Description of Congress Committees

Massachusetts Region
2011-2013

Annual Luncheon Planning Committee: This committee meets monthly after the first of the year to prepare for this big event. The committee decides the location, décor, food and entertainment. They also organize ticket sales. All regions hold the annual meeting on the same day and are connected through a phone conference. This takes some special communication between all four regions.

Elections Committee: This committee oversees the entire election process for the board of directors. Congress delegates on this committee visit co-ops to encourage members to run for the board; review profiles and collect the necessary information to ensure the applicants qualify to be candidates; conduct the summer congress meeting nomination process; prepare and mail ballots to all Massachusetts-region and non-housing members; conduct board officer elections at their orientation when there is a vacant officer position on the board midyear; and conduct congress officer elections. This committee will meet as a whole 3 or four times between spring and summer. The elections chairperson and one or two other people on the committee may be required to attend one or two additional meetings.

Legislative Action: We’ll need a small handful of dedicated volunteers on this committee (3-5 per region). They should be able to receive emails and do research in the paper and on the internet. They will gather and relay information of concern to senior housing to all congress coordinators in their region. They will also receive national information alerts from the Maryland region. They may want to provide buildings with sample letters for members to send to legislators. They may want to meet once or twice to study how bills are passed and to brainstorm on how to distribute information in the fastest way. Mostly though, they will work from home.

Massachusetts Connector Cover Designer & Forward writers: The Connector is the only newsletter written, edited and designed completely by members in our co-ops. It gives all of our members a chance each year to catch up on what is happening at their sister buildings. Editors in each region are assigned to work with reporters in a few co-ops for the correction of grammar and spelling. They see to it that the articles and pictures are submitted to the CSI Support Education Department for publication. In 2010, the California region was responsible for designing the cover, writing the forward and publishing the Connector. In 2011, it was Maryland’s turn. In 2012, it will be Massachusetts.

Rally Planning Committee: This committee plans and implements the annual rally/picnic. They decide on the location, food, and entertainment and prepare the agenda. They typically start meeting sometime in the late winter and may or may not have to meet monthly up until the rally.