Declared Absences:
Undeclared Absences: Jack S.
Consent Agenda
Motion to approve by Bakari
Joe seconds
Motion passes
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Approve Previous Minutes
Motion to approve by UC
Patrick seconds
Motion passes
Reports
Around $82,000 in bank account, 41k general fund. Getting closer to full admin rights on the bank account; general rights but can’t move money around, such as into a CD per resolution we passed. We’ve been using hybrid equipment a little more. Using Michael’s issue which isn’t perfect and causes issues; looking into buying a cheap laptop for the chapter within limit that steering can approve.
Tim: Can I switch lock to combination so we can more easily get into the unit?
Michael: Yes. Let’s communicate about who knows the combination. I’ve been speaking with Adcom about formalizing the hybrid process a bit.
Joe: What are most groups spending money on?
Michael: Mostly lit, then little knicknacks like event supplies, a button maker, etc. Money is there for the BAWG mutual aid fund, after ActionNetwork fees. DC law is specific about who can’t receive that money, the burden is on us to ensure we’re in the clear on that.
Claire: Consider rotating combination list after 10-15 people know the combination
Hybrid assistance offered to an April 18th event. I’m working to addressing issues with eligible voters not receiving OpaVote ballots and working to establish a Slack moderator account using a new Google Group and Slack account. New members interested in operations and security work as a result of my outreach to working groups and marketing of the apprenticeship program. At our Adcom meeting on Thursday we’ll flesh out a more detailed plan and then begin marketing it.
Reports are in from all working groups. Reports can be found on the wiki. Still working on reading through those. Working on a writeup that may go into the Washington Socialist. Have to think about what makes sense to go out to an external audience vs. just members. April 24th: Joint steering and campaigns council meeting. Anyone can bring agenda items. The first PDC listening session occurs on the 26th in the SW library; we should have hybrid participation. Looking for another one in June and July. PDC is still working on the survey.
Sam: Is thursday still ok to dedicate some time to discuss training/political education efforts in the working groups?
Claire: Yes, like 30 minutes.
New branch steering committee. Tomorrow we’ll vote on new branch roles. I’ll try to advocate for a dedicated branch liaison, it may change from me. NoVa abolition helped with the Freedom On movie screening in Arlington. A speaker who was directly affected by the detention centers was featured in the film. Internationalism is putting on a dismantle the Virginia-Israel Advisory Board teach in on the 26th. Medicare For All putting on an event on the 31st, which we’ll hear more about later in the meeting.
Rent stabilization campaign going well. Flyering at Montgomery College. Strong contingent at county council budget sessions for Drop MIDC and housing. Planning on a new member cohort which is MoCo specific. Planning a social nature walk; technically in PG county but it’s nice and we wanted to go. PG comrades are more than welcome. We request to be updated on new MoCo members weekly. We were planning a stabilization campaign and seemed to be locked out of my VAN account.
Patrick: It’s my job to handle membership rolls; I will get you the updated list tonight and ensure that I’m better at getting that information out there.
Bakari: VAN is down for me as well. Timeframe? Who needs access?
Mike: Election in the fall. I, Olivia, Alex M probably have access. It wouldn’t hurt for Nicole to have access.
Bakari: VAN access should be for the year. I’ll reach out if I have any questions.
N/A
Jack unavailable.
Sam: UMD YDSA is supporting the left contingent of student government; steering elections occurring right now which is one of the reasons Jack isn’t here. Continued work on menstrual care and expanding information on restrooms.
Old Business
Generally good work; OpenSlides work was alright, wasn’t sure if someone more privy to those operations knew of any technical difficulties.
Tim: I didn’t prime people to use OpenSlides as chair. That was my job, and we can fix this. The tech side of OpenSlides went well.
Bakari: Definitely nice having community builders help with the happy hour. There was one point where there was a vote where I don’t think the Zoom results were counted; I wanted to flag that. That may have been decisive on the vote to end debate. With OpenSlides, part of it wasn’t prompting, it seemed like some people hadn’t gotten their credentials. Was there something on our end that we can fix?
Tim: Typically, people would get prompted to get on OpenSlides in the beginning; if they didn’t know what that was, we would direct people to someone in the back to get on. I didn’t do that. If they didn’t RSVP, they won’t have credentials.
Bakari: We should probably get started on the next one now. Do you have a doc for May?
Patrick: I can do that tonight.
Claire: I appreciate the chapter members who helped and plan the GBM beyond steering members. Steering needs to level our expectations a bit on how involved we are. Last term, the expectations about attendance were set. I think that’s a good expectation and we should try to maintain that in the future. Timing is always an issue no matter how long we make them. I do want to touch base with Patrick on which WGs will give updates. We want to make sure we’re giving enough time to the right agenda items. Some uncertainty about Robert’s Rules didn’t help.
Sam: Agree about timing; we should have a group expectation that people who go over time will be cut off. These things would be made better if we had time to pause for 30 seconds to get a sense of what’s going on in the room. People called for motions without being recognized; not bad, but can get confusing. Thanks to Ben and the other Adcom folks. We got like 60+ RSVPs after the membership text; sending those out may be a good practice moving forward. Tweak the message to each GBM. Book spaces three months ahead of time per MoCo? Might help for the rest of the year. Felt good as a branch meeting and to see MoCo people in person. Would encourage doing a PG and NoVa one. Thanks to MoCo.
Diego: What if we suggested WGs present a video instead of an update, and then they would be here to answer questions. Would help us stay on time.
Far: NoVa’s branch GBM has a dedicated timekeeper, especially for WG updates. Maybe someone beyond the chair since they’re doing a lot. Also want to echo that MoCo seemed very appreciative that we had a GBM there; encourage more branches. Will look into NoVa library availability, also agree about looking farther out to schedule GBMs.|# 7:20 pm - 7:45 pm|
New Business
Go around and get an update from each portfolio. Trying to plan an event before May GBM to have a discussion about convention. Difficult since the next two weeks are packed.
Bakari: Do you know where the meeting three weeks from now will be?
Tim: MLK, ideally with a hybrid option. We still need to reserve space.
Far: On MED, I think all three of us (Diego and Marli) met with MED about their needs and have established different roles for each of us. Setting up some trainings that MED is interested in having with us and their team. Looking into setting up some of those.
Marli: We’ve done some debriefing with the Shayla campaign, discussed setting up the socialist in office committee. Joe and others have done awesome work on opposing the RENTAL Act, some work on GR4. I’ve looked into setting up quarterly meetings with SOPs. At next PECs we’ll formally endorse that process.
Sam: I’ve worked on member statements and OpaVote work. Haven’t met much on PoliEd stuff, I’m behind. I encourage folks to attend the Campaigns Council meeting on PoliEd. One question for the portfolio is how do we keep track of what’s already being done? Would be valuable for offering them to new formations.
Patrick: I need to update the document. Encourage planning GBMs farther in advance as has been mentioned; I need to do more on security, as I’ve prioritized operations and internal democracy. Push to expand different security initiatives such as marshaling, where we’ve had requests.
Bakari: For marshall requests, I recall them being for trans rights and Palestine protests. I have not had the capacity I thought I would to put something together. Should publish a slack post that reiterates digital security. Can talk more with Patrick about what can be housed within the Security department; maybe have ready to volunteer. Marshalling has so far been ad-hoc. I did an OpaVote walkthrough with Sam and was thinking about recording it. We need to do more with the Loomio votes. They’re on the chapter wiki but we can just post the links in the steering channel when they happen, which may be better.
Joe: I was liaison for inauguration day weekend. For comms, Adele and Claudia have been really on top of everything. I need to reach out to Carl about WG-specific press contacts, apparently a solid media directory list already exists. Getting journalists to rallies has been successful; journalists at the Save TOPA rally were there asking questions. Considering establishing best practices and training for media work, being spokespeople. Having WG input with regards to our strategies on i82 and conversations with people like Janeese would be helpful.
Claire: There’s a new tool from the NTC that may help with social media posting approval and scheduling. I’ll try to stay involved with that. There’s been a lot going on in DC where we’ve tried to give chapter statements, I’ll try to stay on top of that and other things that fall between working groups. Since we’re operating with one less person on steering, we’re taking on more work.
Tim: Try to put your stuff in the document when you can. The goal is not to control us, just that we document things so that us, and future steering meetings, know where we’re at. These are productive conversations.
Emily unable to attend.
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National Single Payer Endorsement (Scott G.)
Asking to endorse an event that we’re planning to participate in on May 31st. Organized by National Single Payer; group of physicians and activists advocating for single-payer healthcare. Planning a national day of action on May 31st. The idea is to have local events around the country. Our WG is planning an event in Arlington, but we’re also looking for an endorsement of the institutional organizing. Plenty of other orgs supporting, lots of PNHP, Green Party, Our Revolution support. Will probably need some reimbursements in the future for food, signs, lit, etc.,
Tim: Any need for physical equipment?
Scott: Perhaps looking for a cornhole board, ring toss, etc. The event is really just a fun day in the park and teaches people about the healthcare system as part of the games.
Far: Is there something we need to sign on?
Scott: There’s a form I need to fill out which I’ll do if I get chapter support.
Move to endorse by UC
Joe seconds
Motion passes
I would love for us to have a contingent at the April 24th parade, date of recognizing the Armenian genocide. Ongoing brutalization in Armenia, cleansing people of the land has been branded as eco-friendly. Horrific stuff going on. Armenian government being held at gunpoint by Turkey and Azerbaijan, endangering the right of return for Armenian refugees and the state of the whole country.
Tim: What equipment would be helpful? Anyone with a car?
Matt: I have a car. Starting at Azeri embassy, walk by the Turkish embassy. Business will also help move people. Everything else is pretty much set. I would love a DSA banner. I’ll go back to the organizing committee and follow up with requests for equipment.
Claire: Have you chatted with stewards and other folks in IWG about turning folks out? Would it make sense to create a DSA event on the calendar?
Matt: Yes and yes. Nell and other IWG folks will be attending. I do need to talk to some other stewards.
Claire motions to approve by UC
Tim seconds
Motion passes
Sam: For the newsletter, is there a link for the RSVP or an articule that we can get in the update?
Matt: Yes. An e-vite was sent out and a Facebook events page. Will send both of those.
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For The Workers Solidarity Rally Request (Eduarda S./Zach T.)
I’m here on behalf of the Labor Working Group. Seeking endorsement for a May Day rally. Unions have signed on, seeking more. There’s an immigration-focused march on May 1st then UNITE HERE local 25’s picket at the occidental. We’re trying to fill the gap of a large, general labor rally. Trying to get the chapter’s endorsement and get equipment. Working with MIP to get large equipment since we’re trying to have this get really large. Mostly using labor money, planning to wheatpaste all over town. Disseminate widely in the chapter, emails, carts and posters and other DSA-branded stuff for the rally.
Bakari: You’re still talking with local 25?
Eduarda: Looking to have UNITE HERE merge their permit with ours. Many of their organizers will be back in town on Thursday. Some members are concerned about bringing attention to orgs that have Trump’s ire, such as us. I feel confident that we can get their endorsement. We’re already supporting their picket and confirming that this is a union event that DSA is a part of. We’ll be doing the heavy lifting and making it actually happen.
Tim: I know we’ve had issues with double booking in the past. Are there other competing events also scheduled?
Eduarda: Casa’s march from 12 to 4, we’ll gather at 4, start at 5, Occidental picket is around 4:30. Hopefully the attendance is large enough that we’re sort of all places at once. Currently nothing between that and the UNITE HERE picket. I’ve talked to both Casa and UNITE HERE about whether they’re cool with this.
Sam: Worried about a partner pulling out?
Eduarda: Those members coming back on Thursday will discuss with me a formal confirmation. They’ve already said they’re ok with us having a big rally and pushing people toward the picket.
Matt: What conversations have been had about other big private sector unions within the district, such as UFCW? I still think we should endorse it.
Eduarda: Still trying to work our connections to get as many unions out as possible. Thanks for flagging UFCW.
Claire: Concern about buy-in from more unions; maybe endorse but wait on public comms.
Eduarda: Specifically UNITE HERE 25?
Claire: Definitely wait for 25. If at that point we’re avoiding controversy, I think we’re fine to go ahead. I support endorsing, wait on comms.
Motion to endorse by UC.
Joe seconds.
Passes.