Community Council Executive Board Resources

Here you can find links to resources on a variety of topics including leadership, meetings, committees, government, and more. Check back regularly for updates.

FCC Resources for Councils

Email for any of the below resources or with additional questions.

The Community Council Chair/President is the designated representative for their respective Community Council. Other representatives may be assigned either within Community Council by-laws or by delegation of the chair/president.

Administrative
- Staff maintains the website, email list-serv, & archive for each Community Councils.
- Staff can send email reminders for upcoming meetings, post agendas & documents, and print meeting documents.
  - Documents can be printed for Councils with 1 business day notice.
- Postal Mailing Address – staff maintain mailboxes for each Council.
  - Public notices are opened, emailed to the Council Chair, and posted on the Public Notice page of the Council webpage. Physical copies are left in the mailbox for pickup.
- The FCC maintains a few different types of insurance:
  - Business & Workman’s Comp Insurance for the organization and staff.
  - Board & Officers insurance for the Board of Delegates and Executive Director.
  - Insurance for Council meetings (Certificate of Insurance available upon request).
  - Insurance for special events such as fairs, large picnics, or trash pickups (limited resources available upon request).
Technical
- Staff maintain Council webpages unless instructed otherwise by the Council Chair or their delegate.
- Zoom accounts and log-in creditentials are maintained by staff.
- Councils can have access to the email or physical list of members under certain circumstances (check out the policy here).
Financial
- The FCC maintains non-profit status for the use of Councils.
- To use the non-profit status for donations, open a bank account, or apply for a grant – check out our Fiscal Sponsorship policy.
Training
- The FCC holds regular online & in person training resources.
Outreach
- The FCC holds a limited amount of funds for Councils to use for Bulk Mailings (check out the policy here).
- Councils may sometimes have access to a limited amount of funds to use for Outreach (check out the policy here).
  - Note: there are no funds available for 2025.

General Resources for Running a Meeting

Tips of Conducting a Community Council Meeting.
Meeting Resources & Facilitation Tips
Consensus Decision Making – A style of decision making in which participants are able to arrive at a decision through discussion where all participants’ viewpoints are considered, the final decisions are agreeable to all involved, and the approval is unanimous.

Robert’s Rules of Order

The Chair Recognizes – A book of parliamentary procedure.
Parliamentary Procedure Reference Sheet – A quick guide to moving the meeting along.

Community Council Specific

Submitting New By-Laws – A step-by-step process to getting your new council by-laws approved (hint: there is more to it than you think).
Zoom Meeting Safety – How to keep your meeting safe from unwanted guests.
FCC YouTube – a catalogue of recorded resources.
Local Lens – a deeper dive on local issues, hosted by the FCC.

Community Organizing Resources

Community Tool Box – The Community Tool Box is a free, online resource for those working to build healthier communities and bring about social change. Our mission is to promote community health and development by connecting people, ideas, and resources.
Neighborhoods USA – NUSA provides opportunities for diverse people and organizations to share their ideas, values, and experiences to build stronger communities.
Seed for Change – Offerings on training, meeting facilitation and online resources on collective organizing, developing your strategy, campaign and action skills, setting up groups, consensus decision making, running co-ops, and training for trainers.
Depolarizing Conversation Guide – Alaska Humanities Forum launched its Depolarizing Conversations work in 2021 in response to the contentious public dialogue emerging around the Covid-19 vaccine. The guide compiles what we learned from that project about depolarizing contentious conversations of all sorts. In these pages, you’ll find concrete tools for navigating this kind of challenging conversation with coworkers, family members, friends, and acquaintances, regardless of the topic. Importantly, these tools are for tackling conversations with people you are connected to and intend to stay in relationship with. They are tools for strengthening communities and families in times of conflict and distrust.

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