ARMUN (Arlington Regional Model United Nations Clubs)
Legal Status and Current Organizational/Operational Information
ARMUN is an unincorporated community group that is legally an affiliation of parents and community members gathered for the purpose of making available an opportunity for young people. Legally decision making power and responsibility for the organization rests with Kim Kay Holt, the Clubs' Founder and Director. The Clubs do have their own Tax ID Number and bank account, and a parent group is responsible for overseeing the organizational/operational management of the clubs with Kim, and the head of the parent finance committee manages the financial aspects of the club on behalf of the club members and their families.
Health and Safety, Youth Legal Compliance
The ARMUN Program complies with all Massachusetts regulations and standards for programs serving youth in terms of health and safety, including being registered CORI check providers and maintaining CORI information. Kim Holt maintains first aid and CPR and medication safety/administration certification. All parents are required to complete paperwork which tells about their student's allergies, any medical conditions, and which gives a release for first aid/cpr, and emergency medical treatment (if there is a religious exemption to this that can be discussed, but that is the only circumstance in which it is possible for a student to participate without this paperwork on file).
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Financial Management
The Chair of the Parent Finance Committee holds the Club ATM Card and is responsible for the management of club funds. Together she and the Parent Executive Committee members and Kim work on an annual budget and decide on the budgets for each conference or event. All participants are asked to pay an annual dues to cover the club overhead for the year, which is kept to a minimum, and the expected club fees for conferences that are planned, and then students must also cover their own delegate fee for each conference that they choose to attend. A set amount of funding for financial assistance is made available for those with demonstrated need each year. Some fundraising is done, but this is mostly left to the initiative of parents.
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Parent Involvement, Sharing of Risk
All parents are asked to be a part of one of the committees of the Clubs, perhaps helping with one specific task or helping with the ongoing club management in some way. Also, all parents are to understand that as participants in the program they share in the risk taken on in having students participate in the program, and all participants must have a signed release of liability and hold harmless agreement as well as agreement to indemnify all persons connected with ARMUN in order to be allowed to participate in the program. This is necessary to help us keep the costs manageable for everyone and the risk level tolerable at the same time, as we would need these releases if we carried a hefty insurance policy as the insurance would require them, but we would also have to pass on $4,000 or more a year in cost for the coverage. So we choose to cover our liability as best we can and share the risk among all of us, and not pay for expensive coverage.
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