From US Social Forum Wiki
- Coordination Team Notes
- Wed, 9/9/09
- Present—Michael (GGJ), Diana (EMEAC), Sylvia (MWRO); Cindy (GGJ)
- Absent—Maureen & Will (Detroit Staff), Elena (Centro Obrero), Josue (May First), Tom (IEN)
- Agenda
- Next NPC face-to-face mtg
- Organizing Committee structure and reps--please review Cindy's last document review
- Process for new Coordination Team role and reps
- NPC conf call 9/16
- Process for new NPC applications
- USSF job positions
- DLOC/Anchors update
Diana Seales is replacing Rocio Valerio from EMEAC on the Interim Coordination Team.
- Next NPC face-to-face mtg
- Next mtg will be in Atlanta from October 23-25; Organizing Committee mtg Oct 22
- Stephanie is on vacation till 9/12—we’re still waiting for info on hotels and/or solidarity housing.
- Perhaps Justin and Kamau can help with logistics.
- We need to send out a notice to NPC about Oct face-to-face mtg
- We also need to review the budget and clarify travel stipend assistance for NPC members.
- -- NPC is growing, stipends should not be considered automatic.
- -- We need to develop criteria to determine who we can assist and how many.
- -- How can we assist DLOC reps with travel to ATL for logistics meeting?
- Organizing Committee structure and reps--please review Cindy's last document review
- Main issues—
- -- Do staff have a vote?
- -- Clarify if reps must be NPC members and/or can be WG Co-chairs
- -- When does OC meet vs. NPC—C-Team recommends one week before NPC call to draft agenda.
- The OC will meet monthly but later on my need to meet twice monthly.
- -- Extend deadline to select WG reps—9/16?
- -- New C-Team language? Function should be about coordination of OC, reminders, some tasks.
- More questions?
- -- Is OC job description similar to NPC?
- -- Is the C-Team what the Accountability Team was before?
- The C-Team work will continue to meet weekly but it’s work will be broader—the majority of its current work will go to the OC.
- -- We need to specify and clarify roles of OC, NPC, and C-Team, including representation expectations, functionality of the body, political responsibility.
- -- On average 16 persons participate on average on NPC calls (Cindy has reviewed call logs).
- C-Team is split on having NPC membership as requirement for OC representation
- Concerns For—
- a) OC requires a high responsibility and level of commitment, including political leadership. :::b) OC reps should also be members of organizations that they can report back to and get feedback from
- b) Being a member of a network would also be acceptable.
- c) When people have a base, they are more accountable in their work.
- d) It is also important that in Working Groups people are doing work nationally.
- e) OC reps should have a level of accountability and prioritization of the WG.
- f) NPC membership is a political commitment—can’t separate out the political because there are huge implications.
- Concerns For—
- Concerns Against—
- a) In July, NPC didn’t discuss NPC membership requirement for OC reps.
- b) DLOC participation has been open—some are members of orgs but many are individuals. :::c) Currently, only anchors are NPC members—thereby adding additional representation work for them and excluding good, active DLOC members from OC.
- c) Not all people in networks do any report back work.
- d) We might be promoting artificial associations by insisting on organizational affiliation, and besides some people currently with organizations have few active members or minimal reporting back.
- e) In Detroit, some individuals may be affiliated with groups but they have more accountability to the community and DLOC than to an organization.
- f) Being a representative to the OC requires reps to represent their WG not their own organization.
- Concerns Against—
- Possible solutions—
- 1) Create looser guidelines for OC reps, e.g., allow someone who is affiliated with labor.
- 2) Draft criteria for people who participate in the USSF as individuals.
- 3) Encourage more Detroit groups to apply to NPC.
- 4) Expand number of at-large DLOC reps to OC.
- 5) Discuss OC representation question with NPC on next conf call.
- Possible solutions—
Sylvia will work on draft defining OC, NPC, and C-Team roles and summarizing unanswered questions, plus NPC guidance needed, in OC draft document C-Team has been working on.
- NPC conf call 9/16
- We need to send a reminder note—Sylvia can do.
- The Program/Culture WG has requested 15-20 min to discuss consulta
- Michael will draft an agenda and send it to C-Team for discussion on next call.
- Process for new NPC applications
- We have two new applications.
- Perhaps we can discuss them at next NPC conf call.
- Perhaps we can wait till next NPC face-face-mtg in October to discuss and vote in person.
- Ideally, it would be good to bring on new members as soon as possible so they can join in the work.
- We’ll discuss again at next C-Team mtg.
- USSF job positions
- Perhaps send job notices to Idealist.org—costs $60. Maybe instead we do targeted outreach.
- We can also send an announcement to the 5000+ emails we have from USSF Atlanta—Sylvia will ask Josue to do.
- We’ll revisit status of current applicants at next C-Team mtg on 9/14
Recommendation—extend WG selection of OC reps to 9/21.
- DLOC/Anchors update
- At last Anchors mtg, they had a political discussion about the role of the Anchors.
Next Coordination Team mtg, Mon, 9/14 at 6pm EST/3pm PST
- Discuss budget questions
- Discuss constituency WGs vs. other WGs questions