Woodlawn Neighborhood Association General Meeting Agenda
Tuesday, September 2, 2025, at 6:30 pm
Please make every effort to join us In Person at Classic Foods: 817 NE Madrona
Or join the meeting online via Zoom (now with improved audio): https://zoom.us/j/3014662210?pwd=d3VKbXkzVldqYzNWU2RwVm9OUkZyZz09
Meeting ID: 301 466 2210 , Passcode: WNA
Streamed/recorded on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/@woodlawnneighborhoodassoci5818
Welcome and Vision: “In the future, Woodlawn will be a place where people live harmoniously, respectfully, and in support of one another. The neighborhood will be a clean and thriving community… All Woodlawn residents will share and pursue the common values of health, efficiency, beauty, equity, and justice.”
6:30 – 6:45 Social Time
- Introduce any new members (especially Parker!)
- Social time – talk to your neighbors
6:45 – 7:30 General Business
- Approve July meeting notes.
Keith makes a motion to approve the July minutes. Melody seconds it. All are in favor. Minutes are approved.
- Update and wrap up from NNO
See below in Treasurer’s Report.
- 2025 Movie night
Melissa reports that it will cost $375 to $400 to get a movie. For Good and Co. will donate all the equipment. We will need a WNA volunteer to escort folks to the restrooms in the building so there will be no need to rent a portable toilet. Leftover food from NNO could be offered.
- WNA Table at Farmers Market – September 20th and October 25th – need volunteers
Staffing WNA table at upcoming Farmers Market dates. Barb will start the day Sept 20th. Melody will do 11-1pm on Sept 20th. Anjala will help 9-11 am. help. and Linde 11-1 pm
- Extensive Discussion about the Future of the Woodlawn Farmers Market
Justin, Erin, and Keith are present for a discussion about the future of the Woodlawn Farmers Market. By way of background, the WNA “owns” the farmers market and is the fiscal sponsor of it—they share the same non-profit number. Erin has been on Farmers market board for about a decade. She reports that the entire Board is resigning at the end of October, end of market season. The primary reason is board burnout. No new board members have been recruited and. board members also have to work at the market. The market has never made a profit; it has run as a stop-gap, break-even effort. Grants have helped to sustain the market but now they are going away. And there aren’t even new grants to apply for this year that might be used to keep the market open. Erin noted that there are potentially three options for WNA as fiscal sponsor of the market going forward from this point –
- WNA to recruit new board for FM.
- WNA to run market without separate board.
- WNA to close the market
Erin notes we have an offer of grant money at the end of this season that could be used to run a winter market or the spring/summer market next year. Six board members are currently doing all of this work. Erin feels that five to ten people are needed to ensure the market continues and has a future.
If WNA took over the market directly, there’s lots of background work to make this happen all around. Some of this work includes the following: business interface; FDA liaison; outreach to residents living on the street; managing vendor applications; and payroll taxes. Lots of tasks the board has been doing for a decade would have to be taken over by others once the board is dissolved.
Linde notes about all the back end of the market doing committed work and very well. And raises these questions and concerns: Can we put this information out into the neighborhood to see if there is strong support from the neighborhood to keep the farmers market up and running? Should we do a “Save the Market” campaign? Could we scale back and do only a monthly or seasonal market? Is there a would be helpful to better understand the workload behind the keeping the market going. What is the impact of a keeping the market vs. loss on the market? Also what will the impact be on vendors? Could we quantify that?
Erin has lobbied for new volunteers and board members in many meetings over the years and has gotten no responses. Board and marketing manager are willing to share any information they have already gleaned on these topics. If anyone wants to take this over, the board will mentor and help folks who want to do this.
Linde wonder is perhaps we should do a general, overall Save the NA and Save the FM campaign in the neighborhood.
Erin suggests we could see if there is interest in the staging a community forum/meeting in December to talk about what it means to be involved in the Farmers Market, including monthly time commitments, ,etc. interest forum to get the word out that we have a meeting in December and board could be there to talk about what being involved means. The market opens vendor applications for participation in January 2026. Als0k there is still interest in a winter market so we may continue with that in December. We need decisions about the future by the end of September as there are grant monies with deadlines of then.
Keith reports on his recent conversation with PZ, the market manager. They were given the same info and seemed to still have interest in continuing on for now. PZ is an excellent asset in this situation. They are doing many operational tasks that need to be done by someone. They have historical knowledge. PZ interested in staying on to help in the moment, they have an interest in the market continuing. A contract however has not yet been signed. Keith plans on remaining a member of the NA board and therefore Keith has done all the payroll and insurance stuff for the FM, so he is another asset to keep the FM running.
Would a QR form survey about volunteer requirements be helpful to be posted? This is a question for the NA more than the FM at this point.
Erin notes that PZ has run the winter market themselves. So that would give the board some wiggle room to then sort out the future of the summer market. However, the summer market cannot happen without a lot of board involvement. Keith agrees as does Linde and Melody.
FYI—We will lose Keith as a board member if the FM closes because he lives in Piedmont and is thus not eligible to be on the board anymore.
Barbara—Melody should communicate with Linde if we are going to do a Save the Market campaign. This campaign would need to be done ASAP.
Linde can follow up with Melody about the form. There might be neighborhood folks interested in joining a board. Share impact, the way the market benefits the community. Linde’s ask—can you send her information and materials that Erin/the board has including information about running the farmer market from a board perspective, any reports about the market’s impact, etc. She can then pull something together and work with Melody about the form.
Erin will talk to the board and get Linde what she needs to make this happen. Then they can get put in a visually pleasing context and we will go from there. And if there is not enough interest, we make the tough call and let the market go. After giving our best effort to make sure it happens if it is wanted by the community.
Keith notes that ever since the COVID shutdown, organizations have had trouble finding volunteers. Being the volunteers AND the board as in the case of the farmers market is a recipe for burnout. Wages have increased far more quickly which are good but more than one could increase the vendor fees. There is an economic squeeze all around which may affect the viability of the concept of this particular market. However there are new/better ideas out there! Having PZ as an asset and their continuing interest is an important possible factor in this continuance.
Barbara asks if we are talking about two boards or one combined board. Linde thinks we are talking about two separate boards.
Erin recommends that a new board is recruited if the market is going to continue. Need a separate team of people because of the time commitment. Important to be realistic about what is needed in terms of bandwidth for volunteers.
Linde asks if the market is financially unsustainable. Keith notes that while the market is not profitable, but we have sustained it. We don’t bring in more from operational methods. The market brings in 70% of its costs. But like many not-for-profits, it has utilized grants to fill the gaps. We spend $1000-$2000 more a month than we make. The market has filled the gap with grants and the grants in the past no longer exist and we aren’t seeing new ones in the pipeline. These are not trickling down from the federal government for the foreseeable future. Erin has deep concerns about this approach. But all in all these efforts may not be viable for the future without the influx of outside monies.
Erin notes that the Farmers Market is participating in a special event at U of Oregon Portland on October 4.
Board has not been able to pursue sponsorships. Keith said that the biggest factor the market faces is the lack of volunteer labor.
Anjala asks if the market is contributing to the success of our vendors. Or are we a small part of their success?
Erin notes that we have relatively small vendors. We have always been an incubator market. And there has been value in this! This year, giving away money to buy produce was very helpful to our vendors this year. In the past, they have not made enough money at FM. Our vendor fees are the cheapest in the state but for Cully. And we still cannot get enough vendors to offset costs. Still this affects who wants to participate. It may not be a major economic component for our vendors. For example, Dos Hermanos started at the Woodlawn Community Market! We have marketed ourselves specifically in this niche. BIPOC vendors, many of whom went on to have larger businesses. Many valuable efforts, an important service to provide. We got outside money to run these alternative programs. Looking forward, however is challenging.
Erin makes a motion that the WNA take this on and we see what come of this effort before we make decisions. Melissa seconded it. All are in favor.
- Planning for October Annual Meeting
Election of Board/Officers will be happening. Barbara makes a motion that keeps 12 officers for the board. Melissa and Melody second. All approved.
Please let Barbara know via e-mail if you want to continue on the board as officer or member.
We would like to provide food – potluck or pizza with neighbor donations to cover
Folks will work on getting cheap pizza. Folks indicated they are willing to give money to fund pizza for the October meeting as well.
Presentation by Council President & District 2 Councilmember Elana Pirtle-Guiney will be happening at the October WNA meeting. We need to get the word out about this!
- November meeting – We will be discussing neighbor traffic concerns.=
- Time for Neighbor open comments.
7:30 – 7:50 Board Business
- Treasurer’s Report – Melissa
We currently have $2770.02 in bank. Also $644 from Venmo. About $600 earmarked for communications stuff. NNO spent $1379.35 and we raised total $950.15 so our expenses were only $415. Keith made a motion that we do movie night again this year and Shirley Minor seconded and all approved. September 25 with be this year’s Movie in the Parking Lot. September 25 at 6:30 pm with the movie to start at 7 pm was chosen for this year’s Movie in the Park(ing Lot). We have leftover NNO food (burger, hot dogs, buns) in Nancy’s freezer which we can offer at movie night. For Good will donate the grill again for the movie.
- Farmer’s Market Update – Keith
Already discussed above.
- Secretary Report – Nancy
No report tonight.
- Outreach and community engagement Report – Linde
We need more flyers and outreach for the October meeting with Councilmember Elana Pirtle-Gin. Let’s turn out some good attendance for that.
- NECN Report – Anjala
New way to not be functional. Board members have issues with one another. Struggling hard to progress and get stuff done.
- Land Use and Transportation Report – Anjala
No update here.
7:50 – 8:00 Additional agenda items and announcements
Barbara—Tell Farmers Market board to invite the WNA board to attend their meeting. She apologizes for the WNA taking the FM board for granted. The FM board has been doing a great job! And it makes all the work look seamless. The FM is a victim of its own success!
Shirley—Power outage crisis on Monday September 1, 2025! For the neighborhood.
The meeting was then adjourned.
