A Special Note About Meeting Introductions:

A popular feature of our monthly meetings is the opportunity to meet and network with other communications and public relations professionals. This happens informally around our luncheon tables, as well as at the point in our meeting when the host asks attendees to very briefly introduce themselves to the entire group.

We kindly remind all participants that your large group introduction should include only your name and the business or organization you represent.

Non-Profit Organizations
If you are a non-profit organization with an upcoming event you wish to promote, or if you are a for-profit business sponsoring a non-profit event, you are welcome to very briefly highlight that event for the group. This opportunity is afforded to non-profit organizations out of respect for their ability to effectively get the word out without purchasing advertising.

For-Profit Businesses
Participants representing their own or another for-profit business (an endeavor in which money is exchanged for goods or services) should not provide descriptions of services or goods a business offers. This is out of respect for the limited amount of time we have available, and the fact that for-profit businesses are more likely able to purchase advertising on their own behalf. Of course, you are welcome to talk about any aspects of your business when engaged in conversation at your luncheon table. This restriction is only during the large-group introductions.

Door Prize Announcements
Any group or business that chooses to donate a door prize may make a brief, but slightly commercial, announcement about the item they are offering for the door prize drawing at the time that door prizes are awarded. This announcement should be as brief as possible. For example, "This beautiful, bright red Smith's Gift Shop coffee mug is a reminder that our annual red tag sale will be going on this month at Smith's Gift Shop at Main and 3rd Street. There's a five dollar gift certificate inside the mug. We hope you will stop in and see us."

 
        by Sher Jasperse

May meeting: "Fifteen in 5 Update"

Dan Baldwin, President/CEO of the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation, and Lee Clancey, President of the CR Area Chamber of Commerce, provided a timely update on the Fifteen in 5 community planning process launched in 2004. Fifteen in 5 solicited grassroots input on projects and priorities our community should tackle by the end of the decade. From 4,000 ideas suggested by individuals and groups throughout our community (including CRPRA), a volunteer committee developed a final list of 15 priorities. Sub-groups of people have been working on these projects ever since.

Here are a few examples of actions and events spurred by the Fifteen in 5 process in the last three years:

• An Arts & Entertainment District has been taking shape along 3rd St., with a new streetscape, a New Bohemia Music Festival, and community art projects.

• To make health care more accessible, the Healthy Linn Network secured federal funding for Linn Community Care, a health care center that provides services to those with little or no insurance.

• The current Year of the River initiative and the Downtown Vision Plan are jointly addressing several of the 15 priorities, including developing the riverfront, expanding downtown housing, cleaning up abandoned properties, building a state-of-the-art outdoor activity center, empowering neighborhoods, developing light rail service, and expanding our community's network of trails.

Like to know more? Go to the Chamber's website (www.cedarrapids.org) and click on Fifteen in 5 (under News). Wish to get involved with one of the initiatives? Call 398-5317 to volunteer.

Editor's note: This meeting took place prior to the historic June flooding, which may have altered certain actions and events relating to the Fifteen in 5 initiative.