We just had our first Board meeting of the cycle and we want to keep you updated on some of what we discussed and decided. Of course, we will also report these things in NAWS News.

PR/FD Zonal Contact: The 2016–2018 NAWS Strategic Plan includes a project focused on the relationship between public relations and fellowship development and the need for more collaboration and planning. This cycle’s strategy is to “Support the efforts of NA service bodies —especially those of zonal forums—to strengthen and grow NA as part of a coordinated, comprehensive PR strategy that advances the Vision for NA Services.” We are asking zones that are interested in participating in discussions about this to send contact information for a point person. Thank you!

FIPT Statement: thank you to those of you who sent in input on the draft statement related to FIPT issues. We received input from 91 people, 49 of whom were delegates. Of those 49, 22 would approve the statement as written, 16 would approve it if revised, and 11 would never approve it. Given that fewer than half of delegates responded to the survey, there does not seem to a conscience on releasing a statement from the WSC. We will, instead, release something from the World Board that reports on the WSC discussions, decisions, and straw polls perhaps along with some historical context.

IDT: Coming soon to a website near you…. We are working on finalizing the Issue Discussion Topic material for this cycle and will post session outlines and PowerPoints at www.na.org/idt when they are finalized. The topics this cycle are

• applying our principles to technology and social media
• the second bullet point of our vision statement and atmosphere of recovery
• an introduction to our new book Guiding Principles

Recovery Literature Projects: We are collecting input to help shape two recovery literature projects that will be included in the project plans for consideration at WSC 2018. One is a meditation book and another is an IP on recovery and mental illness/mental health. We have posted webpages for each project with input questions online to fill out and downloadable forms you can use for your local workshops. Please spread the word to any interested addict. More voices means better literature.

Mediation book page: www.na.org/meditationbook

Mental illness/mental health IP page: www.na.org/mhmi

Service Material Projects: We are also working on a couple of “tool box” projects for service materials this cycle—one for conventions and events and another for local service tools. We know that updated service materials are long overdue, and developing a collection of tools rather than a large handbook means that we can produce more items more quickly and that they can be more easily translated and adapted for local use. We will be creating a web page for each focus and will eblast a notice to all members on the NAWS Update list when the pages are posted and we have more information.