2016 World Service Conference Committee and Caucus Reports Irving, Texas, USA

Contents Business Debtors Anonymous (BDA) ...... 2 Conference Committee (CC) ...... 3 Fellowship Communications Committee (FCC) ...... 10 Hospitals, Institutions, and Prisons Committee (HIP) ...... 12 Internal Operations Committee (IOC) ...... 14 Literature Communications Committee (Lit Com) ...... 15 Resource Development Committee (RDC) ...... 16 Public Information Committee (PI) ...... 18 Technology Committee ...... 22 Diversity Caucus ...... 23 Intergroup Caucus ...... 24 International Caucus ...... 25

Business Debtors Anonymous (BDA)

Our committee had four active and engaged members for the entire year as well the valued guidance of our board liaison. Here are the members for 2015/2016: Curt P. – Chair, Chicago Josie P. – Vice Chair, UK Susan H. – Secretary, SoCal Tammy F. – Member, NY Bill J. – GSB Liaison

BDA Committee had a very productive year, providing input, content and guidance for the following BDA- specific literature.

- BDA Signposts and Tools Brochure: The committee determined the key resources for inclusion in the brochure, which will help debtors assess their business debting problem and use the twelve tools of BDA to help their recovery.

- BDA Numbers Booklet: Our committee members provided specific suggestions for including the following elements in the booklet - an income/expense record, a monthly business summary, a record of accounts payable and receivable and a listing of business debts.

- BDA Annual Business Plan: We provided suggestions and resources to the LitPub Committee that detail both spiritual and strategic guidelines that will help new and experienced BDAs create an annual business plan based on recovery principles.

In addition, the BDA Committee raised the following Issues and Concerns: Referred to the Conference Committee for Consideration - Creation of an Underearner Caucus for the purpose of gaining insight on and directly addressing this aspect of our fellowship that negatively impacts the solvency of many DA and BDA members. A member of the Conference Committee attended one of our meetings to further discuss the issue and the committee chair has communicated that the Conference Committee will determine next steps. Submitted to 2016 WSC for Consideration – WSC Committee Continuity: Existing committee members may not be able to attend the WSC in the year following their committee work because their groups cannot afford to send them to WSC. Because these GSRs are not currently allowed to continue as voting members of their committees on a remote basis in years when they do not attend WSC, continuity from year to year is negatively impacted. The various WSC committees must spend valuable time learning how to navigate the complex WSC and GSB committee structures in order to make positive progress and may lose entirely some important but unfinished work from previous committees. The 2015/2016 BDA Committee recommends that existing committee members, who remain GSRs for their respective meetings but are not able to attend the WSC, be allowed to continue their committee work into the following year as voting members and be allowed to remotely attend committee meetings that occur during the WSC. Respectfully submitted, Curt P. – Chair

Conference Committee (CC)

The Conference Committee (“CC”) is concerned with the general nature of the World Service Conference, including its Charter, its relationship to the GSB, its format, and its siting.

This year’s CC members were Michael G. (chair), Brandi M. (vice chair), Jackie D. (recording secretary, treasurer), Craig L. (Host Committee liaison), Jessiline B., and Jean Camille B. Carolyn L. also was a member for several months. Alexandra B.W. served as our liaison to the Board.

One of our major accomplishments was that a qualified member reviewed the proposed menu and suggested changes that would provide attendees who have dietary restrictions with more balanced and appropriate meal options. The GSB Conference Support Committee incorporated those changes into the hotel contract, and our liaison intends to include them in the Host Committee Handbook so they can be used at future WSCs.

Six Issues and Concerns were referred to us. We studied and answered five and referred another to a different committee, which prepared its own response.

Our work also led us to make several recommendations, detailed below, for assuring that WSC committees are adequately staffed, expanding this year’s trial of a digital “binder” for delegates, improving committees’ ability to maintain continuity in their work and bring completed work to Convocation, conducting a small trial of remote WSC participation by overseas delegates, and creating a Caucus on Underearning.

Recommendations

Note: All recommendations for making a motion refer to bringing a motion to the 2016 Convocation.

1. Census of Committees as They Form

We recommend that the incoming Conference Committee (“CC”) make the following motion:

1) That the duties of the WSC Conference Committee be expanded to include the following task:

The Conference Committee will arrange for a volunteer (who may or may not be a member of the committee) to look in on each WSC committee meeting, shortly after the beginning of its initial meeting, and ask whether the committee feels adequately staffed. If any committee answers that it does not, the volunteer will immediately go around again and let the other committees know of the situation of any committee which considered itself understaffed.

and

2) That the text of the preceding paragraph be included in future WSC binders, at the beginning of the section entitled “World Service Conference Committee Starter Kit.”

Background

At the 2014 WSC in Skokie, two people showed up for the initial meeting of the Internal Operations Committee. They learned that two were not enough for the committee, so they each took other assignments, and there was no IOC for the following year. The GSB asked the CC to look into the situation. This year, Tech has only three people; some might say that CC is understaffed for the amount of questions on our plate, and that last year its large size was somewhat unwieldy. One respondent in our recent survey about WSC structure wrote, "It would be more beneficial to limit the number of fellows on a committee. This would create medium sized groups on all Committees."

At the initial meeting of committees, many delegates are still deciding which committee they will actually join. We believe that the sharing of information about any understaffed committees will facilitate the Conference’s self-correcting of imbalances.

2. Evaluating and Continuing the Trial of a Digital Binder for WSC Delegates

We recommend that the incoming CC (2016/2017):

1) Make a motion at the 2016 Convocation to continue the Digital Binder Trial, which was approved at last year’s WSC, and increase the number of participants from 20 to 50.

2) Evaluate the results of the survey created by the outgoing WSC Tech and Conference Committees and include these results in its 2017 final report.

3) Form a Digital Binder subcommittee that works with the incoming (2016/2017) Tech committee to receive its input on the Digital Binder and an electronic evaluation survey.

4) Recommend to the GSB Conference Support Committee (“CSC”) that, in addition to the 50 participants, members of the CC and Tech Com. be able to test the Digital Binder themselves.

5) Recommend to the future (2017/2018) CC and Tech Com.:

(A) That the future CC continues the work of the Digital Binder and makes it available to all who wish to use it.

(B) That the future CC recommend to the CSC that a check box be added to the WSC registration form which asks a participant to choose what form they want their conference binder:

(1) Printed binder only

(2) Printed binder and a digital binder

(3) Digital binder only

(C) That the future CC have a Digital Binder subcommittee that works with Tech, receiving its input on the Digital Binder and an electronic evaluation survey.

(D) That the future CC evaluate the results of the survey created by the outgoing Tech Com and CC (2016/2017) and that these results be included in the future CC’s final report.

Background

The 2015 WSC passed the following motion: “That the Conference Committee, in consultation with the [WSC] Technology Committee, conduct a trial of an ‘electronic (paperless) binder’ for the 2016 WSC.” That trial is being conducted, with 20 volunteers as participants. The Tech Committee carried the ball on this, with the cooperation and participation of the DFW Host Committee and the GSB Conference Support Committee. Tech, along with a CC member, designed a followup survey of participants to aid in evaluating the results. The above recommendation constitutes our suggestions for following up this work.

3. Archiving of Committee Work

We recommend that the Conference Committee submit a motion along the lines of the following to the 2016 Convocation:

That from now on, committee and caucus chairs are responsible for maintaining a binder, to be passed on to the next chair, containing current and past final committee reports, subcommittee reports (or other documents for bringing the incoming committee up to speed on work carried on during the year but not completed), and any other material that would assist the committee in carrying on its work in an effective way.

If the appropriate bodies of the Fellowship develop a centralized digital repository for all such reports, accessible through DebtorsAnonymous.org, that repository is to be used for this purpose. Committees may consider it advisable to maintain a paper copy as well.

The Conference requests the Board to include this information on chairs’ responsibilities in both the “Committee Starter Kit” section of the WSC delegates’ binder and the DAMS.

4. Further Study of Committees’ Ability to Bring Work to Fruition

We recommend that the Conference Committee consider whether further measures, in addition to that proposed in Recommendation #3, are appropriate to continue improving the continuity of the work of WSC Committees and their ability to bring completed proposals to Convocation.

Background to Recommendations 3 and 4

An Issue and Concern (# 13-08) submitted to the 2013 WSC noted that a committee’s work during the year following a WSC cannot be submitted to Convocation, even if the committee has developed a specific proposal, but only to the successor committee. The latter might or might not be able to get up to speed on the issues involved in a way that permits it to bring a motion to Convocation. If not, at best the process is repeated the following year; at worst, the matter falls between the cracks. Moreover, the current structure sometimes places committees under heavy pressure to analyze issues and prepare appropriate motions for Convocation by the end of the second day after their formation.

The CC formed a subcommittee to study the issue but passed nothing of its work on its successor. The next CC (2014–2015) therefore did not work on it, but near the end of its term a member stumbled on the unresolved Issue/Concern, so the CC recommended that its successor take it up again. We spent many hours in Portland trying to come up with an answer before Convocation, and we did. However, it was ruled out of order, and we now agree it was not the best solution.

As we studied the issue further since Portland, we broadened our perspective on it to include not only whether committee work could be brought to completion, but the presence or absence in continuity of committees’ work from one WSC to the next.

We sent a survey to all GSRs and ISRs still serving on committees as of this spring. Thirty-one responded before our cutoff for analyzing the answers.

 Of those who could speak to whether they felt their prior committee work had been carried forward by the successor committee, 50% felt the committee at least carried more work forward than not, while the other 50% answered somewhere between "Dropped the ball or started from scratch" to "Equally carried some work forward, some not."

 37% expressed some level of agreement with a statement that their committee had sufficient time to prepare motions and recommendations before Convocation. Another 20% were neutral. 43% disagreed.

 We asked for a sense of the usefulness of possible changes (encouraging committee members to stay on their committees for two years, permit outgoing committees to designate a representative empowered to present its motions at Convocation, making committees ongoing entities, restructuring the WSC to put Convocation before committees are formally disbanded and begin to meet anew). The options for possible changes were supported by between 55 to 68% of respondents.

One member of the CC, however, felt that the wording of the survey biased the results. Our GSB liaison polled other Board members for their sense of the feelings of the delegates on committees for whom those members were the liaisons. She did not find confirmation of a specific desire for the power to bring the fruits of their work to Convocation, but there was a strong general concern about sub-optimal continuity of committee work from one year to the next.

We believe that making chairs responsible for submitting not only the final report of what has been completed, but passing along any materials for work that would benefit from continued attention, will go a long way towards alleviating these concerns. We considered additional remedies but, in the time we had, were unable to reach a group conscience on whether or not to propose that they be tried. Hence the recommendation that the CC continue this work.

5. Trial of Remote Participation by Distant Delegates

We recommend that the Conference Committee bring the following motion to Convocation:

That the WSC Conference and Technology Committees jointly conduct and evaluate a small-scale trial of remote participation in the 2017 World Service Conference by delegates from outside North America. This is to be done in consultation with the GSB Conference Support Committee and, if appropriate, the

GSB Information Technology Committee, and with due regard for issues such as protecting attendees' anonymity, credentialing of remote participants, and ensuring their greatest possible participation. If video conferencing technology is used, no images of faces are to be transmitted.

Background

The International Caucus and the Technology Committee have proposed such a trial, and the proposal was referred to the CC. The purpose is to see if there is a way to overcome the practical barriers to effective international participation in the WSC posed by the expense of long-distance travel.

Our Board liaison communicated a number of concerns about the proposal that were expressed by the consultant employed as the WSC parliamentarian. However, we have substantial (though not complete) unanimity on the view that they do not add up to a need to eschew a small-scale trial.

We note that one of those objections is that the Conference Charter would need to be amended, as it presently provides that the WSC “meet” annually, and the default understanding in the parliamentary world is that this means face-to-face meetings. We respectfully disagree. The CC majority doubts that, at the time of its 1994 adoption or its latest (2007) revision, the Conference anticipated the current level of development of conferencing technology and intended to exclude its use, any more than the framers of the First Amendment meant to exclude broadcast media from freedom of “the press.” We also note that our subcommittee on this issue found significant published work on holding "meetings" of local governmental bodies where some participants call in.

We also have substantial (but not complete) unanimity around the belief that the other concerns expressed (anonymity, credentialing of delegates, depriving remote participants of the benefits of informal conversations on the issues) have some significance but can be addressed and that, in any event, a small trial will do no harm and help clarify whatever problems there may be. The concern from our dissenter was about anonymity.

Although we think protecting the tradition of anonymity militates against showing faces of delegates on video, we believe that a video trial (vs. audio only) may still be appropriate so that the visual aids often projected at plenary sessions can be seen by remote attendees.

6. Caucus on Underearning

We recommend that the incoming Conference Committee bring to the 2016 Convocation a motion to form a Caucus on Underearning that will support the Fellowship as a whole in gaining clarity, understanding, and tools to address the ways that underearning cripples debting sobriety, and most importantly, to address the ways that the recovery offered by the 12 Steps of Debtors Anonymous makes possible sustainable debting sobriety for underearning debtors.

Background

The BDA Committee recommended, at the 2015 WSC, that the CC consider the formation of an Underearners’ Caucus. We agree that such a caucus would serve the Fellowship. Though there are debtors who do not underearn, and underearners who do not debt, there are also underearning debtors, whose debting sobriety is inextricably linked to, not just having a spiritual experience that

7 changes the way they spend money, but having a spiritual experience that changes the way they earn money. Underearners who do not debt may or may not fair better in another fellowship; Debtors Anonymous has no opinion on that outside issue. But to ignore the underearning debtor’s pleas for help from Debtors Anonymous is to ignore our commitment to Tradition Five: “The primary purpose of Debtors Anonymous is to help the debtor who still suffers.”

In the past controversy has arisen within the Fellowship about whether underearning is an outside issue that should not be addressed in our literature. The disagreement has, however, been consistently resolved by DA taking the stance that underearning often leads to debting and that it can be a manifestation of the disease of compulsive debting, an understanding expressed in the pamphlet on underearning and in other literature. Our suggestion of a name for the caucus — “Caucus on Underearning,” rather than “Underearners’ Caucus” — is intended to at least avoid suggesting that “underearners” are a separate category of debtors.

7. Clarifying the Roles of the CSC, CC, and Host Committee

Abbreviations: GSB’s Conference Support Committee (CSC), the WSC’s Conference Committee (CC), and the Host Committee on the ground (HC). Two documents referred to frequently: a Host Committee Handbook prepared by the CSC, and a spreadsheet prepared by a GSB member, listing many of the tasks involved in putting on the WSC, with notes on deadlines and who is responsible.

We recommend that the CC make the following set of recommendations to the three committees involved in putting on the World Service Conference.

1) HC needs to be more involved in CSC’s selection of a conference hotel, so that factors such as access from the airport and accessibility to local volunteers can be taken into account. Perhaps HC could do the initial screening and provide CSC with a list of three to five possibilities; if so, it would have to be given a list of criteria for the conference facility.11 If this is not a desirable solution, HC needs to be involved very early in CSC’s search.

2) Soon after the HC is formed, its chair and its Board liaison should establish a schedule for a regular, brief, check-in call, maybe even weekly.

3) The HC Handbook is very complete and helpful. However, because of its length and completeness, users need better “random-access” ways into it. The problem noted in the footnote about facility requirements recurs elsewhere: there are several matters covered in sections that are under Table of Contents headings that do not alert the reader that the topic would be found there.

4) Both CC and CSC are aware that the Handbook needs revisions, and the Handbook itself contemplates an annual revision process. We are aware that the GSB in general has too much to do and think that, if the CC is adequately staffed, it might recruit CC volunteers (or, through the CC, other volunteers) to propose HC Handbook revisions. (Suggestions for substantive changes would come, as

1 Pp. 91+ of the HC Handbook has most of this information, but it is buried. It is missing entirely from the Table of Contents, and — if it were to be included –- the current title "Event order requirements and Site Logistics" would not alert a reader anyway. If the modification suggested above is adopted, the text concerning that should have a cross reference to this section.

8 they do now, from CSC and HC, and the Board would still have final say on revisions. But the main work of proposing language, reorganization, etc., could be done by others.)

5) Include the John H. Scholarship guidelines in the HC Handbook, perhaps as an appendix. At one point it currently says “ask your liaison for them”; at another it says they are there in an appendix, which they aren't.

6) Spell out in the spreadsheet and the handbook that CC has a liaison to HC’s John H. subcommittee, to help promote institutional memory and so CC can keep ongoing records of which meetings were awarded scholarships Also, the Handbook now says, on p. 8, that a task of HC is "Dispense John H. Scholarship funds with assistance of CC." More accurate: "Allocate John H. Scholarship funds."

7) Where HC's role in conscious contact programming is mentioned (twice in Handbook, also on spreadsheet?), note a need to consult with its Board liaison to ensure that offerings are consistent with the Traditions.

8) Institutionalize inviting CC input when Handbook revisions are being considered: wherever the CSC's role in maintaining the Handbook is spelled out, also note that such feedback or input will be sought.

9) Per p. 111 of the DAMS (2015 ed.), the duties of the CSC include "work[ing] with the WSC Conference Committee on matters of WSC policy and relations between the GSB and the WSC." We recommend including comparable language in the description of the CC's responsibilities (p. 77).

Perhaps this was meant to be covered in this phrase: "The Charter of the World Service Conference and its relationship to the General Service Board and membership of D.A. as a whole." If so, it might be clearer to say, "The Charter of the World Service Conference and the relationship of the Conference to the General Service Board and membership of D.A. as a whole." Then a new item: "Working with the GSB's Conference Support Committee on matters of WSC policy."

10) 82–83 of handbook is John H. instructions; we need to see if they are up to date, as last year's CC revised these, under WSC mandate.

11) There is a lot of duplication in the handbook. This can make keeping sections consistent as it is updated challenging (and some are not consistent). It probably makes it harder than necessary for HC chair and sub-committee chairs to be sure they have the whole picture when reading one section describing a particular task or set of tasks.

12) The handbook Introduction says HC's post-WSC "lessons learned" document should be submitted to CSC; p. 27 says CSC and CC. The latter version should be policy.

13) The CSC asked us to have on a prior agenda renaming the Host Committee, “because the Host Committee doesn't actually host (in the sense of produce) the WSC.” A CSC member added, “The WSC is ‘hosted’ by the GSB, as represented by the GSB Conference Support Committee. What we now call the host committee is really the support committee, acting to support the GSB in very vital ground work.” Our liaison pointed out that a Host Committee, thinking it was “hosting,” produced a flyer stating, “The __ Intergroup Invites You to the World Service Conference.”

14) Possible continued work in this area: Reviewing “best practices” notes from past two HC chairs.

Background

In the past two years, at least, there have been instances where all three bodies tasked with some aspect of structuring or producing the WSC have noted misunderstandings among them as to who was responsible for what. In one case this was serious enough for a Host Committee to withdraw, and the conference had to be moved to another city; in another it produced some consternation and a need to seek a different conference hotel than the one that the CSC had put some effort into focusing on. In others, some CC members thought things were happening behind their backs when, in truth, the matters were beyond the CC’s responsibilities.

The recommendations above are the product of a subcommittee that consisted of representatives of CC and HC. Other than number 13, however, we did not have time to obtain input from the CSC.

Fellowship Communications Committee (FCC)

Committee Officers and Members: Chair: Lolly A. Nancy H. Vice Chair: Roz G. Joost L. Secretary: Ellie H. Kieran S. Treasurer: Suzanne P. Teresa S. Carol Ann P. Board Liaison: Clay D. Nancy H.

Accomplishments over the year: $ The FCC continued to publicize the Group Sponsorship service, and to monitor/respond to all inquiries sent to the [email protected] email address. Carol Ann regularly joined Lolly on weekly calls to go through and answer Gsponsorship emails, with help from Roz, Nancy and Suzanne. We connected a D.A. sponsee Group from Stockholm, Sweden with a sponsor group in Annapolis, MD, as well as a sponsee group in San Juan, PR with a sponsor group in Los Angeles, CA. We are currently working to connect other D.A. groups around the world and in the U.S. that are seeking assistance and are in need of sponsor groups. More information on Gsponsorship can be found on the Resources for Groups page of the debtorsanonymous.org website.

$ The FCC organized and facilitated two WSC Committee/Caucus Chair calls. The purpose of these calls was to foster collaboration between the various WSC Committees and Caucuses and to help avoid duplication of efforts among the WSC Committees and Caucuses.

$ Ellie from the FCC wrote the article titled “Forty and Fabulous” for publication in the Ways and Means newsletter. This article provides a fun list of 40 ways members can celebrate throughout DA’s 40th year.

$ The FCC collaborated with GSR Jean Camille on the article “DA Anonymity Online”. This article responds to the pertinent topic submitted as an Issue and Concern in 2015 (15-23) of protecting our anonymity online.

$ The FCC reviewed and approved the FCC section in the PI Handbook in "Outreach Efforts By Other WSC Committees and Caucuses."

$ The FCC submitted and was approved for a fellowship-wide call, “Service Pays Well”, in response to an Issue and Concern on the topic of the importance of service in the DA fellowship (15-26).

Recommendations to the incoming committee: $ Recommendation that the FCC continue to organize and facilitate WSC Committee/Caucus Chair calls to promote collaboration and to help avoid duplication of efforts. Suggestion of two calls, one in the fall and one in the spring.

$ Continue to host fellowship-wide calls, including scheduling the pre-approved “Service Pays Well” (originally developed in response to Issue and Concern 15-26, on the topic of the importance of service in the DA fellowship).

$ Recommendation that the FCC continue to publicize the Group Sponsorship service.

$ Recommendation that the FCC elect one or two members to serve as Gsponsorship coordinators, to monitor and respond to all inquiries sent to the [email protected] email address and to assist interested groups in finding a Sponsor Group or a Sponsee Group.

$ Recommendation that the FCC continue working to build a list of D.A. groups or intergroups that are willing to sponsor newer, less experienced groups or intergroups.

$ Recommendation that the FCC work with the Intergroup Committee to encourage intergroups to create a new service position of Gsponsorship coordinator for assisting small or struggling meetings within its area.

$ Recommendation that the FCC continue to discuss and explore the needs of phone groups and online groups in regard to protocol, communication, and 7th Traditions.

It has been a distinct pleasure to serve the FCC! I am filled with gratitude to have had this life-enriching opportunity.

In Love and Service, Lolly A. FCC Chair 2015-2016

Hospitals, Institutions, and Prisons Committee (HIP)

Chair, Doug P. Vice Chair, Kieran K. Secretaries, Bethany O. & Amy S. Other members, Bev, Naomi, Andrea, Molly, Peter

We thank D.A. for the opportunity to be of service And Thanks to Bob our Board Liaison

Shared Work

Completion of The H.I.P. Starter Kit

A 12page document, which is a compilation of present and past members work designed to help future H.I.P. committee members going forward

It contains the following:

✓ Overview of HIP service including a vision for the future ✓ General descriptions of the suffering debtors in each of HIP’s service locations — Hospitals, Institutions, and Prisons — and brief descriptions of how D.A. can help those debtors ✓ How to reach and carry the message to debtors with in Hospital, Institution, and Prison systems in your area ✓ Sample HIP phone scripts, suggestions for meetings, presentations and panels and sample HIP 3-hour D.A. orientation workshop agenda ✓ Other available resources and contacts for HIP service

Distributed 18 donated copies of Currency of Hope to various institutions in our perspective cities.

Individual work

Doug P. Seattle

 Continued presenting D.A. every 7 weeks to men and women recently released from prison enrolled in Pioneer Industries work and education program  These presentations included the 15 questions and signposts of a debtor as well as how D.A. has helped on a personal level.  Met with approximately 40 professionals from the Seattle and Tacoma Federal Public Defenders office, at the suggestion of Sue F., with another member brought material, talked about the history of D.A., the signposts, a little personal history and talked about how D.A. could benefit their clients.  Reached out and spoke to a bankruptcy Judges clerk and send pamphlets with a goal of being invited to have a face to face.

Bev Chicago

 Continued her efforts to reach to prison systems in the Chicago area, made contact with and sent D.A. literature to a number of treatment centers

Molly Seattle

 Set up a meeting with Washington Physicians Health Program, & The Union Gospel Mission as well as other Oxford Houses, hospitals and treatment centers in the Seattle area

Naomi Los Angeles

 Took over as secretary for Bethany, Carried the D.A. message monthly to Therapists, Social Workers and Community Directors in the mental health field.

Andrea New York

 Distributed D.A. materials to local universities student bulletin boards, following up at the Universities student offices  Set up Google drive play back for anyone interested in accessing the minutes

Kieran Los Angeles

 Continued his work supporting meetings at the Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles

Bethany O. Los Angeles

 Acquired 18 damaged copies of A Currency of Hope for the team to distribute  Was Chair of the H.I.P. manual subcommittee and was instrumental in getting the Starter Kit put together  Uploaded the P.I. manual to the Shared Google Drive folder as an additional resource.  Had a baby

Amy S. Nashville

 Stepped up and Joined during the year  Extensive work on the H.I.P. Starter Kit  Took over as H.I.P. manual Chair for Bethany  Helped facilitate others in their work

Peter Seattle

 Networked with youth homeless shelters and the directors of those centers

Internal Operations Committee (IOC)

It was a true privilege to work with the dedicated, passionate and loving people who made up this past year's Internal Operations Committee.

* I was lucky enough to Chair the Committee

* Our Vice Chair was Sara H.

* Our Treasurer was Steve S.

* Our Secretary was Larry N.

* And our wonderful Board Liaison was Michalene R.

And the rest of our Amazing team were:

Marietta M., Jane L., Martha L., Alice K. and Dayton L.

We had four Sub-Committees:

1) The Office Vision Sub-Committee worked in conjunction with the GSB Office Committee and GSO Manager to establish short and long-term goals for the GSO. Two of our members visited the GSO in Needham, MA. We conducted two guided Vision calls focused on the future GSO (thanks for your guidance Jessiline B.!) We worked to develop a spending plan for the office with a category to allocate funds towards the future office. We also reviewed criteria/data gathered by the GSB needed to explore locations for the potential future home of the GSO.

2) The Policies and Procedures subcommittee created an outline for a General Service Office Manual. We worked on a consolidated historical overview of D.A. to be included in the manual. And we edited the Office Manager job description. The outline has been sent to the board Office Committee for their consideration.

3) Our Flowchart subcommittee completed a calendar format to track the annual activities, deadlines and key dates for the GSO.

4) Our Meeting Detectives sub-committee's mission was to help get all D.A. meetings around the world registered (or re-registered) with the General Service Office. See your Conference binder or go to debtorsanonymous.org for instructions on registering your meeting(s).

Lastly we are very proud that one of our IOC committee members, Dayton L., applied for a Board position, was interviewed, and is now a Class A Trustee on the D.A. General Service Board.

Literature Communications Committee (Lit Com)

Committee Officers Chair: Sharon S. Vice Chair: Tom B. Secretaries: Deb R., Ellen S. Treasurer: Carolyn A. Tech ‘Angels’: Rae T., Connie N.

Committee Members Asha E., Carolyn A., Debbie L., Evy R., Gisela S., Holly S., Jerome S., Lynne W., Maiya A., Matthew E., Rona Z.

(In December of 2015, Deb R., a long-time member of D.A. and member of the 2015-2016 Literature Committee, passed away. We are grateful to have known and worked with Deb and the Literature Committee would like to thank her for her dedicated service to our beloved fellowship).

GSB Liaison Allen T.

The 2015-2016 Literature Committee has been an active, enthusiastic and dynamic group. We worked closely with the General Service Board’s Literature Publications Committee and other GSB and WSC Committees in all levels of reviewing and creating DA conference-approved literature.

Participation on our monthly calls has been strong and steady. We also have additional monthly subcommittee meetings to work on the ‘Basic Text’ outline and, during the second-half of our Conference year, started weekly voluntary ‘drop-in’ reading and discussion meetings to work on in- process literature and to discuss responses to our remaining Issues and Concerns.

The WSC Literature Committee received twenty Issues and Concerns for review this year, which required much of our energy and discussion in the first three months. The topics presented were wide- ranging and generated lively, passionate and thoughtful discussions among the Literature Committee members.

Lit Com has made significant progress with the following projects: preparing an outline for the Debtors Anonymous ‘Basic Text,’ creating a writing to replace the ‘Preamble,’ and developing an outline for a Beginner’s Meeting Format. We plan to bring motions to the 2016 WSC Convocation in Dallas to make small, but substantive, changes in language to ‘A Word to Newcomers,’ and to Tool 5, Spending Plan, based on suggestions made by members as Issues and Concerns. The Committee considered, but tabled for this year, work on a DA Step Study Workbook. Lit Com has reviewed and provided feedback on other ‘in-process’ projects, as requested by the GSB Literature Publications Committee.

We have reviewed the revised ‘Recovery from Compulsive Spending’ pamphlet and the first draft the ‘BDA Signposts and Tools’ pamphlet. At the time of this writing, we anticipate several other project reviews, as our WSC Literature Committee work for the 2015-2016 Conference year comes to a close.

Recommendations to Incoming Literature Committee:

1. Continue to work on and refine outline to be submitted to writer of Debtors Anonymous ‘Basic Text,’ as a priority for the 2016-2017 WSC Literature Committee. 2. Continue work on other pending projects, including the Health Issues pamphlet, BDA pamphlets, DA Step Study Guide, DA Daily Meditation book and other projects that come to Lit Com from the GSB Literature Publications Committee. 3. Continue to generate conversation and discussion about issues that require a ‘collective conscience’ of the Fellowship, which can ultimately be reflected with clarity in our conference- approved literature. 4. Realize and appreciate that that the literature development and approval process moves slowly…sometimes VERY slowly. Enjoy service in recovery with patience, love, humor and tolerance.

Resource Development Committee (RDC)

Committee Officers

• Chair: Chris S. • Vice Chair: Bill D. • Secretary: Janet Lee S. • Treasurer: Jeannine W.

Committee Members: Krista K., Gail D., Eileen N.(Board Liaison)

Committee Chair Report:

All RDC continued last year’s tradition of beginning all conference calls with a five-minute discussion of pre-designated sections of the DAMS (The Debtors Anonymous Manual for Service). We strongly feel that this serves not only to educate ourselves but to help remind us to spread this valuable information and shared DA service experience to our respective home groups and the whole fellowship.

Our main events for the year were sponsoring two Fellowship-wide Conference Calls. The first was So You Think You Want To Be A GSR: GSR and ISR Service Made Simple (on encouraging more DA members to become GSRs and ISRs). The second was Spiritual Problems Solving: 40 Years On The DA Trail (DA Trustees and DA members sharing their experience, strength, and hope on how they used spiritual problem solving during their service commitments). You can listen to both calls by dialing 712- 432-0395, Access Code 363385# Reference no. #27 for So You Think and #29 for Spiritual Problem Solving. We sent out an eNews announcing the playbacks.

We revised and updated the John H. Scholarship letter and the Annual April Letter of Appeal, which this year celebrated D.A.'s 40th Anniversary. These went out via eNews and not hard copy (except to Intergroups) this year so we brain stormed new ways to increase awareness for them.

RDC members wrote their personal service related stories for the Ways and Means newsletter.

We continued with the Every Member, Every Month theme introduced by the treasurer Allen T. during his Finance Committee report to the WSC in Chicago and brain stormed how we might take it further than the formal Recommendation we set forth for the second time (RDC recommends that every GSR and ISR consider contributing monthly to the GSO in the spirit of Every Member, Every Month). We formed a sub-committee to discuss how we could use this theme to further encourage regular member contributions in service and money to the GSO and the fellowship. We reviewed past Board financials to explore how this information can aid us in increasing contributions. We decided to have a flyer at the Hospitality room at the WSC and send an eNews expressing these ideas and encouraging more members to give regularly to GSO.

RDC member Bill D. became a DA Trustee in May. We feel honored that one of our RDC members stepped up for this service and privileged to be so close to the process. We wish Bill D. an enriching term as Trustee on the DA GSB.

Required RDC actions for 2016-2017

1 Revise and update the John H. Scholarship Letter. 2 Revise and update the Annual April Letter of Appeal to celebrate D.A.'s 41st Anniversary.

Recommendations to incoming RDC members to work on for coming year

1. Host one or two Fellowship-wide Conference calls on service related topics. 2. Keep inventory of open service positions and inform fellowship 3. Encourage all GSRs and ISRs to write personal service related stories for Ways and Means 4. Coordinate with Treasurer and Host Committee for WSC 2017 to present the Finance Committee report at the Fellowship Day as one of the slotted workshops. This is so regular DA members could also benefit from a presentation of DA’s finances. The financial statements could be broken down and made easy to understand for people not accustomed to working with formal financial statements. RDC members would participate in some way to be determined. 5. Every Member, Every Month: It was expressed that perhaps this should not be a “campaign” as such. Perhaps an article in the Ways and Means. We do not want it to be just another appeal for more money. Rather Communicate the importance of giving back as an individual, money and service, not only through your group but also directly to the GSO. Donate to the GSO to celebrate a solvency anniversary, job promotion, etc. Here are points that seem relevant to us: 1. Communicate the small percentage of groups that donate money to the GSO, the number of individuals who do and the percentage of the total budget individual donations make up. 2. Communicate the vision of the organization of what could be done with more money: full time office staff; lower the registration fee for the Conference; eliminate shipping costs for literature and/or lower the cost of literature; help sponsor a Trustee from another country to attend the Conference or Skype the Conference Convocations.

Public Information Committee (PI)

Committee Members: Siobhan K. (Chair), Claudia. (Vice Chair), Jill W. (Secretary), Maureen F. (Treasurer), Chris A., Bob A., Diane C, Ron T., Tim P., Patrick C, Sierra P., Bruce B.

Board Liaison: Sue F.

The World Service Conference Public Information Committee Statement of Purpose:

The Public Information Committee works to carry the message of D.A. to the still suffering debtor by interfacing with the media, helping professionals, the general public, and the D.A Fellowship at large, in person, on the telephone, and through written information. The Public Information Committee:

 Utilizes the Debtors Anonymous Public Information Manual and other D.A. service literature available to the entire Fellowship as a tool for outreach efforts  Supports and trains PI Representatives  Is guided by the Twelve Traditions of Debtors Anonymous

SUBCOMMITTEE INITIATIVES

GROW D.A. SUBCOMMITTEE Grow D.A., which has an emphasis on grassroots (i.e., local) outreach, has been, with the guidance and support of GSB PI Committee, inventive and innovative this year in its actions and proposals, including the following:

 Public Information Starter Kit The newest piece of Public Information (PI) service literature, the “Public Information Starter Kit” was developed by the World Service Conference (WSC) PI Committee in 2015 and approved by the GSB this year. If you have not yet seen this colorful and helpful document that simplifies carrying the message of D.A., please download it from the D.A. website at Fellowship Services > Resources for Groups. It can also be downloaded from Fellowship Services > Public Information.

 Eblast: A Call to Action—Let’s Grow D.A.! An eBlast titled “A Call to Action -- Let's Grow D.A.!” was published at the beginning of the year and has been picked up by some regional PI Committees as an inspirational and motivational reading for their monthly meetings.

 January 16, first WSC PI Fellowship Wide Call of the Year: “How to Grow D.A.”, was held, which answered questions like these: o How can we skillfully share the essence of D.A. with other compulsive debtors? o How can we carry the message while being mindful of our own anonymity? o How can we get practice and support while trying to carry our message to debtors who still suffer? o How do we share our experience in a way that attracts rather than promotes?

 D.A. Outreach Cards As part of its mission to make public information materials more colorful, dynamic, and useful, new D.A. Outreach Cards were designed, replacing the previous version. They include information for both newcomers and potential PI contacts, such as the media, helping professionals, and the general public. The new cards have been ordered by the GSO and are available on the literature order form. The literature order form is available on the D.A website under Fellowship Services > Order Literature.

 Glossary of Terms The GSB has approved a new glossary of many D.A. terms. This will be very helpful to both newcomers and helping professionals lost in a terminology fog. Short, single-paragraph definitions on everything from Anonymity to Prudent Reserve to Spirituality. You and your groups are going to love this!

 PI Tear-Off Flyers A set of new printable and postable PI Tear-Off Flyers, containing information about D.A., were developed, which debtors could hang on bulletin boards in public places. Still-suffering debtors could take a tear-off edge with the www.debtorsanonymous.com address on it. These PI Tear- Off Flyers are not yet fully approved by the GSB and are not available on the D.A. website yet.

 April 3, Second WSC PI Fellowship Wide Call of the Year: “Let's Grow D.A.!”, was held, which answered questions like these: o How do the WSC and GSB PI Committees serve the D.A. Fellowship? o What are some simple ways that any member can carry the message of D.A.? o Can we advertise in local papers? How do we do that? o How do we reach out to helping professionals in our cities and regions? o What is the difference between “attraction” and “promotion” for D.A. meetings and members? o How can we best carry the message in our communities?

 Virtual Fellowship Before and After Fellowship-Wide Calls Grow D.A. initiated the practice of having committee members on the fellowship calls 15 minutes early and staying 15 minutes later to provide some brief virtual fellowship for call participants.

 Interactive PI Training Grow D.A. forwarded a seven-call PI training plan to this year’s WSC PI and GSB PI Committees. The proposed seven PI training calls for 2016–2017 would cover the seven sections of the new PI Handbook that have been forwarded to this year’s GSB PI Committee.

 Best Practices for Fellowship-Wide Calls Grow D.A. created a “best practices document” to share with the 2016 WSC PI Committee to help them as they plan 2016–2017 fellowship-wide calls.

 Grow D.A. has suggested a reframing of the “One Member, One Action Day” initiative to “Let’s Grow D.A.!”, moving this from an annual one-day event to an everyday event for every D.A. member.

 Finally, Grow D.A. members worked closely with the HIP Committee, Intergroup Caucus, International Caucus and the Diversity Caucus to develop new outreach materials for their service audiences.

 A full WSC PI committee project that came out of the Grow DA subcommittee was the revision and rewriting of the D.A. Public Information Manual. We turned it into a more useful, more appealing, and volunteer-friendly service handbook and have forwarded it to GSB PI for approval with the title “Sharing Debtors Anonymous: Public Information Handbook for D.A. Members.”

MEDIA SUBCOMMITTEE

 40th Anniversary Press Release The media subcommittee prepared a press release announcing D.A.’s 40th anniversary with accompanying information about D.A. in cooperation and with support from the GSB PI Committee. The press release was funded by the GSB and distributed internationally through a news distribution service.

 Researched and submitted multiple avenues for distribution of press release.

 Prepared a query letter to magazines for article on D.A.’s 40th Anniversary and drafted a second letter for future submission to news media with the intent to generate interest in writing news articles about D.A.

 Collected municipal transit data on how cities are approached for ads on public transportation.

 Worked on ideas for D.A. publications across all mediums (print, video, audio) with a consistent graphic and/or cartoon character(s). This also helps protect anonymity.

 Considered reactions the still-suffering debtor might have to strong language used in outreach materials, such as suicide, while also acknowledging that the language needs to be strong enough to have an impact on/get the attention of the still suffering debtor.

 Studied practices of other twelve-step fellowships’ Facebook pages and social media activity. Discussed solutions for engaging in social media; need for guidelines for social media use.

PIPE (Public Information for Professional Events) SUBCOMMITTEE

Mental Health America Event PIPE’s main goal for 2015 was to facilitate a D.A. presence at one or two professional events during the year. With the help of D.A. fellows and approval from the GSB for funding such an event, a D.A. presence was successfully executed at Mental Health America’s 2016 Annual Conference in Alexandria, Virginia, June 9-10. Mental Health America is the nation's leading community-based nonprofit dedicated to addressing the needs of those living with mental illness and to promoting the overall mental health of all Americans.

An estimated 600 mental health professionals attended the event. A member of the WSC PI Committee, who has taken Media Contact Training and lives in the Alexandria, Virginia, area, set up a D.A. booth complete with a brand new D.A. banner, D.A. pamphlets, Information for Helping Professionals pamphlets, and an iPad displaying the home page of the D.A website. She staffed the booth both days, and some of her comments about the experience were as follows:

“Many people stopped by to ask about D.A. Some already knew about it or other twelve-step programs, but many did not. I had prepared a short description of our program and our doing outreach to the helping professions community in hopes they would be able to help clients/patients who might be having issues with spending, debting, underearning, etc.

“Quite a few took a bunch of pamphlets to put in colleagues’ office mailboxes and in common waiting areas. The D.A. pamphlet was taken either for themselves, someone they were close to, or to give to clients/patients.

“Several told me their own stories about debting or trying to help someone close to them whose debting and spending was out of control. I shared my own story with a couple of people who were at a loss to understand this disease. It was a moving experience.”

Additional Initiatives from PIPE:

• Created an online document that lists possible events by category, based on research, where D.A. could have a presence. Organized in order to allow the 2016 committee to continue organizing similar professional events.

• Contacted several of those places to ask about cost and to get further details. Narrowed down to the Mental Health America event for this year.

• Spending plan was sent for approval by the GSB.

RECOMMENDATIONS to the 2016 WSC Public Information Committee

The 2015 WSC Public Information Committee recommends that:

1. WSC PI continue to pursue a proposal for the 90th Annual NCBJ (National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges) Conference, Marriott Marquis Hotel, San Francisco, CA, October 26-29, 2016, should a funding request to GSB be approved.

2. The WSC PI Committee complete planning, preparation and execution of PI interactive training sessions for all D.A. members.

3. WSC PI Committee continue to maintain the online storage account started by the 2015 Committee for record keeping and sharing of documents within the WSC PI Committee.

4. WSC PI Committee form subcommittees based on the WSC PI Statement of Purpose: Media, Helping Professionals, and the General Public.

5. WSC PI Committee complete work related to the approval of the PI Tear-Off Flyers.

6. WSC PI complete work on new DA Public Information Handbook following guidance of GSB PI. The title of the document be “Sharing Debtors Anonymous: Public Information Handbook for D.A. Members.”

7. WSC PI Committee create Social Media Guidelines.

8. WSC PI Committee pursue creating a query letter to magazine editors and TV producers for an article/show on D.A.

9. WSC PI Committee continue efforts to establish D.A. presence at national professional events and expand to local professional events.

In Summary This was a powerful year of service with three strong subcommittees equally committed to public information service work for D.A. Excitement, camaraderie and mission characterized the committee’s work. The 2015 PI Committee invites new delegates to join us in 2016 and continue the vision of growing D.A. by carrying the message of recovery from debting, one day at a time, to the still-suffering debtor.

Respectfully submitted by Siobhan K. on behalf of the 2014–2015 WSC PI Committee

Technology Committee

Technology Committee: Arthur G. Chair; Pat B, Board Liaison: Ellen B. Tom W.

The Technology Committee supports the rest of the Conference committees and the Board committees.

Whenever an idea is initiated in Tech. Com, we work with the responsible committee(s) to bring it to fruition. We devoted the 2015-16 work session to joining with the Conference & Host committees to test the feasibility and utility of a digital binder at the World Conference. It was decided to enlist up to 20 attendees to the 2016 WSC to receive a PDF version of the paper binder, see how well, or badly, it worked, and to fill out a short survey to give feedback on their experience and ideas for improvement.

Our recommendation to the 2016 Conference Committee is to present a motion for WSC approval to authorize the availability of digital binders to all participants at future WSC’s starting with the 2017 conference.

2015 – 2016 WSC Technology Committee

Diversity Caucus

Members: Asha-Chair Rae-Vice Chair- (resigned in the fall) Chris-Secretary (shared amongst group) Kieran-Treasurer Tim-committee member (discontinued participation after conference) Sue-General Service Board Liaison

The mission of the Diversity Caucus:

“The Mission of the Diversity Caucus is to support the Fellowship in carrying the message of Debtors Anonymous to the debtor in underserved populations and locations. We coordinate with all World Service Conference committees by developing best practices for doing service and sharing it with D.A. as a whole.”

Accomplishments:

1. Once the caucus was formed, we worked together at the 2015 World Service Conference to create a more inclusive mission statement that better explains the purpose of the Diversity Caucus. We also wanted to help keep the members of the caucus on track. Since caucuses cannot themselves propose motions, we asked the Public Information committee to make a motion proposing the new mission statement to the conference. The new mission statement was approved at the 2015 conference convocation.

2. Over the course of the year, we have been working diligently to serve the current membership of DA as a whole and how we might also reach out to underserved populations and locations that do not currently have established DA meetings.

We came up with two areas of service work to focus on: a. Researching best practices for outreach work in underserved communities and producing supporting service literature to show others how to do outreach. To that end, the DA General Service Board sent out an ENews on our behalf regarding diversity best practices. In it, we asked for input from DA groups and individual members about what helps their groups to be welcoming and diverse. We asked about what make groups attractive to newcomers and what help groups to grow. This ENews went out in June and we would still welcome responses because they would be helpful to the incoming diversity caucus. These can be sent to: [email protected].

b. Develop a home group diversity inventory that addresses how safe & welcoming we are for everyone.

3. We addressed the one issue that came up at WSC 2015 as well as some issues that have been brought to our attention throughout the year.

Recommendations for the incoming group:

We recommend that the incoming diversity caucus continue with the research and creation of a piece of service literature that outlines fruitful strategies for reaching out to underserved locations and populations. We also suggest that they consider working with other committees to revise the existing group inventory piece of service literature to include questions that address issues of diversity and inclusivity.

Acknowledgements:

Thank you to the GSB for the time & effort taken to consider and sending out our, “Call for Stories” publication.

Intergroup Caucus

Caucus Members:

Chair: Ellen B. Vice Chair: Bob A. Secretary: Maureen F.

Members:Jackie D., Jeannine W., Sierra P., Alice K., and (GSB Liaison) Eileen N.

We got off to a great start at the WSC and confirmed our goal of helping clarify the purpose of the Intergroups. Primary was updating all the Intergroups information, especially on the DA and the Intergroups websites through personal phone calls. This also included reminding groups to include web addresses as well as physical address and phone numbers for contact. Reminding groups to renew their registration annually was included in this initial communication as well as in the spring.

Once again the IG Caucus is requesting its own webpage not only for facilitating IG communication but to encourage exchange of literature and notice information in this increasing digital age.

To collect more information about the successes and best practices of IGs, a survey was developed and released in March 2016 and compiled two months later. In a preliminary analysis we learned several things about the effectiveness of our IG program. We were often reminded that “one size doesn’t fit all” and that’s a major purpose of the Intergroups. By gathering small and large groups together, and working together, they all learn from and support each other.

After the winter holidays, we started informally sharing ideas on how to celebrate the big birthday of DA in April. Some wonderful stories of sharing and fellowship events around the big day came back to us through the IGs and we feel they contributed by sponsoring a number of events and helping small groups enjoy the celebration. Special kudos go to the NY GSRs and their share which many of us listened to and celebrated!

Our prolific writers, Bob A assisted by Jackie D., provided us with a comprehensive Intergroup Service Handbook, a Training Template for interactive training, and a Summary of the Survey results. The Handbook is well on its way through review cycles at the GSB level and will be returned to the new IG Caucus for changes, corrections etc if needed. Likewise, the other two documents have moved to the next stages of review for edit and/or approval.

Here are our recommendations:

Recommendation No. 1: Continue to monitor and turn over to the new IG Caucus the release and promotion of the IG Service Handbook. This fantastic resource for Intergroups will help IGs from large to small to reach their fullest potential. Planning is already in place that the fist 10 pages be included in the DAMS 2017. This recommendation includes the use of the Interactive Training materials that accompany the Handbook.

Recommendation No. 2: Recommend the GSB share the IG Caucus survey results and how we can grow IGs and DA with other Committees and Caucuses. There may be new ideas to grow DA that develop from answers to the survey.

Recommendation No. 3: Support the development of a webpage for the Intergroup Caucus for awareness and distribution of this literature. This will also facilitate the location of Intergroups. As requested last year, a button or reference to this location on the DA page is needed.

Recommendation No. 4: It has been suggested several times we have a Q&A session 30 minutes before or after the IG Caucus meeting. It was also recommended individual IGs implement this. We have not had the time to address this and recommend the next IG Caucus consider this suggestion.

We also worked with the Conference Committee on recommending new WSC sites based on strong and large enough Intergroups to support it. And with our contribution to service literature the “50 Ways to be of Service” was resurrected and sent forward to be reprinted and distributed.

Thanks to our Board Liaison Eileen N. who patiently guided us through anxious moments trying to make our program the best it can be. Without her patience and positive “can do” attitude, I don’t know how we would have succeeded! It was a pleasure to do service.

. International Caucus

The 2015-26 International Caucus members included: Jean Camille, Chair; Andrea, Vice Chair; Joost, Secretary; Chris, Treasurer and alternate Secretary; Carolyn, Time Keeper; Michael, Board Liaison; and Dayton, alternate Board Liaison.

Created by an action of the 2011 WSC, the International Caucus’ mission is to exchange information and develop initiatives to support the growth of D.A. internationally.

The committee identified the following priority areas:

1. Identify an ACM to support the International Committee (GSB) 2. Explore literature translation

3. Identifying resources needed by international ISRs and GSRs – Not addressed 4. Create an inventory of international GSRs and ISRs 5. Develop a support structure for DA international – Not addressed 6. Create a repository of International Caucus files and an email address for direct contact

Identify an ACM

Each member of the International Caucus (IC) approached his/her international contacts in order to develop a list of possible ACMs. Regions and countries that could be contacted included: Asia, Australia, Bahamas, England, Finland, France, Netherlands, Russia, and Scandinavia.

An ACM from England was identified and an application submitted. The candidate eventually withdrew the application.

Literature Translation

After viewing the DA France website and speaking with a representative, we determined that DA France had a robust list of translated literature that included DA conference approved pamphlets.

To support the ongoing growth of DA France, the IC voted to encourage next year’s IC committee to make translation of literature for DA France a priority project. Actions might include facilitating better communication between DA France and the Literature Committee.

During the second half of the fiscal year, the IC voted to purchase and send copies of the new 12 Steps, 12 Traditions, and 12 Concepts of Debtors Anonymous book to the European conference for distribution at no charge.

Create an Inventory of International GSRs and ISRs

The IC voted to issue a Request for Information (RFI) in order to develop an up-to-date list of international intergroups. It planned to send the RFI to contacts and ask for their help with spreading the message. The Intergroup Caucus was identified as a possible collaborator for the project.

Soon afterwards, the IC learned about the International Operations Committee’s plan to perform global outreach to intergroup offices. In order to avoid duplicating efforts, the IC reached out to the OCs representatives in order to discuss collaborating on the project. IOC did not respond and issued an email blast that included a call to action but no reference to questions that the IC was attempting to address or contact information for the IC.

Outreach was conducted and the following information collected:

 Asia – Meetings are held online and via Skype approximately every 6 weeks. Their intergroup operates as a regional entity.  Australia – Their ISR was interested in presenting information on the open ACM position at their next business meeting.  Bahamas – As of Spring 2016, they do not have an intergroup or active meetings. There are a handful of fellows on the island.  England – They have an active Intergroup that is in contact with GSB.

 Finland – The Finish contact could not be reached and information for an alternate was not available.  Russia – They have a small DA group that meets face-to-face in St. Petersburg and one BDA phone meeting. The BDA group is in contact with ISR in London along with the European Intergroup.

Repository for IC Records and Email Address

A Google Doc file was created and all agenda, minutes, and documents uploaded to the file. All members of the committee were given full access and editing capability.

The ICs email address [email protected] was created by vice chair.

Motions Approved by the IC

1. The International Caucus will inform the Public Information Committee (PI) of DA France’s interest in working with it and ask that the appropriate PI representative(s) be introduced to the DA France representative(s). 2. The International Caucus will use its $100 committee budget to purchase copies of the new 12 Steps, 12 Traditions, and 12 Concepts for distribution at the upcoming DA Europe Conference. 3. The 2015-16 International Caucus recommends that the 2016-17 International Caucus makes working on the translation of literature for DA France a priority. 4. The 2015-16 International Caucus Committee recommends that 2016-17 International Caucus Committee find and invite a guest(s) from overseas to participate in the International Caucus.

Other Areas

 At the encouragement of the IC, the event sponsored by the New York GSRs in celebration of DA’s 40th anniversary included a conference line and a teleseminar access to be used domestically and internationally.

Other Items Not Addressed by the International Caucus

 Host an internationally focused meeting for DA worldwide  Collect stories of DA recovery from international fellows that may be written in a foreign language  Electronic payment option that international groups and individuals can use  International group sponsorship  Develop an inventory of international speakers across US DAs members  Research Videoconferencing and provide Board with recommendations