OC conf call 6-7-10

Organizing Committee Conference Call Mon, 6/7/10

Summary

NEEDS identified:

- National folks/NPC is needed for help with greeting/welcoming International visitors

- Need point person for shuttle efforts and  folks stationed at the airport to connect and fill shuttles

- Volunteers in general. Big numbers are needed for: Security, Info/Troubleshooting Volunteers, Communication systems

- Cobo Hall & registration setup & many volunteers to work the crowd, publicize, etc.

- When are international participants coming to town and can we set-up a welcome event? Is this something IST can lead; follow up on. B can assist.

- Immigration group with DLOC to sort through immigration protocols. Sylvia: was an immigration group with DLOC; but less active; there is a need. 

- Some kind of city agreement saying that they're backing up 'hands off' attendees, immigration

- Plenary space set-up - Who will take that? Maureen?

- Let Sylvia and Adrienne know if you can volunteer with OC face-to-face planning

DECISIONS made:

- Maureen will start releasing blocks of rooms to there events happening in the area on request.

-No objections to AZ scholarship proposal; have consensus.

- We shouldn't guarantee Sanctuary publically because of the people we're dealing with- an almost unspoken agreement with them. Based on the dynamic of the conversations we've been having, we should not make a public invite per se. The level of security we offer is to say anyone with a wristband has some understanding that they are safe.

ACTION needed:

- Can an ad hoc committee pull this together while IST focuses on the logistics of getting the international visitors here?

- Sylvia sending hotel/housing info to Sha/David. E-blast goes out Tues to NPC, general listserv and online to ask partners to book these rooms, an email focused on housing. Housing is highlighted front/center on Website.

- Ife to confirm point people for all volutneer areas

- Adrienne: will set up a call and ask NPC groups less involved to step up here - by wed or thurs. Immigration Law Center perhaps? Others.. leads will be sent to Adrienne. B could help here. Local Lawyers Guild has been contacted, meeting to discuss possible immigration-related scenarios. Missing link is that we need to get our internal Protocol out to the incoming folks who are worried about immigration scenarios.

- We should also let visitors know what our security plan is, in case there is police activity. Who will get this out?

- Dave will follow up on program book insert

- Steph can help with grid and open space - will talk to Adrienne & Oya to coordinate

Role Call/Arrival Times:

In Detroit now: - Oya, Jamie, Roberto, Jamie, Adrienne, Adele, Mallory, Will, Ife, Marian

Arriving June:

10th: B, David

11th: Steph

12th: Sha

13th:

14th: Jen around this time, Walda

15th: Jerome, Alfredo

16th: Cindy late, Scott, Tammy

17th:

18th: Michael, Rose

19th: Alicia (will miss meeting), IPPN- at Miller

Agenda:

- Logistics crunch needs: (Maureen/Tapeka) - Hotel rooms--block bookings

- Registrations: USSF, CSF-CC, Persons w/ Disabilities, Solidarity Housing, Bike-Youth Tent Village, Volunteers

- Airport shuttles, greeters

- Medical care/safety

- Fireworks/Hart Plaza info to crowds

- Working group ground work and volunteer coordination in Detroit (Ife)

- Communicate-Coordinate with Ife

- Proposal: Outreach Working Group funds and AZ contingent (B.)

- Migrant and Immigrant Community Safety (Cindy)

- Speaker proposal for opening ceremony from the npc and international companeros (Cindy)

- Plenary sessions language needs? (Roberto)

- OC face-to-face meeting Sat, 6/19, plus orientation for NPC reps in town (Sylvia)

- Final coordinating, decision-making, orientation/overview of what's going on where and when.

- Nearby apartment available--anyone in need? (Victor/Sylvia)

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Logistics:

'Greeters for international folks.

- National folks/NPC is needed for help with greeting/welcoming International visitirs. Local & IST organizers are maxed out.

- ACTION: Can an ad hoc committee pull this together while IST focuses on the logistics of getting the international visitors here? Many are still debating their trip.

Hotel rooms:

- We have every hotel in downtown Detroit, most are overbooked. - Logistics has secured 3 additional - Hyatt Regency, Westin, Doubletree in Dearborn at approx 500-600 rooms total. This is under contact to USSF/Maureen's name. - there will be free transportation shuttles for USSF - Hotels will cancel rooms, if not filled, potentially charge back, we need to move on a campaign to getting word out about these right away. At Hyatt for example, USSF needs to book 80% of the blocks we reserved. - Everyone who inquires about rooms, should be referred to these hotels

- DECISION: Maureen will start releasing blocks of rooms to ther events happening in the area on request ACTION: Sylvia sending info to Sha/David. E-blast goes out Tues to NPC, general listserv and online to ask partners to book these rooms, an email focused on housing. Housing is highlighted front/center on Website.

Airport shuttles, greeters

- Will be available between hotels and USSF venues

- Running shuttles - $10 for a ride

- Info needs to go out to folks as soon as possible

- We will need folks stationed at the airport to connect and fill roles

- Need point person for shuttle efforts

Volunteer - Ife, Coordinator

- Information from all different places, identifying needs - Organizational chart out to folks to confirm and begin preparing connections between slots and people - OC has survey in email for contacts to fill out how we can help on the ground - Many of OC are leading sets of work and will need volunteers, survey includes needs & numbers, Ife will be confirming - Lot of work is happening, behind the scenes - there is a need to coordinate from multiple places, lists, etc. - Confirming point people for all areas - Next few weeks are critical, working quickly to pull something together for everyone to use - Big numbers are needed for: Security, Info/Troubleshooting Volunteers, Communication systems - Volunteers have to register - if not able to pay, can access sliding scale, but all participants & volunteers should be registered and wearing an arm-band - Volunteer Orientation will be happening before Tuesday

Set up day - Monday at COBO

- Also needed: many volunteers to work the crowd, publicize, etc.

There will be multi-pronged registration for on-site intake:

- Regular Regsitration

- Volunteer Registration

- Children's Social Forum

- Solidarity Housing

- Bike/Tent City Registration

We need support setting this up!

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Proposal: Outreach WG AZ contingent

Last NPC meeting general sentiment--AZ moment crucial; plenary 2nd day rep from AZ; recent weeks have put together a larger delegation--part. crucial to build movement nationally and internationally. Not just two bills but also proposed citizen for children bill; any other resrouces for helping this delegation?

How much money? 20-25k to help 20 people get to the ussf. Right now 3k is raised (estimate).

Funds that was originally designated to outreach--can be pulled over.

Steph: will know more by saturday when finance goes over budget.

No objections to proposal; have consensus.

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Immigrant Community Safety

- Cindy: ICE relationship. Driving in; what will be the best process. Legal team set-up? Passport and checking visa issues.

- Sylvia: was an immigration group with DLOC; but less active; there is a need. When are international participants coming to town and can we set-up a welcome event? Is this something IST can lead; follow up on.

- B: willing to join work group

- Regarding documents, Detroit Police have essentially offered to be 'hands off' for any on folks with USSF wrist bands on.

- Adrienne: will set up a call and ask NPC groups less involved to step up here - by wed or thurs. Immigration Law Center perhaps? Others.. leads will be sent to Adrienne. B could help here. Local Lawyers Guild has been contacted, meeting to discuss possible immigration-related scenarios.

- Develop team locally and nationally working with Centro Obrero and suggestions: National Immigration Law Center, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights along with Tom from Security

- Missing link is that we need to get our internal Protocol out to the incoming folks who are worried about immigration scenarios.

- Alfredo: did we declare the USSF a sanctuary--is this recognition of santuary status?

- Maureen: Homeland Security knows we cannot uninvite folks that we have invited, seconds that they've mentioned they won't mess with anyone who has a USSF wrist band. We can't ask Homeland Security to put anything down in writing.

- What do we need to term the USSF a 'sanctuary'? Afredo is suggesting we let the immigration community know all the work we've put into making this a Sanctuary

- B: we should also let them know what our security plan is, in case there is police activity.

- We need some kind of city agreement saying that they're backing this up.

- Maureen: We shouldn't guarantee Sanctuary publically because of the people we're dealing with- an almost unspoken agreement with them. Based on the dynamic of the conversations we've been having, we should not make a public invite per se. The level of security we offer is to say anyone with a wristband has some understanding that they are safe.

- Outreach is tricky here, without a Sancutary statement by USSF- for folks coming from all over- flying, driving, etc. Maureen would like us to publicize this post-USSF if all goes well

Elena's email--refererence (pasted below)

1. The police claim that they do not have a 287 agreement, but behave as if they do. We have no reason to believe the city is not profitting from Homeland Security contracts. Several of us from Centro Obrero and other groups of grass roots people over the past five years have met with police and they continuously deny that they have these contracts with ICE and they deny profiling. There are not checkpoints per se, but there are specific areas set up like dragnets where people are pulled over and asked for papers and detained by: Detroit police State Police

ICE and whomever else feels inclined to grab brown people at: mainly I-94 exit at Livernois. This is where people coming from work outside of Detroit generally exit to come back to the community where we live and go from in the mornings to car pool and fill up with gas for the ride to work at the airport (landscaping) and all points east and west to landscaping, construction and nursery jobs.

The north/south points on I 75 also get people from places like Pontiac, to the north and Adrian and Taylor to the south. Police in these places randomly pull people over and get per diem for housing immigrants in their cash strapped municipalities. They know the people are unarmed, do not have drivers licenses and an extra bonus for extra corrupt cops is that the people are usually carrying a lot of cash.

We recently had a situation where a person was detained at the airport and handed off to ICE due to having only Mexican passport and no legal papers to be in the US. We do not normally have contact with people flying. We do not have a legal team in place for dealing with undocumented persons in case they are detained coming to the forum. We have said that there are no more guarantees of safety from ICE here for people coming to the forum than there are for the people who live here. If we could guarantee that, we would be THE PROMISED LAND for all.

Gilberto Martinez, who came from Austin with his wife and grandson to bring up the Casasola exhibit we are presenting at the library, decided to go to Niagra Falls this weekend. Crossing the border back has been a nightmare for this family and they were detained for hours this morning and rudely treated by US customs about their travel. He is safely back in Detroit today, but we advise everyone that they will be endlessly fucked with by these assholes regardless of citizenship if they are Raza. We DO NOT ADVISE anyone going to Canada unless they have to. No vale la pena.

I hope this answers some of the questions you have. I will be asking some of Centro Obrero's lawyers to help out, but there is very little that can be done if someone is detained besides waiting to hear from them and notifying familia and posting bond, if possible, when possible.

Additional information discussed:
- Dual plan - got basic consideration from authorities & internal plan for legal teams and staying safe. Folks will work with Security to make it smooth. No guarantees.

- National immigration centers, with B and others to make full plan.

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Speaker Proposal for Opening Ceremony

Cindy: contacted Opening Ceremony Committee Maureen: NPC & IST don't yet have a recommended speaker for USSF introduction.

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Jermone- questions about Program

Because many changes have taken place with the program, we're putting in an insert for the printed program, but who is the point person for taking requests & overseeing the Program Insert? Adele is pretty booked up (Program Book team is Adele, Veronica, Lindsay Eyth, Dave/Sha supporting)

- Maureen can help work with Jerome on the Changes Insert - Plenary space set-up - Who will take that?

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Plenary Session language needs

- Working it out, online - don't need to discuss

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OC face-to-face meeting

- Most folks will be in town on the 19th - Agreement, expectations, orientation for NPC members about contacts and procedures

- Location - Saturday is not available at the church

- Let Sylvia and Adrienne know if you can volunteer

Staff Housing needs

5 staff apartments.
- 1 more available - $200 a week
- Contact  Victor, ASAP

Open Meeting times during USSF

MLG: Scheduling time 8-10am in the morning for caucuses, meetings
What is the system for open space scheduling?

Maureen: Many requests have come in for meeting space. We have say tues-friday (?), folks can meet at any space in Cobo hall until am at Cobo Hall. But we need to probably get a grid on the wall for the rooms so schedules are clear. There will be chairs set up in the big hall.

Saturday- Detroit Highlighted workshops will be repeated and will be from 10am-noon. Saturday all rooms will be open before 10am.

Oya: Artists are also trying to arrange for space reservations at Hart Plaza before the official schedule is going on.

- Steph can help with grid and open space - will talk to Adrienne & Oya to coordinate

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Other concerns:

Maureen: Concern is escalating around security/protocol around potential picketing and protests related to pro-palestinian/zionist tensions.

Also Evo, Harry Belefonte, etc. aren't confirmed but committees are following up so we can shore up special needs there.

Invited guests - letters sent, meeting later in the week to discuss

Tentative proposal to have another OC call next Monday--esp. for political discussions around the above issues.

- Will will send out email encouraging volunteers for medical staff, students, folks with trained skills - slide folks to Will