President Sheila Barney called the meeting to order at 6:36 pm.

She introduced Ms. Minaren Bozeman from the Hartford office of DemocracyWorks who explained their organization’s involvement with Connecticut VOTES, a coalition initiative that not only promotes voter registration and education, also getting the registered voter to the polls on election day. They target minority populations and the young who are notorious for not getting involved in the electoral process. She gave a 10 minute power point presentation that provided a little history of groups in the past who were denied the right to vote: women, anyone under the age of 21, anyone not of the white race, and anyone who did not own land. A still-excluded segment of today’s population, convicted felons on probation, is currently being addressed to have their enfranchisement restored. Connecticut law since 2002 provides for this and Connecticut VOTES informs and encourages individuals on probation to exercise their right. DemocracyWorks also is involved in other programs and issues such as: election day registration, the Help America to Vote Act, the Voter’s Bill of Rights, and campaign financing reform.

Ms. Bozeman went through the process of filling out a voter registration form. She passed out packets of information about DemocracyWork, Connecticut VOTES, and other helpful resources for voters and would-be voters.

• Old Business
• Sheila showed a poster of the signal box murals around the South End by the artist Zora.
• Lorell Guydon made an announcement for the Book Fair to be held on the Community Center’s outdoor basketball court Saturday, October 9th. She passed out flyers and asked for volunteers to contact her.
• Dorothy Wills made announcement for the South End Children’s Chorus auditions to be held September 25, 10 am to 1 pm, at the Center. This could be a fun, learning experience for girls and boys ages 8 -12 years old.
• Josephine Anderson made an announcement that the Hispanic Health Fair would be held Saturday, September 18th.
• President Barney closed the meeting at 7:40 pm