federal funding for bridging the digital divide, each state needed to develop broadband action and digital equity plans (plans) by june of 2023. In washington, each county was tasked with developing those plans utilizing broadband action teams (bats). In february, we facilitated a meeting of over 40 stakeholders in walla walla county that resulted in blue mountain action council becoming the lead agency for the walla walla county bat. Columbia county's bat is led by the port of columbia. Both bats submitted their plans to the state of washington by the june deadline. The oregon broadband office (obo) used a different approach from washington to develop its broadband action and digital equity plans, composing the documents internally and soliciting”