Forming a New WTI Group

You may wish to begin a Program and find that there isn’t a group which is convenient for you. You can travel to another location, and/or you can begin forming a WTI group in your city or town.

Designating a Contact Person

The first thing a newly forming group needs is a Contact Person. A Contact Person volunteers to provide information to interested women about WTI Training Programs. The ideal Contact Person is someone who is accessible by phone and email to respond to inquiries. She must be willing to have, at a minimum, her name, phone number, and eddress published so women can contact her. The best Contact Persons are:

• knowledgable about WTI
• excited about the formation of a new WTI group in their area
• personable and outgoing
• able to communicate well
• organized
• prompt in replying to inquiries

Building your Group

A WTI group begins when 10 or more women in an area are enrolled with WTI. You can contact the Mother House to see how many women are enrolled.

You know your community best, and therefore, probably the easiest way to find women who would be interested in WTI. The most effective way to find 10 women interested in WTI is to tell your friends about WTI and ask them to tell their friends. If this method does not identify 10 women who are interested there are many other ways to make contact with women who might be:

• Talk on your local email lists about WTI and what you’d like to see happen in your area.
• Start a Goddess discussion group.
• Put an ad in your local progressive newspaper.
• Ask your local Unitarian Universalist Congregation if you can put a notice in their meetings bulletin or post a notice on a bulletin board.
• If you have a local radio show that caters to a women’s audience or has programming for women at a specific time, send them a pubic service announcement.
• Put notices on community bulletin boards.
• Place notices or ads in your local pagan or feminist press.
• Put a classified ad in more traditional press in your area.

Whenever a woman who is interested in WTI is identified, put her in touch with your group’s Contact Person and give her RCG-I’s web address. The Contact Person can provide her with information and answer questions about your local group. The RCG-I website has information and enrollment materials online. If a woman does not have web access an information packet which includes enrollment materials can be mailed by the Mother House. Once she completes her enrollment information and makes a deposit, she is enrolled.

Enrollment

To enroll, each woman completes her enrollment materials and returns them with a $100 deposit to the RCG-I Mother House either via the web or by mail. A Participant may choose from several payment plans, whichever is most convenient. She may pay her tuition in two equal parts, by the month, or pay the entire amount in the beginning. The deposit amount is included as part of her first year’s tuition.

What happens after 10 women are enrolled?

Once you have 10 women, the WTI Advisory Council will appoint a Convening Advisor for your group. Convening Advisors are women who have been actively involved in WTI Programs. Your Convening Advisor will communicate with your Contact Person and schedule your first Advising Weekend. Once you have scheduled a date, your group will have to:

• Select a place to meet. Some groups meet in one of the participant’s homes. Other groups prefer to meet in a retreat-like setting or in a local community space. Making arrangements to:
• house, feed and transport your Convening Advisor. Unless your Convening Advisor lives within 4 hours of your Advising weekend site, she will be traveling by plane. Someone will need to be designated to pick her up at the airport. She will also need a place to stay. Community housing with one of the women in your group will be fine. There is a strong preference for your Convening Advisor to be housed in a quiet private room with a door that closes. Please include your Convening Advisor in whatever plans your group is making about food and include the cost of her food along with your groups other expenses.
• notify all women enrolled about the date, place and time of the first Advising weekend. After you know the date and place of your first weekend, you can discuss with your Convening Advisor whether you or she will notify the women in you group when and where your first weekend will take place.

Resource People and Technical Assistance

The WTI volunteers and staff can provide newly forming groups with technical assistance. This assistance may include:

• An explanation about how the program works.
• Responses to specific questions about the program.
• Information about what strategies have been successful for other forming groups.
• Mailing brochures and enrollment information.
• Assistance developing promotional mailings to prospective participants.

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