You asked – We listened! We have added a number of PAN Membership benefits. When would now be a good time to join and to support our work.
Northeast Community
PAN Launches Permaculture Educators’ Pledge
The creation of The PAN Permaculture Educators’ Pledge, was a 3+ year participatory process, convened by the Permaculture Association of the Northeast (PAN formally know as PINE). This 1- page document was distilled from many meetings, conversations, convergences, phone calls, scribbled notes, retreats and late night talks around the fire as our network grappled with how we, as a grassroots movement honor and embody our ethics as we grow and how we do this as a network for the network rather than a top down imposed set of rules and regulations from the outside. Read more about the pledge and how to adopt it here.
Funding Sources for Permaculture Initiatives
Across the region PAN members are working on innovative projects on their properties, in their neighborhoods, and in their chosen communities. Moving from idea to implementation is dependent on many variables but one of the most limited is often funding. Over the past few years the PAN Board has been working closely with the New England Grassroots Environment Fund (NEGEF) to share funding opportunities with our members. Fortunately for us NEGEF as an organization shares many of the same ethics as PAN and the Permaculture community do! NEGEF is “dedicated to inspire, connect, and support community-based environmental projects throughout New England.”
So, how does this work? There are two initial grant sources at NEGEF that we encourage you to review. They are called Seed and Grow grants and are designed for groups that:
* are doing community-based environmental work in CT, ME, MA, NH, RI or VT;
* are volunteer-driven or have no more than 2 full-time paid staff (or equivalents);
* have an annual operating budget under $100,000.
It is important to note that NEGEF does not fund statewide, regional, national or international work. Their focus is specifically on community-based, local initiatives. More information on both grants is available at https://grassrootsfund.org/dollars.
Seed grants have a rolling application so you can apply anytime. Grow grants are accepted twice per year. There is also a Harvest grant round once per year for capacity building projects for groups empowering youth-led initiatives that allow young adults to design, lead, and engage a community-based effort from inception.
We hope that you will take a closer look at these funding opportunities for your projects. If you do move forward and need a fiscal sponsor at any point you can always look to PAN for that service!
PAN Member Benefits – Time for A Change?
The PAN Board is discussing upgrades to our membership program. Contact us if you have great ideas to share with us!
Numbers Snapshot:
83 SUPPORTING MEMBERS (AND GROWING)
2017: 3 PAN SPONSORED EVENTS # COURSES IN OUR REGION = LOTS! (and growing)
281 FREE SUBSCRIBERS (or future members as we like to call them)
Unconferencing – We Did!
PAN hosted its annual board, teachers and organizer’s retreat at the Omega Institute from October 8-11, 2017. This year those in attendance were the PAN board and a small, intimate group of committed network organizers from New York City to Boston. For this year’s retreat we chose to place some stronger focus on “unconferencing” which felt like a tremendous success. We’ve been hosting these retreats at Omega for about five years, and usually we have a full agenda, and between the facilitation and hosting, it doesn’t always feel like a retreat for some of us. This year we planned on plenty of unstructured time to hang out, network and play.
The work time that we put in was productive and we unveiled the standards pledge for feedback, planned for greater collaboration with PINA, reviewed and brainstormed the work that PAN does, came up with a work plan and a list of deliverables for 2018 and asked for feedback from members about benefits we could provide to the network. Your membership dues goes to support the work of PAN so that we can make our work freely available to the network and the world. The voluntary teaching pledge of standards will be an important document that will help aspiring new teachers in their workshop and course organizing efforts.
While the scheduled work times were productive, the “unconferencing” also proved to be very beneficial. We spontaneously decided to do a “show and tell” and give each other a profile of the work that we do in the world. We heard about landscape design and planning, a year-round K-12 grassroots educational program in New York City, and graduate level work defining a rubric for environmental services that can be incorporated into any design discipline.
The mealtimes at Omega were awesome as usual, with a fantastic buffet of local organic food, orange juice on tap and lots of tea. We were able to enjoy many of the amenities of Omega this year in a more laid back manner as well. Those included yoga, tai chi and meditation; an evening camp fire, hiking and boating; and of course the sauna and nap times. Jesse, an avid mixed martial arts fan, even fulfilled a dream of his by introducing a group of very progressive and open-minded permies to the sport on the big screen display we had in our meeting room.
For 2018 PAN is looking forward to organizing less conventions of our own, and we are looking forward to piggy-backing on existing events similar in focus. We are planning on developing a series of webinars that are focused on topics that will benefit our members in the work they do in the world. We are considering hosting the regional Northeast Permaculture Convergence (NEPC) in Maine in the summer of 2018, and we are looking forward to hosting you there! Once again, thanks for all the work you do in the world and thank you for your support of PAN!
Registration opens…2017 Northeast Permaculture Educators’ and Organizers’ Retreat
Basics for the 2017 Northeast Permaculture Educators’ and Organizers’ Retreat
What: Networking, Co-Creation, and Fun
Date/Time: Sunday, October 8 after 2 pm to Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Where: Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY
Fees: $150 to Omega for dormitory style lodging, meals, and accommodations* plus
sliding scale registration fee to PAN ($40-$90 PAN Members/$50-100 for nonmembers)
Registration – (Note: There will be two steps): I want to register!
Registration deadline is Monday, October 2nd!
Note: This year, Omega’s child care is not available during this time. Babies in arms are welcome to attend with parent(s).