On the Agenda July 2019

A message from RWA President HelenKay Dimon
HelenKay Dimon
As part of our new series, I’ll be posting a regular report on issues and policy, both long term and short term, being discussed by the Board. While a regular post can’t cover every detail or nuance of every issue under discussion, the hope is to give members some insight and an opportunity to be heard.

The Board will hold an in-person Board meeting next week, July 21-22, in New York City, at the conference hotel. All members are welcome to attend. While no action is certain until a motion is actually moved during the meeting and voted on, here is an overview of the major issues being discussed.

There are several motions on the agenda that are meant to clarify and revise policy. Some motions relate to “cleaning up” the Policy Manual with updated information. For example, all references to the Golden Heart Contest, which ends with the winners being announced at the 2019 conference, will be removed as those references are no longer relevant to the ongoing governance of RWA.

The Board will also be talking about other policy and strategic concerns. Some of those are:
 
  1. Revise the RITA rules and  RITA Contest policy. A statement regarding the proposed changes can be found here. 
  2. Create and implement a new mentoring program that includes a pitch component and anticipated access to industry professionals. This program was developed by committee and modeled, in part, on PitchWars with the assistance of the originator of that program. 
  3. Discuss additional programming to meet the needs of all memberships groups.
  4. Revise the Ethics Code to make it more reflective of RWA policy and inclusive of concerns that have developed over time.
  5. Discuss and assess the ongoing work of outside experts, including the expert hired by RWA to advise on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) issues, and the company hired to research and draft a survey to members. 
  6. Discuss ongoing chapter issues and resources that RWA may provide in the future. 
Members should contact me – [email protected] – with any ideas, feedback, concerns or thoughts on these points, or about any other issue related to RWA.

HelenKay Dimon, RWA President