Raymond T. Cole Fund Committee

On April 16th, the 46th District Membership passed a motion creating the Raymond T. Cole Fund, and asking me as chair to appoint the members of the Raymond T. Cole Fund Committee in collaboration with the chair of the Finance Committee, Kathryn Lewis.

In selecting the members of this committee, Kathryn and I set 3 main goals. First, we needed members of the Executive Board to ensure a secure connection with the core leadership team of the district. Second, we wanted to identify people who had worked with Ray while he was Treasurer and an active member of our community in order to help ensure that his values and dreams are part of the discussion of criteria and selection of ideas and projects. Third, we wanted to encourage new people to be involved and bring forward ideas and energy that we might not otherwise see.

Given those goals, I have selected the following people to be members of the Raymond T. Cole Fund Committee:

* Javier Valdez
* Jan Ames
* Pat Emerson
* Stan Moffett
* Betty Means
* Jason Sawatzki
* Janet Miller
* Kathryn Lewis
* Mariah Voutilainen

Per the bylaws, I am also a defacto member of all committees, and I will be very engaged with the process of developing criteria and the selection of ideas. However, because I plan to bring a lot of ideas to the committee myself, I am going to leave most of the organizational work to the nine members so as to avoid undo influence on the process. Ray's primary personal focus was ethics, and I see my role as chair as one of establishing the foundation and supporting the work of others. I have every faith in the members of the committee.

This Committee, and the Fund itself, is a new road for us as an organization. We have the potential to have a huge impact in North Seattle, King County, and Washington State. The more we can extend our opportunities into the future, the better. There is no box.

Let's go change the world.