Proposal 2025-11 – Creation of an Ad-hoc Committee to discuss Scope of Intergroup 

Submitted by: IG70 (West Great Lakes Intergroup, USA) 

Issue: To allow the creation of Intergroup(s) defined by a shared set of needs among its member meetings, including but not limited to geographic proximity; to allow meetings to register with any Intergroup, provided the Intergroup votes at a regular business meeting to accept their registration; and to convene an ad-hoc committee to study the role of Intergroups within the ACA service structure to highlight the opportunities offered by participation in Intergroups. 

Background: The Big Red Book generally describes the scope of an intergroup’s reach as bounded by a geographical area (e.g. BRB pp 603-604); the Big Red Book further directs groups that have no Intergroup in their area to elect a Group Representative to attend the Annual Business Conference (page 604). With the dramatic increase in virtual meetings that both identify with no explicit geographic area and include members who live in a wide, in some cases international, array of geographical areas, there are virtual groups who are desirous of the representation and information that registration with an intergroup can provide. 

Resources/Implementation: As a functioning intergroup for 13 years, the West Great Lakes ACA Intergroup (WGLACA) will provide leadership and support to carry out this activity. WGLACA is offering to collaborate with the appropriate WSO committees as well as with other Intergroups and Regions that are interested in participating in this project. 19 

WSO Analysis: Factors to Consider: Removing Geographic Boundaries: Published in 2006, the ACA Fellowship Text “Big Red Book” is nearly 20 years old. Since its release, significant changes have occurred, including advancements in technology and the global growth of ACA. Groups have evolved from being primarily geographic-based to also including virtual groups without geographic boundaries. Therefore, the geographic policy for forming Intergroups has already been informally amended to allow virtual Intergroups to register on the ACA website. The first part of this proposal seeks to formalize this informal policy. Creation of an ad-hoc Committee: 

● The ACA WSO Member Services Committee has an existing subcommittee for Intergroups and Regions – see reference to webpage below. This subcommittee is open to all. 

● The ACA WSO Intergroup subcommittee currently supports an “Intergroup Roundtable” to discuss the role of Intergroups. 

● This proposal suggests creating an ad hoc committee which may be duplicating efforts. 

● We welcome the involvement of West Great Lakes ACA Intergroup (WGLACA) as well as all Intergroups in the established Intergroup subcommittee and roundtable discussions. 

Reference Links:
Find References linked at the end of the proposal at the ‘clickable links to the Ballot’, at the Ballot Prep Committee webpage at acawso.org/bpc