Committees

 

Committees are the vehicles that facilitate the ISPN’s collaborative work. Each committee is led by a Chair or Co-Chair, who are committed members appointed by the general membership. Committee participation is open to all members of the network.

  • Membership Committee: Provides orientation of new members and engagement of current membership. The Membership Committee also organizes a biannual networking happy hour.

  • Governance and Finance Committee: Identifies opportunities for funding that ensure the ISPN is a sustainable and collaborative entity for all immigrant service providers in the St. Louis region.

  • Legal Housing Committee: Provides legal resources and information to address a variety of legal issues that impact St. Louis's immigrant population. These resources include providing educational materials, legal referrals, and updates related to housing rights, immigration questions, criminal and traffic matters, employment issues and other legal matters.   

  • Education Committee: Create education access for issues relevant to immigration, provide opportunities for community building, and be a connecting resource hub for service providers and community members.

  • Language Justice Committee: Advocates for language access for the community members with limited-English proficiency by aggregating experiences and providing recommendations to local stakeholders. 

Any ISPN member may suggest the formation of a new ISPN committee. The process for forming a new committee is outlined below:

  1. An ISPN member brings the idea to a member of the Executive Committee.

  2. The Executive Committee member will bring the committee proposal to the Executive Committee at the next leadership meeting for initial discussion.

  3. The Executive Committee will make a preliminary determination about whether the proposed committee meets the criteria:

    1. A community need exists

    2. The new committee’s purpose fits the mission of ISPN

    3. Collaboration on the issue/committee purpose would be beneficial

    4. The ISPN has or could have the resources and tools to address the purpose/goals of the committee

    5. Sufficient interest in the committee is evident in the ISPN

    6. Potential committee leadership within the ISPN exists

  4. If the proposed committee meets the criteria, the ISPN member who has proposed the committee is invited to the next Executive Committee meeting to fully explain the concept and discuss timeline of committee introduction to general membership, leadership, committee deliverables, etc.

  5. If the proposed committee does not meet the criteria, the ISPN Chair advises the ISPN member of the decision and explains which criteria were not met.