Committees

DTA’s working committees are how multi-org programming happens without endless full-board meetings. Each committee has a defined charter, named members, and a clear scope.

Standing committees

Fourth Friday & Special Events Committee

Chartered May 27, 2026. Brings together five downtown partner organizations to coordinate Fourth Friday programming and other major events.

Composition: 10 members — 2 from each of:

• Downtown Alliance (DTA)
• Spark / Downtown Creative Works
• Cool Spring Downtown District
• The Arts Council
• The Dogwood Festival Committee

Each org sends its head plus one additional rep. This guarantees decisions stay close to the orgs that have to execute them.

Scope: Fourth Friday direction (programming, vendors, activations) + coordination of major downtown events.

Note from the chartering vote: an informal show of hands at the May 27 community meeting registered 22 in favor of “art performers, no commercial vendors at Fourth Friday.” This is non-binding framing — the committee makes the actual call — but it’s recorded as a signal of community sentiment.

Health & Wellness Committee

Coordinates the seasonal Wellness series. Chair: Daphne Fuller. Open to members.

Safe Streets

Tracks safety, lighting, walkability, permitting, and public confidence concerns downtown. Chair: Molly Arnold. The June 9, 2026 Downtown Watch meeting was organized under this committee’s coordination with FCPD.

How committees work

Forming a committee

A community or board member proposes a committee by bringing it to the board (verbally at a meeting, in writing via info@faydta.com, or via the /board slash command). The board votes on chartering. Once chartered:

1. The committee gets a defined scope, a chair, and an initial member roster
2. It gets a private Discord channel (#<committee-name>) gated to its members
3. It posts a quarterly status update to the board (via #to-dta-board or a written report in the admin portal)

Operating a committee

Committees set their own meeting cadence. Some meet monthly (Safe Streets), some only when the season calls for it (Wellness), some only ahead of major events (Fourth Friday Committee).

They use the same tools as the board:

• Discord channel for tactical coordination
• Voice channel for committee calls
• Admin portal for tracking decisions and outcomes

Reporting back

Committees report to the board, not the other way around. A chair’s job includes:

• Posting decisions to the committee’s channel
• Surfacing items needing full-board input to #to-dta-board
• Producing a quarterly summary for the board’s records

For other non-profits

Patterns we’ve found work:

• Committees should have outputs, not just members. “We meet to talk about X” is not a committee; “we produce the spring event programming by March 15” is.
• Multi-org committees beat single-org committees for cross-cutting work. The Fourth Friday Committee works because every relevant org has skin in the game.
• Quarterly reports keep committees accountable without being heavy. Weekly is too much; never is too little.
• Don’t make committee charters secret. When members can see what a committee is responsible for, they self-select into the ones they care about. This wiki page IS that visibility.

What committees don’t do

• Make decisions that bind the full board on matters outside their charter (only the board does that)
• Spend member dues outside their budget without board approval
• Communicate publicly on behalf of DTA without coordinating with the board (use the #to-dta-board channel to keep everyone aligned)
• Maintain shadow membership records (the database is the source of truth)

Getting involved

If you’re a member and want to join a committee, send a message via /board on Discord or email info@faydta.com with the committee name and a sentence about why you want to help. The committee chair makes the call on new members; the board is the appeal route if needed.

If you’re not yet a member and the committee work interests you, join the Alliance — most committees expect ongoing presence at downtown events and meetings, which is easier as a member.