8-4-09 Outreach/potluck meeting at Cafe Con Leche

Tuesday, August 8, 2009

Agenda

• Welcome/Introductions
• DLOC meeting de-brief
• Q&A
• Potlucks
• Database system
• Actual Outreaching - The time is now!
• Calendar
• Wrap up

Attendees

• Dessa Cosma
• Richard Feldman
• Nisa Joorabchi
• Stephanie Change
• Marisol Valerio
• Rafat Essa
• Stephanie Chang
• Maureen Taylor
• Rachel Wells
• Andre Martin
• Ron Lockett
• Ahmina Maxey
• Ron Lare
• Derek Grigsby
• Andrea Goodman

• DLOC meeting de-brief

New structure proposed for DLOC meetings

The Chairs from each Committee attend DLOC and then bring info from DLOC mtg back to their Committee

Anchors would like all Committee Chairs selected by the next DLOC meeting

After NPC meeting it looks like we're in good shape

Fireworks falls during the USSF - which brings approx. 1 million people

Vendors will be able to make money during the fireworks

Logistics is looking for 5,000 bikes to use during the USSF

• Potlucks

It's important that we have regular events/potlucks building up to the USSF

Potlucks are useful not only as an outreach tool but they also provide the place for those political discussions that may not occur at DLOC (due to the new change in DLOC structure)

Chairs would like someone to step up as Potluck Coordinator - 1 or 2 people

Responsibility: Delegate tasks so we can have successful potlucks. They are not expected to do all of the work.

Derek, Andre, Stephanie, and Rachel have all stepped up to form the Potluck Coordinating Team

There will be a rotating Potluck point person by month

Rachel will be responsible for September Potluck

We have commited to having a potluck every month until the USSF

Handout distributed with discussion points from March Potluck meeting

Idea: Because September is the start of the school to incorporate education as the theme

The first Potluck will be September 17 and Rachel will be main point person

Will always pick two dates prior to the Potluck so they can be advertised

For the first 2 months the potlucks will be on Thursday's

• Additional Agenda Items 1

16,000 USSF informational quarter sheets are being printed in English, Spanish, and Farsi

Recommendation that it be in Arabic instead of Farsi because it is more commonly spoken here

Labor Committee is meeting tomorrow

Outreach Opportunity: A lot of people interested in the USSF will be in Pittsburg in September to protest against a meeting of G20 leaders of the third world

The anchors are requesting $500 from NPC to serve food once a month at the DLOC meetings

• Additional Agenda Items 2: Accessibility

Outreach is not being performed to people who do not have internet access

We need to be pro-active about it

• Database System

Is there a standarized way of determining whether organizations/people have been outreached to?

Not yet but we have talked about developing a system

Decision that we will create a a standard letter to give organizations about USSF

Should develop way of determining if someone's been outreached to via letter, e-mail, in-person, or phone call

This again brings up the issue of accessibility and it's importance in regards to the next potluck event and in regards to outreach

We need to have the deliberate conversation about outreaching to groups outside e-mail, example) community organization/block clubs only available through face-to-face outreach

Everyone has committed to outreaching to one organization they know this month

• Additional Agenda Item 3: Labor Day Parade

We should be at the Labor Day Parade and perform outreach

Anchors have discussed creating cards (30,000) for Labor Day and will be speaking with organizer of parade

Suggestion cards be quarter sheets

Suggestion for a banner instead of cards

Discussion around best form of outreach at Labor Day Parade:

Derek - Thinks we should have targeted potlucks to specific communities so need for cards during Labor Day maybe not because of multiple organizations

Rich - Better off with a banner about the USSF at Labor Day instead of quarter sheets

Ron Lockett - Typically we are doing focused Potlucks, but we're not going to get another Labor Day event before Social Forum

Rachel - Potlucks should remain open to all. They can specifically target a neighborhood but should be open for all.

Nisa - Kicker cards distributed for Labor Day have an event just for that audience

Rich - Labor Committee that meets tomorrow could take on planning an event around Labor Day

Nisa - ***Potluck Coordinator Team can hook up with the Labor Committee

Dessa - ***We need to hook-up with Labor anyways because it's Outreach.

Maureen - The idea of just a banner instead of a bunch of paper is a good idea; Agrees with Ron Lockett that this is an opportunity

Ron Lare - We should be saying to the people we outreach to at Labor Day - Come to potluck

Ahmina - Send to Potluck Coordinator Team to make decision on plans for Labor Day parade

Nisa - Can make 1/2 sheet or 1/4 sheet of flyer

Rafat - Where were we thinking of having the potluck? Could advertsie in book stores b/c a lot of students are in the library before school?

• Calendar

Put events on the calendar that people can go to for Outreach

The calendar can be used to post events

We need to ensure that outreach is occurring at these events

• Additional Agenda Item 3: Working Group Call

Tomorrow at 4pm - Ahmina will join and send out notes

UAW is having its first convention in years in Detroit - First week of June

Have we heard anything about student groups that want to organize

Andre - wayne state, u of d, marygrove

Dessa - College fairs are great for outreach

Ron Lare - He would like to work with Andre on this

Ron Lare - Who is outreaching across the border to Canada; Ron is interested in doing that outreach

• Wrap Up

The following items will be put together by the end of the week:

Final Contact list of organizations using googledocs

Outreach kit