Notice of meeting: The board meeting was originally scheduled for Feb 26, 2025. That meeting was announced to board members on 2/1/2015. The meeting rescheduled for March 12th was announced Mar 5, 2025.
Date of Board meeting: Wednesday, 3/12/25 (via teleconference)
Attendees: Patrick Di Battista; Alfedo Gomez; Anne Laffoon; Keith Manning; Dan Jedzinak
Summary:
The board discussed perspectives concerning recent dances, feedback that has been received from participants, and ideas for the future.
The dances since the beginning of this year have been hitting capacity, and people have had to wait in line outside North Hall, or even in some cases been turned away. One idea that has been raised is to hold more frequent dances, and to try additional venues. To that end, there are additional dates added at Glen Echo this spring, as well as continuing at Pitchers once a month. There is also a school located in 16th Street Heights that has space to accommodate several hundred people, which we are exploring as another option. A second idea that has been raised is to pre-sell tickets to the North Hall dances. However, we are going to continue to track capacity/attendance before exploring that idea.
The board discussed the diverse and constantly evolving demographics at the dance, and how we have been attracting many new participants. We will continue to look for ways to engage people through volunteer opportunities so that they can take on leadership roles.
We are continuing to make security a priority. In addition to our long-standing security guard, who staffs the front door and checks IDs, we plan to hire a second security guard to monitor the overall facility, including the emergency exits.
Notice of meeting: January 16, 2024 (via email and text)
When: February 27, 2024
Where: Zoom
Start: 8pm
Ended: 9pm
Attendance (virtual): Alfredo Gomez, Anne Laffoon, Daniel Jedzinak, Keith Manning, Patrick DiBattista
The board discussed
- Rawhides testified at DC public hearing about positive experience at North Hall
- Dates planned through 2024, awaiting confirmation from North Hall
- New dance events and relationship with Pitchers going well
- Need help with DC Tax questions
- Ongoing discussion about adding a new board member
Notice of meeting: January 10, 2023 (via email and text)
When: January 15, 2023
Where: Zoom
Start: 8pm
Ended: 9pm
Attendance (virtual): Alfredo Gomez, Anne Laffoon, Daniel Jedzinak, Keith Manning, Patrick DiBattista
The board discussed
- Ensuring that we have a sufficient security/emergency plan in place for Eastern Market events
- Securing dance dates at Eastern Market through June of 2023
- Merchandizing, including availability of new t-shirt designs
- Current dance lesson and teacher lineup, and planning committee
- Temporarily suspending By Law Section 5.04.a “Election and Tenure of Directors”. The board unanimously voted to suspend staggered term limits for the year 2023, while we seek to fill an existing empty board member position.
Notice of meeting: January 10, 2022 (via email and text)
When: January 11, 2022
Where: Zoom
Start: 8pm
Ended: 9pm
Attendance (virtual): Alfredo Gomez, Anne Laffoon, Chris Allen, Daniel Jedzinak, Keith Manning, Patrick DiBattista
The board discussed
- Line Dance Instruction Committee leading efforts to schedule and coordinate lessons for Rawhides dances.
- Clarification of policy around line dance selection and playlists
- Keeping an eye out for new dance spaces
- COVID policies, and following CDC and city guidelines
- Plan for community meeting and volunteer appreciation
Notice of meeting: Jan 3, 2021 (via email and text)
When: January 10, 2021
Where: Zoom
Start: 7:30pm
Ended: 8:30pm
Attendance (virtual): Alfredo Gomez, Anne Laffoon, Chris Allen, Daniel Jedzinak, Keith Manning, Patrick DiBattista
Approved by: Gomez, Allen, Lafoon, Jedzinak, Manning (1/11/2021 via email), DiBattista (1/12/2021 via text)
The board discussed
- articulating a plan to prepare for hybrid/in-person dancing, once DC allows such events
- options for brick-and-mortar venues for DC Rawhide’s future home
- planning for upcoming virtual Community Meeting, on Jan 24, 2021, with an emphasis on personal outreach to encourage attendance.
- current state of our budget, including donations and expenditures
- frequency of dances for the upcoming year
Notice of meeting: November 26th, 2019
When: January 5th, 2020
Where: U St NW
Start: 1:00pm
Ended: 3:00pm
Attendance
In persons: Alfredo Gomez, Chris Allen, Daniel Jedzinak, Keith Manning, Patrick DiBattista
By phone: E. Anne Laffoon
Approved by: Allen, Jedzinak, Manning, DiBattista (1/7/2020 via text) Laffoon and Gomez (1/18/2020 by email)
The board unanimously
- approved a code of civility to be followed by anyone representing DC Rawhides in a volunteer or official capacity. The intent is to ensure our behavior mirrors our values and to protect the group from liability.
- approved expending revenue from the dance (as opposed to donations) to host an event to celebrate our volunteers. We expect it will be held at the same location as the last such event and at a similar cost.
The board discussed
- creating a list of new potential venues
- articulating a plan for fundraising
- finding a means to encourage new dancers to continue dancing with us