MEMBERSHIP

Membership is open to everyone. General membership meetings are open to anyone. Non-members may speak at meetings, but only members may vote.

General Membership

You do not have to be a member to come to a general membership meeting. Anyone who currently has permanent or student residence in Massachusetts can be considered a general member, and accordingly attend meetings, provide input to proposals, and receive information about the organization. General membership will be differentiated from voting membership according to level of participation in the organization.

Voting Membership

To obtain voting membership, one must either attend two out of three contiguous meetings or fulfill the corresponding participation requirement. Members need to come to meetings or participate in other ways. Each new member will complete a brief, confidential membership form. To maintain voting membership, one needs to continue attending two out of every three meetings or fulfill the corresponding participation requirement. If participation lapses, voting status remains for three months following the last activity/participation. After three months have passed without participation, voting status is terminated and participation in at least two out of three future contiguous months is required to return to voting status.

For people unable to attend meetings on a regular or occasional basis, the participation requirement can be met by phone or email conversations about the meeting, attending subcommittee meetings, volunteering at an event specifically on the behalf of the MTPC, working on a grant, distributing fliers, working on a current MTPC project, or by otherwise demonstrating a clear level of commitment and investment to the organization. All participation other than meeting attendance must be documented through an email, phone call, or other contact with the steering committee representative in charge of tracking membership.

Dues

An additional membership category will exist both for voting and non-voting members obtainable through the payment of membership dues. The dues will be a sliding scale of $1 to $25 dollars annually. Payment of dues will NOT mean one has voting status. Rather, dues will afford special privileges such as a quarterly e-newsletter, access to a message board, et cetera that will be determined.