Location: Video Conference Room, NonProfit Center, 89 South Street, Boston, MA 02111

7:10-7:15PM – Welcome and Introductions

7:15-7:45PM – Department Report Reviews and Updates

• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Programming
• Outreach
• IT
• Chair

7:45-8:00PM – Fetish Fair Fleamarket Update

• FFF #53 Summer 2019
• FFF #54 Winter 2020

8:00-8:05PM – Current/Open Business

• By-Law Status
• Consent Violation Policy
• Open Positions
  • Director of Associates
  • Director of Communication
    • Social Media Coordinator
  • Accessibility Coordinator
  • Pride Events Coordinator
• Leather Leadership Conference

8:05-8:25PM – New Business/Open Forum

• NCSF Membership Renewal
• Safer Sex Booklet/Other publications – Print run
• Mr. Connecticut Leather 2020
• Outreach Advertising Opportunities
• Requests for NELA Funding Process/Protocol
• Other – New topics, etc.

8:25-8:30PM – Break

8:30-9:30PM – Executive Session

Location: Video Conference Room | NonProfit Center | 89 South Street | Boston, MA 02111

Agenda

7:10 PM – Welcome and Introductions

7:15 PM – Department Report Reviews and Updates

• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Programming
• Outreach
• IT
• FFF Con-Chairs
• Chair

7:45 PM – Current/Open Business

• Open Positions
  • Director of Associates
  • Director of Communication
    • Social Media Coordinator
    • Accessibility Coordinator
    • Pride Events Coordinator
• Board Meeting Schedule
  • June, November, December – TBD
• PRIDE Schedule

8:15 PM – New Business/Open Forum

• Seeking Associates’ feedback for activities/events
• Other – New topics, questions, concerns, etc.

New England Leather Alliance (NELA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to making a safer world for BDSM practitioners through advocacy, education, and charitable giving.

NELA organizes and hosts New England’s largest kink event: the Fetish Fair Fleamarket which brings in 3,000 attendees, 75 presenters, and 85 vendors under one roof for 48-hours of classes, shopping, and entertainment. Throughout the year NELA also puts on a smaller Fetish Fair Fleamarket, participates in numerous PRIDE events, and hosts classes and seminars throughout the region.  NELA further supports the community by sponsoring sister organizations and events such as Mr. Connecticut Leather, The Network La Red, Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, Bay State Marauders, Mr. New England Leather, Rhode Island Drag Kings, AIDS Care Ocean State and the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom.

NELA is a completely volunteer-based organization. All donations and income earned from events go directly to supporting NELA’s mission.

Whether you’re interested in organizational leadership, IT, accounting, education, community relations, event planning, communication, social media, photography, and/or artistic creations there can be a place for you in NELA. Giving your time and energy to an organization such as NELA that supports the kink community is fulfilling on many levels.

Effort, time, skills, patience, professionalism, dedication, and perseverance are needed to be a part of NELA to help better serve the community, build better events, and achieve its mission.

Please consider applying for one or more of the open Board of Director or Coordinator positions.

Applications will be accepted through March 31, 2019.

Apply Now

Location: Video Conference Room | Non-Profit Center | 89 South Street | Boston, MA 02111

Conference Call Info: Uber Conference | Join by Phone: 720-835-5603 ( PIN: 87096 )

Agenda

7:15-7:20PM – Welcome and Introductions

7:20-7:45PM – Department Report Reviews and Updates

Secretary

Treasurer

Programming

Outreach

IT

Fetish Fair Fleamarket

Chair

7:45-8:15PM – Current/Open Business

By-Law Status

Consent Violation

Open Positions

• Director of Associates
• Director of Communication
  • Social Media

Feminist & Queer Happy Hour Collaborations

IT Task List

• Website updates (Meeting Minutes, Board Meeting schedule, other?)

Outreach Advertising Opportunities

8:15-8:45PM – New Business/Open Forum

Fetish Fair Fleamarket 53

Leather Leadership Conference

Requests for NELA Funding Process/Protocol

Boston Pride 2019

Other – New topics, etc.

8:45-8:50PM – Break

8:50-9:20PM – Executive Session

NELA Board Meeting

October 24, 2018 7:00PM

Join Remotely:
Phone: 720-835-5603 | PIN: 87096
Computer: https://www.uberconference.com/nelaonline

Location: The Conference Center at Waltham Woods, 860 Winter Street, Waltham, MA

Agenda

7:00-7:05PM – Welcome and Introductions

7:05-7:45PM – Department Report Reviews and Updates

• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Programming
• Outreach
• IT
• Fetish Fair Fleamarket
• Chair

7:45-8:15PM – Current/Open Business

• By-Law Status
• Consent Violation
• Open Positions
  • Director of Associates
  • Director of Communication
    • Social Media
• Feminist & Queer Happy Hour Collaborations
• IT Task List
  • Website updates (Meeting Minutes, Board Meeting schedule, other?)
  • Application for Board Position: Review
• Freedom for All Massachusetts
• December Board Meeting/Associate’s Appreciation Party

8:15-8:45PM – New Business/Open Forum

• Requests for NELA Funding Process/Protocol
• Other – New topics, etc.

8:45-8:50PM – Break

8:50-9:20PM – Executive Session

Three reasons why NELA says “Yes!” to protecting transgender rights:

1. If discrimination and pain comes to one community, it hurts every community. People who are transgender are also your friends, family, and neighbors. We must stand together to protect each other.
2. The transgender community is incredibly vulnerable. They are nine times more likely to attempt suicide in their lifetime, eight times more likely to have experienced severe psychological distress in the last year, twice as likely to be living in poverty, and five times more likely to be living with HIV than the general US population. It is essential to work together to protect the rights of the transgender community.
3. It is crucial to protect the transgender community in New England because it affects transgender people everywhere. States with similar laws will see them challenged, and will hesitate to introduce new protections. If we cannot keep transgender people safe, their community will be threatened everywhere else.

Get a Great RACK w/Thista Minai & Dr. Graham

When: Saturday, September 22, 2018 12:00pm AND 2:00pm
Where: Arts at the Armory, 192 Highland Avenue #1C, Somerville, MA 02143
Purchase Tickets: NELA Tickets

In this two-part intensive, national presenter Thista Minai and infectious disease specialist, Dr. Camilla Graham, team up to help you stay risk aware in your consensual kink. They’ll give you the latest medical information to keep yourself and your partners protected with your delightful perversions.

First session (12:00pm): Discuss a variety of toys from sexy to sadistic, examine what precautions we might consider when using them, and learn how best to care for them between scenes.

Second session (2:00pm): Dive deep into medical play, exploring safety protocols and aftercare procedures for needle play, sounding, micro-branding, and more. Come learn which common kink practices help mitigate risk, which ones don’t, what might actually make things worse, and what you can do to keep your risk profile exactly where you want it.

Knowledge is sexy so let’s get busy!

When: Wednesday, August 15, 2018 | 7:00 – 9:00pm
Where: Non-Profit Center | 89 South Street | Boston, MA 02111
(2 blocks from South Station and multiple parking garages)
Join by Web: www.uberconference.com/NELAonline
Join by Phone: 720-835-5603 | PIN: 87096

7:00-7:05PM – Welcome and Introductions

7:05-7:45PM – Department Report Reviews and Updates

1. Secretary
2. Treasurer
3. Fetish Fair Fleamarket
4. Programming
5. Outreach & Diversity
6. IT
7. Chair

7:45-7:55PM – Pride Business

1. New London, CT (8/25/18)
2. Hartford, CT (9/8/18) – Ad Content?
— Worcester, MA (9/8/18)
— Vermont (9/8/18)

7:55-8:25PM – Current/Open Business

1. By-Law Status
2. Consent Violation
3. Open Positions
— Director of Associates
— Director of Communication
— Social Media Coordinator
4. Mr. Connecticut Leather
— Gift basket for Raffle
— Ad content – Done!
— NELA Contingent
— Hotel rooms

8:25-8:40PM – New Business/Open

1. Summer Flea Wrap-Up Meeting w/Hotel
2. Feminist & Queer Happy Hour Collaboration
3. IT Task List
— Website updates (Meeting Minutes, Board Meeting schedule, other?)
— Application for Board Position
— Also reference Director of IT report
4. Requests for NELA Funding Process/Protocol

8:40-8:45PM – Break

8:45-9:15PM – Executive Session

Hello All,

Would you like to get into the Summer Flea for free?!?! Or get free NELA swag? Or a NELA Associate’s card? Or all of that?!?! Well, then we have a great opportunity for you!

We are moving our wares and goodies – including everyone’s favorite: gridwall 😉 – this Friday, July 27th, 2018 and we need your help!

We start at the Somerville storage unit around noon on Friday where we’ll load up the rental truck, drive to our new storage unit in Hudson, MA (~33 miles) then unload the truck into the new unit. How long will it take? That all depends on how many people volunteer!

Due to the physical nature of the move, the storage unit move will work similarly to Load-In/Load-Out at the Fleas where time volunteered counts as double-time (i.e., 2 hours worked = 4 hours volunteer credit).

On Saturday, July 28th, we will inventory all NELA swag from ~Noon-4:00pm. This portion of the volunteer opportunity will count as standard volunteer hours.

Here is the breakdown of benefits:

• 2 hours: Free entry to the Summer Flea
• 4 hours: Half off entry to the Winter Flea
• 6 hours: Plus a one year Associateship to NELA
• 8 hours: Plus a NELA T-shirt

If you are interested in this opportunity, please email volunteers@nelaonline.org no later than 7:00am on Friday, July 27th with the following:

1. Preferred name (legal name not required)
2. Cell phone number
3. Day/times available

You will receive an email and/or text confirmation by 8:00am on Friday. Coverage for these two opportunities will be limited so grab ‘em while they’re available!

Lastly, we realize that it’s short notice for many people, and for that we apologize, but we’re hoping that there is a handful of people out there who are interested and whose schedule will allow them to help us.

Thank you very much!

When: Wednesday, July 18, 2018 | 7:00 – 9:00pm
Where: Non-Profit Center | 89 South Street | Boston, MA 02111
(2 blocks from South Station and multiple parking garages)
Join by Web: www.uberconference.com/NELAonline
Join by Phone: 720-835-5603 | PIN: 87096

Agenda

• 7:00-7:05PM – Welcome and Introductions
• 7:05-7:45PM – Department Report Reviews and Updates
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer
  • Fetish Fair Fleamarket
  • Programming
  • Outreach & Diversity
  • IT
  • Chair
• 7:45-7:55PM – Pride Business
  • Nashua, NH Recap
  • Hartford, CT
    • Ad Content?
• 7:55-8:25PM – Current Business
  • By-Law Status
  • Ombudsperson
  • Consent Violation
  • Coalition for Freedom for All Massachusetts
  • Open Positions
    • Director of Associates
    • Director of Communication
      • Social Media Div Head
    • Mr. Connecticut Leather
      • Gift basket for Raffle
      • Ad content
      • NELA Contingent

• 8:25-8:40PM – New Business/Open
  • Needle Play/Blood Pamphlet (Iris/Puppy)
• 8:40-8:45PM – Break
• 8:45-9:15PM – Executive Session

NELA Board Meeting

When: June 20, 2018 7:00PM – 9:00PM
Where: Non-Profit Center | 89 South Street, Boston, MA 02111
(2 blocks from South Station and multiple parking garages)

Join by Web: https://www.uberconference.com/NELAonline
Join by Phone: 720-835-5603 | PIN: 87096

Meeting Agenda:

NELA BoD Mtg Agenda 20Jun2018

…because we aren’t psychic!

Where: Non-Profit Center | 89 South Street, Boston, MA 02111
When: Noon-2pm, Monday, June 18, 2018
Cost: FREE

Would you like to help NELA help others? As any kinky player knows, proper vetting keeps us safe. NELA would like to have a list of kink-friendly resources for those in-need of help that falls outside of the scope that we can provide.

We compiled a list of resources from counselors to hotlines from all corners of New England and now we need many people to call them and conduct a short survey to determine whether that resource is friendly towards kinky people or might want training.

Can’t make it to this event but still want to help? Contact: outreach@nelaonline.org for more info.

Body Impact: the Basic, the Complex, & the Cheats w/Sara Scalper

NELA’s first class since the NELA Reboot will be held in MANCHESTER, NH with Sara Scalper!

Date/Time: June 30, 2018 7:00pm – 8:30pm (arrive no earlier than 6:30pm)
Location: Best Western Plus Executive Court Inn & Conference Center – Roosevelt Room | 13500 S Willow St, Manchester, NH 03103
Purchase Tickets: NELA Tickets

See the Programming page for more details!

The Outreach and Diversity Meeting will be held on May 23rd from 7:00-9:30pm

Location: YWCA Cambridge Library, 7 Temple Street, Cambridge, MA 02139

All are welcome for input and discussion. A public agenda of the topics to be addressed will be posted soon

Our reboot continues with the monthly open Board Meeting.

Associates and the public are welcome to attend and are encouraged to put forth their ideas and suggestions.

If there are any topics you would like to discuss at the meeting, please RSVP below or PM NELAweb by EOD Saturday, May 19 and we’ll publish the agenda by EOD Sunday, May 20.

Meeting Info
Date/Time: May 22, 2018 7:00 (arrive early as building doors lock at 7pm!)
Location: Non-Profit Center, 89 South Street, Boston, MA 02211
Parking: on street or

• South Station Bus Terminal Garage
• 2 Financial Center Parking Garage
• SP+ Parking Garage, 125 Lincoln Street

Public Transportation: 2 blocks from South Station

Join via computer: https://www.uberconference.com/nelaonline
Join via phone: 720-835-5603 PIN: 87096