There were a number of important issues that were discussed that you should familiarize yourself with and that were discussed at the meeting

Corporate Structure. The most important one was a possible merger of the USA Karate Federation with the Kwanmukan. The general plan discussed was that we would keep the name USA Karate Federation but use the Kwanmukan Bylaws. The management board would remain the same except for the addition of two or three people from the USAKF Board – Kwanmukan members who live out of state so we have a national board and not a local board. The merged organization would have the following departments or sections that would each have their own funds but accounted for under the surviving non-profit. Each would have a separate identity and a member of one section may not even know all the activities are under one umbrella non-profit. USA Karate Federation Annual Tournament and activities – USAKF will take over the North Coast Championships and develop this event into a combined tournament and training. The idea is to use the funding from the tournament to pay for these extra training activities which could be in other martial arts such as iaido and jodo.

Kwanmukan – would continue as it does now. USA Sports Jujitsu Alliance – would continue as it does now World Kobudokan – would continue as it does now This would give us a non-profit with asset value in excess of $50,000 and a more robust martial arts organization. Upcoming Training Programs. The below training programs will be offered in 2024. Kobudo with Michael Bukala – 12 Week course starting Sept 11. This will follow the same format as before. Kwanmukan Instructor Training – There will be a 10 week program spread out over the summer covering a number of topics. This will be at Hickey Karate Center E Bo no Kata. This is a required jujitsu kata for shodan. This will be covered as part of the Instructor Training. Many jujitsu organizations require kata and we need to input a few of these kata into our jujitsu system. These are two person kata. FYI, karate copied the name kata from other martial arts and these arts used two person kata practice. Background Screening and Abuse Training Program. The Kwanmukan now requires all black belts 18 and over to have a current background screening every two years. Background Screens are only good for two years. As part of our background screening program an Abuse Training Program is required. Background screening is about $25. To show that the Kwanmukan is serious about its members receiving this training, the Kwanmukan will pay for the first 50 background screenings. To access the link to register for this screening, go into your Kwanmukan team on the Stack Team App and scroll down and select the menu item for Background Screening. This will take you to the page to register. I have already gone through this process and it worked seamlessly. Background Screening from other sources.
The Kwanmukan will accept evidence of background screening from other organizations BUT this does not eliminate the need for an Abuse Training Program. You can find other abuse training programs on line, through the USA-NKF, AAU and abusepreventionsystems.com. There are probably others available but any cost is your own. Picnic and Anderson Cup. We will have our picnic in August and the Anderson Cup/Celebration of the Kwanmukan will be held at the same time. More exact information will follow but please mark your calendar that this will happen on the first or second Saturday in August.