FRAMINGHAM, MA - With the distinction of holding the first of hundreds of Nonprofit Town Halls taking place throughout the country, the Massachusetts Nonprofit Congress Steering Committee is now scheduling four additional Town Halls statewide, beginning in Framingham, to discuss methods for strengthening the sector locally and nationally.

With special emphasis on public awareness and support of nonprofits, the Metrowest Nonprofit Town Hall takes place 8:30-11a.m. on Feb. 24 at the Historic Village Hall in Framingham Centre. An optional workshop focusing on public awareness strategies follows from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

Additional Massachusetts Town Halls are planned for Boston and Pioneer Valley in March and April. A special Town Hall for Emerging Leaders will be held in April.

Co-sponsored by the Metrowest Nonprofit Network and the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers, the Town Hall is free of charge; lunch for the optional workshop is $7. To register, send a message to workshops@metrowestnonprofit.org.

The Town Hall agendas are tailored for people interested in being a part of a national initiative to discuss the future of the nonprofit sector, or to improve the nonprofit community in general, explains Tim Delaney, president of the National Council of Nonprofits (NCNA), the organization that launched the Town Halls and the Nonprofit Congress in 2005.

Feedback from all Nonprofit Town Halls will be sent to NCNA to shape the loud message of the sector during this year's Nonprofit Congress, to be held May 14 and 15 in Washington, D.C. This year's Congress features a lobby day, which enables the sector to seize the momentum of the new administration to carry the vigorous, unified voice of our nonprofit network to Capital Hill, Delaney adds.

A Nonprofit Town Hall that took place Dec. 11 in Westminster was the first of several hundred similar meetings being held throughout the U.S. in the months leading up to the mid-May Nonprofit Congress. Co-sponsored by the Center for Democracy and Humanity at Mt. Wachusett Community College and the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers, the December meeting brought together 50 representatives from north-central nonprofits, who spent the morning examining the power of nonprofit collaborations and creating many new ones.

The Massachusetts Nonprofit Congress Steering Committee is led by the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers, with additional co-sponsors in each region.

In its three national gatherings since 2005, the Nonprofit Congress has brought together about 2,000 representatives from each state's nonprofit sector to devise and implement a plan to strengthen the sector nationally through advocacy, organizational effectiveness, and public awareness and support of the sector.

Related Link: <http://www.massnonprofit.org>

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