Nami Minnesota

“A member may be one individual or a family of individuals that is counted as one for the purposes of paying dues and voting. A member accepts the mission of nami minnesota and shall have paid dues to the state organization or to an affiliate uleass waived by the affiliate or state organization. The membership dues shall be split between the affiliate, nami minnesota and nami. Members may become members through and "open door" policy that allows for a reduced dues payment. "open door" members are defined by income or economic necessity. All members shall have the same rights and privileges regardless of the amount of dues paid.”

“Each member shall be entitled to cast one vote in person upon each matter submitted to a vote at a meeting of members. Each member shall be entitled to cast one vote in person for each director to be elected. No cumulative voting for directors shall be permitted. No proxy or voting agreements are permitted.”

“An annual meeting of the members of the organization will be held during each calendar year, on the date and at the time and place set by the board of directors, for hte purpose of electing directors and for the transaction of such other business as may come before the meeting. All meeting of the board, its committees and the organization shall be governed by robert's rules of order. Generally, members vote on board members and changes to the bylaws”

“The nami finance committee shall present the annual form 990 to the board for approval before filing. A representative from the firm hired to prepare the form 990 must be present to explain it and answer questions.”

“The nami minnesota board of directors and staff and review and sign the official conflict of interest statement every january or at least once per calendar year. The executive director and office manager will ensure this is accomplished. There will be a monthly addition to the board meeting agenda asking disclosure of any new conflicts of interest. These will be recorded in the board minutes.”

“The nami board of directors shall establish the salary of the executive director based on the annual survey of salaries conducted by the minnesota council of nonprofits. In addition, the board will take into account the performance of the executive director measured against the job description, annual plan and strategic plan. The review will occur annually.”

“Nami will make the form 1023 and form 990 available on their website and to anyone who requests it and contacts the main office.”

“Nami minnesota champions justice, dignity and respect for all minnesotans affected by mental illnesses. Through education, support, and advocacy we strive to effect positive changes in the mental health system and increase the public and professional understanding of mental illnesses.”

“Education and support: nami minnesota offers several different classes for family members and parents. Family-to-family (8-weeks) and hope for recovery (6 hours) are for people who have adult family members who live with a mental illness. These two classes reached 361 people. There are several classes targeted for parents of children under the age of 21, including understanding first psychotic episodes, early warning signs, transitions, college prep, special education, and mental health crisis planning. These classes reached over 700 parents. Nami runs two projects in dakota and scott counties where we provide one- on-one assistance and offer education and support. Nami minnesota is also a part of the children's system of care grant, focusing on ensuring parent and family engagement in the design of the mental health system. Our family peer specialist is under a partial contract with three of the programs running a first 'episode of psychosis program to provide education and support to over 280 families whose teen or young adult is experiencing a first psychotic episode. The suicide rate actually went down in 2020 but had reached an all time high in 2019. While some of the evidence-based programs were not allowed to be presented virtually - such as asist or safetalk - nami focused on qpr and calm and was able to reach 2,500 people. We were able to offer it in spanish as well. We continued to collaborate with umash to bring suicide prevention to farm communities, and with the suicide survivors club to help families heal after a suicide. Our peer led support groups no number 55. Groups support families of adults, parents of children, people with mental illnesses and groups for people who identify as lgbtqa, for young adults and for people from cultural communities, including spanish. The pandemic led to an online state conference featuring two wonderful keynote speakers - the research dinner hosted by nami and the university of minnesota department of psychiatry was also held online. Nami minnesota offered special online trainings on a number of topics reaching nearly 2,400 people. Nami continues its work to become a culturally diverse and informed organization. Nami minnesota's full-time spanish speaking parent educator conducts outreach to the community, provides education and one-to-one support in dakota, washington, and ramsey counties. The young adult multi- cultural advisory committee created care packages for young adults from bipoc communities and they created a new podcast series called "resistance in color." mental health 101 is a class designed to be culturally sensitive and is delivered to the african american, spanish speaking and lgbtq communities. We also offered a class entitled the intersection of race, discrimination and trauma. Trainings were provided to staff and volunteers on racism and on different cultures.”

“Public awareness: raising awareness about mental health and mental illnesses was especially important during the pandemic. The in our own voice programs, where people share their story of recovery, reached 1,500 people. Wellness workshops and other public awareness programs reached over 500 people. Employers were reaching out more than ever before for help for their employees. Nami minnesota offered a series of classes to over 90 employers reaching 5,000 people. We delivered a national nami program called ending the silence, to over 8,000 high school students. We also created a class for students on dealing with anxiety and are piloting a program for middle school students. The website had 142.49k visitors. Six e-newsletters covering general information, children's mental health, criminal justice, suicide prevention, employers, legislative issues, and others are published every month with 55,271 subscribers. Nami has a strong presence on social media with 13,510 facebook followers, 7,102 twitter followers, and 1,954 instagram followers.”

“Public policy: nami minnesota is a leader in the public policy arena and participates in different task forces and advisory committees to ensure that elected officials and policy makers are aware of the needs of children and adults with mental illnesses and their families and how they can be met. This year nami minnesota led the effort to pass a complete overhaul of the competency restoration system and to address workforce shortages. While foundation money is not used to fund our public policy efforts, it is an important part of our work to make sure the mental health system continues to be built to meet the mental health needs of minnesotans. Nami is also viewed as the "go to" organization for the media with its executive director frequently interviewed over 80 times on issues related to mental illnesses and the mental health system.”

“Helpline: over 3,500 people contacted the helpline for assistance in navigating the mental health system or looking for information on how to help a loved one. Nami minnesota continues to update and publish 12 booklets to assist people in navigating various parts of the mental health system.”