Hello ARA Members,

We want to update you on the happenings at your home office.

The 2008 directories are on the street and we are already receiving requests for more of them. I have requested the Publication & Directory Improvement Committee be an active participant in making suggestions to improve the directory and ask each of you to submit any suggestions you may have.

The members of the Computer Technology/Development Committee are currently working on a powerful addition to our communication and information sharing abilities by creating a message board for our members on www.repo.org. This will give us the ability to communicate with all of our members in a timely and constructive manner. The recent dealings with Wells Fargo highlighted the need for the capability; many times we heard the question, “what is someone else doing”, and now we will have an instant forum for our members to express their feelings.

As you know, we have retained the services of Carrie Barbour to be a training and support liaison for our members and our clients for the ARA Recovery Management Software and RDN. We thought it was in the best interest of our membership to have someone with complete knowledge of both sides of these products so that we will have an additional valuable tool to offer to the clients that are utilizing the ARA software. She may be contacted directly at 817.533.2052 or by email at
carrie@americanrecoveryassn.org

We are currently having a company assess our internal data files to help us determine the best method of converting them into a digital format so that we can be more proactive in the sharing and storage of information on behalf of our membership. We believe this will enable us to develop the ability to disseminate and review information in a more efficient manner. Many of you have been to Home Office before and are aware that we have large volumes of information in our filing cabinets here and it is a very inefficient way of handling information. I try to review the information in one drawer or another every chance I get but know I will not live long enough to read it all and there is some useful information there that we would like to share.

I am looking forward to the New Year with renewed energy and a clearer vision of the needs of our membership. I appreciate the opportunity I have been given to represent you.

Les McCook