Greetings RAW members, and welcome to the new era of Reggae Ambassadors Worldwide, heralded in part by our full page piece in the just-released Reggae Festival Guide (page 78). I hope you'll agree that the article sets the tone for the new year, and shares our message of hope with the wider Reggae audience.

Internally, I am pleased to report that we have completed our first ever General Members Meeting, which you were all welcomed to attend and be a part of. During it, we reviewed the suggestions of various members regarding what RAW should undertake for the future, including calls for Conferences, an Artist database, and regional efforts. As a result of the successful nomination & elections process undertaken last year - and completed earlier this year - we were able to review the coming-year-Agendas of our presumptive & freshly instated members of the new Board of Directors, whose plans include list serves, a aggregate archive of RAW music, expanded social networking, and collaborative work with other non-profit causes.

Those present voted unanimously to accept the following resolution: that "RAW dues for all members for 2007 be waived. Any member who paid dues for 2007 would have that payment applied to their 2008 dues. Persons who joined in 2007 would have their new membership fees applied to 2008.”

A draft of the minutes from the meeting is available to all RAW members by sending a request to frankston@ireggae.com

The Annual Board Meeting proceeded after the Annual General meeting, and included the ratification by the Board of the fee waiver previously passed by the General Membership. Executive Board elections voted in Kyle Russell as Executive Director; Joel Spencer as Assistant Executive Director; Tom Pearson as Membership Director; Joanie Pearson as Treasurer; and Daniel Frankston as Secretary. A ByLaws Revision Committee was established to improve the existing ByLaws, and future meetings and agendas were discussed. We should all expect some action steps and developments to be underway by the fall.

As always, open your RAW emails for updates, and don't hesitate to contact me, or any members of the Board, with any ideas you may have - your feedback is welcome. Most importantly, let us know of any improvements you yourself can implement as a General Member and committee member, so that we may support your participation in making RAW every bit the organization you'd like to see. As Ghandi said: "You must be the change you want to see in the world!"

RAWspect, Kyle Russell, Executive Director of Reggae Ambassadors Worldwide