Area II Report: Wrapping up the 2021 USEA Convention
From Janet Gunn, Affiliate Coordinator: (Janet is also the Area II Affiliate Coordinator so this report has been edited to information pertinent to our Area)
First, some Membership related announcements: The ($5) Covid fee on entries will go away Jan 1 2022. The ($5) Covid fee on membership will go away for the 2023 membership year (they would have removed it for 2022, but over 1000 2022 memberships had already been processed when the decision was made in October). So far, they have not needed to spend any of the money in the Covid fund. There was some discussion that, if it is not spent, it might be credited to future membership renewals. (It is not practical to track down, and credit, the entry based Covid fee.)
Area II active affiliate organizations: Blue Ridge EA, Commonwealth DCTA, and Maryland CTA .(There are 13 currently nationwide (2021) active Affiliates.) In Area II, two affiliates did not renew for 2021 Eastern States DCTA –Pending Renewal and Oley Valley CTA – Pending Renewal. These Area II Affiliates have lapsed in recent years (some may have closed down, some may have just forgotten to renew, some may have decided not to continue) Central VA CTA (Lapsed) and NCDCTA (Lapsed)
For Affiliates that have lapsed, or not renewed, I am very interested in hearing why, especially if there is something the USEA can do (within its budget) to make it more attractive (Note that the USEA typically gets less than $1.25 per Affiliate member).
Is your local CTA an affiliate, or would they be interested in becoming one? Here's some information: https://useventing.com/about/
Janet noted that several Affiliates would like to see the revival of Affiliate-based team competitions, which have largely been replaced by Adult Rider teams that are not associated with Affiliates. It is perfectly possible to have Affiliate-based teams within the current structure (Commonwealth Dressage and Combined Training Association, and Indiana Eventing Association, at least, are currently fielding their own teams), but most Affiliate don’t realize that, so it needs to be better publicized.
