2024-09-08 General Body Meeting Minutes

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General Body Meeting Agenda

September 08, 2024

Meeting Chair: Bakari W. Location: All virtual; Register here
Meeting Secretary: Michael M. Time: 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

We use Robert’s Rules of Order for agenda items that include formal debate. More information is here.

  1. Mingle/Welcome (CHAIR, 2:00 pm - 2:05 pm)

  2. Opening, Review of the Agenda, and Announcements (CHAIR, 2:05 pm - 2:10 pm)

  3. Land acknowledgement, overview of conduct, stack

  4. Approve agenda

  5. Secretary’s Report (Michael M, 2:10 pm - 2:15 pm)

  6. Mobilization efforts ongoing

1. Morgan F joined the Design team
2. Claudia S is the new Communications Steward

  1. Will work on fully onboarding new members and setting new schedule for comms meetings
  2. If you’re interested in getting involved in social media, website, or graphic design, please reach out to me or Claudia
  1. Still need people to help with Operations so if you’re interested in helping to set up events or facilitate ActionNetwork processes, please reach out to me, Tim, Andy or Simone
  2. Operations is currently working on cleaning up our admins in ActionNetwork
  3. The Member Engagement Dept has established a new structure to build out capacity for better processes — will let Emily go into more detail on that soon
  4. My understanding is we’re still, unfortunately, trying to work out some kinks with ScaleToWin, our new spoke texting platform, but Tim or Andy might have more info there. We’re going to establish a new spoke text policy that provides some guidelines for chapter members making spoke campaign requests. This is meant to give more clarity into the process and make it so the approval process is not just at the Secretary’s discretion.
  5. Steve F stack - What is spoke?
1. Michael M: Mass texting system for chapter.

  1. Tim stack - also set up an adcom application process. Need folks to help w/ Operations. Doing a training in sept on Actionnetwork usage to get ppl up to speed. Want to set it up so priority campaigns get access first, but will open it up to more ppl after. Apply on reddesk. Goal not to make it a competitive process but for folks to be proactive about it rather than being tapped. Will try it out and see how it goes. With spoke, wrote a policy on this, gotten comments from Ops leadership, haven’t formally ratified yet but will soon. Idea is to have formal policy and share it. Need help putting it together. Dont have system for using dialer yet. Will have option soon. Will require more aggressive policy bc getting phone calls from random wgs is a good way to burn our lists. Biggest issue in adcom is ppl ghosting, but if you have an hour a week to dedicate to specific tasks then that would be helpful.

  2. Treasurer’s Report (Tim S, 2:15 pm - 2:20 pm)

  3. Financial situation is good. 79k on hand. Pretty stable from July. Good bit more in general funds rather than restricted bc we’ve raised more. Getting next dues share in Oct which will be about 8500 dollars. Campaigns submitting reimbursements, so will draw down some of this but all within budget. Our operating expenses are in budget but a little high bc vendors keep increasing prices. In the next proposed budget will think harder about operating budget or cutting services. We’ve got 17k left in the budget this year so it will be good for next year even without additional income. Had issue w/ the card for webflow - still sorting that out. Paid it myself on my personal card so website won’t go down. Will get reimbursed. Has been an annoyance but will get it taken care of. 1. Want to thank Ken B on finance committee for helping get report together. Have been able to delegate tasks to ppl which is helpful. 2. While financial situation is good, would encourage ppl to think hard about whether they can afford to pay monthly dues to national but also consider giving money to the chapter directly on our donation page. 10 or 15 dollars a month also goes a long way. Only a small fraction of dues to national comes back to us. In a financial state where we can sustain the kinds of expenditures we’re doing now but it’s hard to get too aggressive bc the expenses are high for the chapter but not too big for the org in general. Will need a lot more direct donations.

  4. Diego stack - Sept 19th HH happening, hoping it’s big. Any idea or plan to bring some QR code to appeal to a more casual member to encourage them to donate?

1. Tim DR - yes, I can do that
  1. Steve F stack - how big is the chapter? How does it compare to NY and others?
1. Tim DR - we’ve got 1900 members in good standing. About ⅓ big as NYC. Have smaller share of active members than NYC but we are the third largest chapter in the country. Third largest by active membership, but difficult to define. Partially comparing our capacity to nonprofits or gov’t agencies. We do a lot for our size and capacity but it would be helpful to have more volunteer labor and money.
2. Steve DR - how many active members?
3. Tim DR - probably around 300 depending on how you define active.
  1. Sam G stack - as I understand, DSA’s membership overall has declined over the past few years. has our chapter been similarly affected, and if so by how much?
1. Tim DR - less than national, down maybe 15% but with higher active membership.
  1. Diego stack - If we have positive cash flow has there been any thought of building up a fund in a high yield saving account
1. Tim DR - working on that

  1. Campaigns Coordinator Report (Gary Z, 2:20 pm - 2:25 pm)

  2. Most of the WGs are still in base building mode. Building internal capacity and assessing long term goals. Have one new working group, the street team. Was once a part of adcom but is now it’s own wg, but will still work closely w/ member engagement. A lot of members actively engaged, more than I’ve seen. National level political currents making things feel shaky.

  3. Mid year reports are submitted to our chapter wiki. Chapter wiki is our internal archival system to document chapter structures, history, updates, etc. Want to turn the wiki into a capacity building resource.

  4. Want to start thinking about priority campaign applications. Every year the chapter votes on up to five campaigns or working groups who get priority access to budget funds, tech platforms, resources, etc. Will have larger report back on local convention later, but wanted to make sure WGs are aware it’s coming up.

  5. Electoral ops in MD likely biggest chapter-wide mobilization

  6. Abolition WG did school supplies drive in columbia heights

  7. TBRA campaign in Alexandria - sanctuary reso to be passed by Sept 24th

  8. Internationalism WG continuing to organize around Palestine solidarity

  9. Branch Updates (2:25 pm - 2:40 pm)

  10. Montgomery County Branch (Michael S.) -5 mins

1. Good events coming up in the next couple of weeks:

  1. Tomorrow on Monday sept 9th at 7pm, monthly branch meeting - come out for intro
  2. Having discussion on ballot coming up in MD and creating a voter guide
  3. Next saturday sept 14th two events:

    1. Gateway renters canvass
    2. Electoral organizer training

2. Monday Sept 16th, rockville city council having meeting on housing supply

  1. We’re going to submit more testimonies so the council knows the ppl of rockville don’t want rents to increase
  1. Northern Virginia Branch (Alf) -5 mins
1. Having geo rep steering election this month. Will have candidate forum at monthly branch meeting.
2. Electoral WG began their research
3. M4A continuing work on reso in Arlington
4. TBRA continuing to do work around sanctuary ordinances
5. Abolition doing fall reading group w/ chapter abolition group
6. Tenant organizing doing organizing around landlord in Arlington
7. Having 3rd Thursday social at Quincy beer hall
8. Claudia stack - what is the geo rep steering position?

  1. Alf DR - last year decided to add geo rep to branch steering, so each of the geographic regions in NOVA have a representative that is in charge of building organizing capacity in that region.
  1. Prince George’s County Branch (Ralph C.) -5 mins
1. We’ll be hosting a branch picnic next Sunday on the 15th from 2-5 at watkins park. About 10 minute drive from downtown largo station. If you’re interested and don’t have a ride, mention on the RSVP. if you’re willing to transport folks to and from park and station pls highlight in RSVP. Will have plenty of food but asking ppl to bring item if they want. Will have games.
2. Sunday after that will be branch general body meeting. Will be hybrid. Will have post-GBM social
3. Will be helping w/ student organizing at UMD for labor activism and Palestine solidarity as well as discussing ballot initiatives on MD ballot, including repro freedom amendment to state constitution.

  1. Working Group and Section Updates (2:40 pm - 3:05 pm)

  2. Member Engagement Dept (Emily N.) -5 mins

1. Here in my capacity as steering member w/ member engagement portfolio. Recently held member forum on august 22nd. Had 35 ppl come out to discuss our structure and rest of year/into 2025.
2. Brought in 24 new members.
3. New structure: onboarders, mobilizers, community builders
4. Purpose is to build out capacity for better recruitment processes. Things were less structured before so we’re hoping the new structure breathes new life into member engagement and provides a healthy system for bringing in new members.
5. We need more ppl to help!
6. If you’re a new member and would like to join new member cohort, application is due Tuesday - would encourage you to attend
7. Steve F stack - what’s the general idea w/ the decrease over the last three years?

  1. Emily DR - don’t know if I’m the best person to answer. But I think there’s been a depoliticization since dems came back into office. Our numbers are still better than the national office. Chapter is still strong while the national left is retreating a bit.
  2. Tim DR - million dollar question for the org - biggest thing is we haven’t done as an org intentional recruitment or retention effectively. Membership peak was during recruitment drive in 2021 and biggest trough is after it ended. Ppl didn’t renew dues bc we didn’t ask them to. That’s why we’re trying to automate those processes and make it sustainable as much as we can rather than relying on a few ppl bottom lining everything.

8. Nell stack - wanted to add this number we’re at reflects massive amount of growth in past year. There are ebbs and flows. Agree w/ Tim’s evaluation and would also say we have to be constantly mapping our own member growth/engagement. Different groups in our chapter have done that over time. With abolition in the huge influx in 2020, there was a sustained coalition for a while and then the political tides changed and demobilized ppl. But that coalition still exists and some of our folks have rebuilt the WG in legislative fights from last session. Always chance for renewal during upsurges.
9. Melody stack - had q about new member cohort - if I don’t have availability on wednesdays is there any point in signing up?

  1. Emily DR - would encourage you to fill out application. Kaela B is best point of contact for that but still happy to chat w/ you to make sure that question gets answered.
  1. Reproductive Justice Working Group (Miranda E.) -5 mins
1. Upcoming actions:

  1. Gender liberation march saturday sept 14th at noon - protest against attacks on bodily autonomy. Open to all.
  2. Will be hosting repro justice poli ed session on October 23 at 6pm at MLK library
  3. If interested in doing research or managing zoom components that’s totally welcome. Could always use more hands on deck.
  1. Electoral Working Group (Bakari W.) -5 mins
1. Big updates are we have new electoral subcommittees. As we continue scaling up operations in order to knock more doors. This year we’ve knocked about 40k doors between JLG and Uncommitted MD. Potentially knocking more doors throughout the year. In order to scale up operations we need your help and more ppl to help us mobilize volunteers, communications, research, etc.
2. At a point in our capacity where we can be proactive in our electoral organizing work - we have the best electoral operation in the region. Has mostly revolved around wages, housing rights, etc.
3. Electoral organizer training Saturday, September 14th at 3pm at DC Takoma library.
  1. WePower DC Working Group (Matt S.) -5 mins
1. Quick update: we’ve been organizing around pepco’s proposed rate increase, which would increase rates by 20% over the course of three years. Making energy unaffordable for a huge number of DC residents.
2. Office of People’s Counsel did analysis and said 95% of proposal is not climate related.
3. Have sent a ton of letters to DC council to apply pressure and reject this proposal. Still waiting on update.
4. Environmental justice amendment act of 2023 – which would limit permitting of polluting facilities in already polluted neighborhoods in DC. Higher proportion of black and brown/working class residents affected by majority of pollution in the city. This bill would start to undo that. Hearing last March and more work has been done over the summer.
5. Main thrust of the campaign is a pre feasibility framework for public power. Aiming to create a white paper to explain why municipalization makes sense in DC. we’re working concurrently w/ actual legislation that would bring municipalization.
6. We’re starting weekly work Wednesdays. Will be at Tryst this week. Low stakes opportunity for folks to come hang out and do a little work w/ us.
7. Had quarterly movement meeting yesterday. About 25-30 folks showed up and a HH afterwards. Pulled in some new members and had some guest speakers from Milwaukee’s public power campaign. Were connected w/ them through DSA national.
8. Diego stack - I was hoping for We Power DC to have a presence at the Sept 19th happy hour do you believe that will be possible? Maybe having some of the awesome paper handouts y’all have and help educate some of the Congressional staffers who will be there about some of these problems that are happening in their own backyard and hopefully get some of them involved and speak out?

  1. Matt DR - yes, we’ll definitely have a presence and can see what we have for lit to bring. Have a good WePower 101 explainer.
  1. Local Convention (Carl R.) -5 mins
1. We are looking for volunteers to help make our local convention happen. Local convention will be December 7th and 8th. Need to start getting ppl set up to do work and also getting our IED up and running. These are the ppl who run the SC election. Always have a 3rd party facilitate to keep things neutral. Great way to get involved - had some newer ppl last year. Not the hardest organizing ask. Expect it would take about 2 hours a week outside of the crunch time right around convention. You’ll be part of a team responsible for setting up steering candidate forum. Will also be responsible for communicating the new security vetting process to candidates. Will also be responsible for running nuts and bolts of election. These are the people who facilitate our chapter’s democracy.

  1. September Socials plug (3:05 pm - 3:07 pm)

  2. MDC DSA/CPSA Joint Happy Hour (Bakari W.) -2 mins

1. September 19th at Metrobar at 6pm
2. A lot of ppl in the chapter are members of CPSA - always good to cross pollinate w/ ppl in congress who are aligned w/ us

  1. Chapter Business (3:07 pm - 3:55 pm)

  2. Resolution to Endorse the MD Reproductive Freedom Amendment (Bakari W.)

1. This is a second read, first read was at last steering meeting.
2. Brian D POI - what percentage do we need to win here? 50/50 or 2/3rds?

  1. Bakari DR - my understanding is that it’s 50/50 - Miranda, do you know for sure?
  2. Miranda DR - don’t know for sure but will check
  3. Bakari DR - misunderstood what you were asking. This is already nationally endorsed so passing this locally is more of a formality. So the threshold for a general resolution would be 50/50

3. Joe R stack for
4. Miranda stack for
  1. Meeting Closing (CHAIR, 4:00 pm)

LINKS from SLIDES

  1. Join Slack: slack@mdcdsa.org

  2. Take the Member Interest survey!

  3. Join DSA if you’re not yet a member! https://dsausa.org/join?source=Metro+DC

  4. Midyear reports from Campaigns + formations completed - can be found at wiki.mdcdsa.org/en/campaigns

  5. VA Residents – our friends in VA for Palestine coalitions are asking us to take action now! Take 1 minute to send a message to your state reps calling on them to #DismantleVIAB and stop doing business with apartheid! Send your letter at bit.ly/DismantleVIAB now!

  6. Gender Liberation March Saturday, September 14, 12 pm at Columbus Circle

  7. Register here

  8. If you’d like to get involved, check out the #repro-justice and #TRBA-campaign Slack channels, go to our Linktree, or email us at reproductivejustice@mdcdsa.org

  9. Electoral Organizer Training Sept 14 @ 3pm, Takoma DC Public Library linktr.ee/mdc_electoral to sign up!

  10. Join us for Work Wednesdays THIS WEEK at 6pm at Tryst! RSVP at We Power DC | Twitter | Linktree or the QR code above!

  11. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-wM6tnN7hOlARYsA2DSYoD1oa8bBdzzypVCw6j8GocQ/edit