REMINDER: cityMamas Family Meet Up - Sunday, September 27

Join us with your family [INCLUDING THE KID(S)] and friends at HopWorks @ 2944 SE Powell Blvd (http://www.hopworksbeer.com/). Sunday, September 27; 4:00 - 7:00. Lora, Courtney and Darcy will supply the first pitcher of beer, lemonade and basket of fries to share.

Notes from Sep's "Back to School" Mtg

I tried to post this as a comment to the mtg announcement, but it was too long to allow it. I'll just start tagged the NOTES so that you can find them easily. Have a great weekend!

cityMamas’ Affinity Group
September 2, 2009
12:00 – 1:30
Portland Development Commission – Commission Room

Welcome!
The meeting was hosted by Estee Segal and Lisa Gramp, who are both working mothers at PDC. Thanks!

Introductions
Brief introductions and check-ins about what we’re dealing with lately.

Discussion
There were three “panelists” brought in to share their perspective on the topic of School Choice, Olivia, Marlys and Julie. All of the moms happen to live in N/NE, despite trying to more moms from other areas. Below are the questions we made beforehand, and most were covered, but not necessarily in this order:

• Can you tell us a bit about your family, like how old are your kids and what neighborhood you live in?
• What research did you do to learn about your school options?
• Did you feel like you had a choice? What recommendations do you have for parents whose neighborhood school has a bad reputation?
• What factors were most important to you in choosing a school (location, test scores, diversity, special focus)?
• What's most important now that your kids are in school; good principal, teachers, ratio, etc? Are you happy with the school?
• Is joining the PTA the best way to get involved in your school? Are there other mechanisms for getting involved? Is fundraising key? Or legislative lobbying?
• What do you wish you would have known earlier? Or still want to learn?

cityMamas Family Meet Up - Sunday, September 27

Join us with your family (and friends) at HopWorks @ 2944 SE Powell Blvd (http://www.hopworksbeer.com/). Sunday, September 27; 4:00 - 7:00. Lora, Courtney and Darcy will supply the first pitcher of beer, lemonade and basket of fries to share.

November 4th Meeting CHANGED TO OCTOBER 7th

The November 4th meeting has CHANGED TO OCTOBER 7th and will still be at the 1900 Bldg, Room 7A.
The focus of the meeting will be volunteering. Abby Coppet from City of Portland Better Together (http://www.portlandonline.com/index.cfm?c=49042) will attend the meeting. She will also bring someone from Hands on Portland (http://www.handsonportland.org/HomePage/index.php/home.html) to talk about current family friendly volunteer opportunities and to determine if we want them to organize something just for cityMamas. We will also discuss if we want to adopt another family for the holiday season. See you then.