Event:2014/06/26 Weekly Delegates Meeting

=June 26 Delegates Meeting= FIRST LOOK AT THIS: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-AL95NlI75qMGRLWkNYTWYybVk/edit

say your name, pronoun, group you're with

Facilitator: Joel

Stack: Elaine

Notez: Everyone.

Attendees:
 * David B
 * Sarah
 * Andrew
 * Yar
 * Niki
 * David K
 * Stephen
 * Joel
 * Max
 * Cere
 * Elaine
 * Libbie
 * Gabby
 * Matt S.

Delegates:
 * David B - La Commune
 * Andrew - Backspace
 * David K - Bay Area Public School
 * Cere - CCL
 * Joel - TIL
 * Elaine - CAMOO
 * Sarah - OMNIdance
 * Yar - Sudo Room

=Agenda=

Insurance

 * Status update on insurance from each member group:
 * ONL - May be covered by OOC policy
 * FNB - ?
 * BS - Waiting on quote
 * LC - Have three quotes
 * TIL - Has a quote
 * OMNIdance - Has purchased insurance
 * SR - ?
 * PA - ?
 * BAPS - May be covered by OOC policy
 * CCL - ?
 * OOC - Probably gonna happen just in time.
 * Need updates from FNB, SR, PA and CCL

Lease

 * Lease has been signed!

Communications:

 * Website:
 * decided to put up new simple site
 * Niki's friend asked if she could do some logo designs. They are here: http://wiki.omni-oakland.org/images/0/07/Omni_logo_r1a.pdf
 * Facebook?
 * Facebook Group vs. Page?
 * Guidelines for social media communications


 * Annoucement to the world!
 * Not ready for a press release
 * Can we say something?
 * Proposed statement: [passed]

The Omni is big

The Omni is real

and we're so effing excited!

The Omni Oakland Commons is proud to report that we've finally signed our lease! Now we begin the work of preparing the space for community use. Everyone's invited to take part in this project. Please join us for our weekly organizing meetings, Thursdays at 7pm at 4799 Shattuck Ave.

Our next meeting, Thursday July 3rd, will be an informal potluck where you can learn more about what we're up to and how to get involved.

There's a lot happening and we hope you can be a part of it. Please check out omni-oakland.org for updates about the space and upcoming events.

Challenging Dominant Cultures

 * Neighborhood Outreach Messaging
 * Drafted messaging for a flyer to pass out to neighbors
 * Will post to wiki, delegates should pass around to their member groups for feedback
 * Want to establish more regular meeting time
 * Propose every other Weds @ 7pm
 * Online vs. In Person
 * Sarah: Finds email threads alienating and discouraging
 * Elaine: Agrees
 * Joel: Not the way I communicate also, I feel panic when dipping in to email threads. Doesn't think it should go away but it should not be the primary mode of communication. We need a balance between in person and virtual communication. Neither approach should be the definitive mode.
 * Cere: Agrees
 * Elaine: There can be a different way of having communications online that aren't email threads - maybe a message board?
 * Yar: You can change your rise-up setting so you don't get emails but can log in to rise-up to read threads
 * Andrew: Online communication can reach more people. While the email threads can be frustrating, we shouldn't throw them out.
 * David: Glad Sarah raised this conversation. The ambition of this project aims to bring together people from different cultures of communication. We want this project to reach many people - different kinds of people who may not have computers, etc.
 * Sarah: Not suggesting we throw out email communication, just want more balance. At the beginning of this project we agreed we would make decisions in person and by consensus.
 * Yar: I identify with both sides. People coming from different places but using different language. Some people are too busy to come to meetings but want to know that they still have a voice. People in those situations need to be able to participate remotely.
 * David: I like our system of allowing groups to take things back to their groups for discussion. What's wrong with having a discussion in person and then allowing a week for things to filter through email threads. Even though it's painful, there's a certain virtue in finding time to show up to meetings and participate in person.
 * Yar: I don't like the idea that if you don't have time to attend meetings then you're not committed, especially if you're lobbying against meeting culture.
 * Cere: The meeting's really great if you have one of these [cup of champagne]
 * David: There are sometimes people with very involved opinions who don't actually participate and it's a huge drain
 * Elaine: There are different kinds of people - people who aren't comfortable meeting in person and people who aren't comfortable using computers.
 * Joel: Different people are comfortable with different modes of communication.
 * How we communicate!
 * Niki: Want to encourage people to frame things more positively and not communicate from a place of panic and fear
 * DBZ: There's not as much urgency now that the lease has been signed.
 * Cere: The water is still a big deal, it's still an emergency.
 * Andrew: One of the practical ways we can deal with some of this stuff is to fight fear with information. We could go on forever and talk about our fears. We should articulate very clearly what our fears are and gather as much information as possible in order to address them.
 * Ashoka: From an outsiders perspective, most of the meeting has been about communication. I hear the threat as we have to oppose systems of oppression and there's a sense of urgency - remember what happened at the Gill Tract when they put up the barricade?
 * Gabby: It was a shit-show because it rushed our process
 * Ashoka: Working across cross cultural norms - and to be honest, this groups does not look like Oakland.
 * Sarah: All of these issues that are coming up around communication are part of any organizing we've experience - I think we have a lot of work to do around it. One thing that I'm hopeful for and excited about is that now this urgency around the lease has subsided, now we can actually get back to the more important work.
 * Yar: We had a meeting about values and we took out the line about "anti-capitalism" because I objected to it specifically because it elevated capitalism above other systems of oppression. My personal feeling is that two things are happening: Our community has a lot of trauma around landlords and the police and now there's this carrot of having a sustainable future. The Omni wasn't created very mindfully - was originally meant to exist as a social community - the communities were the Public School and Sudo Room, etc.
 * Cere: I have a hard time with the gentrification conversation. It's hard for someone in my position to be aware of their privilege.
 * Ashoka: I fundamentally disagree that people cannot be aware of their privilege. If I truly consider myself a radical I have to be aware of that. Solidary and participation is not about tokenism - that's not what it means. Solidarity is identifying the ways in which I can be oppressive, decolonizing and de-oppressing myself and through that attracting like minded people. I exist in spaces that often have very few minorities because of my background and education.
 * Sarah: I agree, all of us have ways in which we are privileged and have a responsibility to constantly struggle with and work at becoming aware of.
 * Sarah: The member groups will have their own identities and values but the Omni should hold certain practices and principles in common.
 * Gabby: It's good that we're having this conversation and we're going to have to keep having these conversations. If the delegates meetings are representative of their collectives, it's a shockingly white group.
 * DK: There's this recognition that proposals to reach out to communities - there just hasn't been time, for one. Also not okay with tokenism. Want to reach out to actual real people in the neighborhood or go to groups that are also working on similar issues rather than trying to assemble a rainbow coalition.
 * Yar: One: meetings aren't always representative of groups. Never deny people's experience of racism, also don't erase people.
 * Clai: Was just at an event with Critical Resistance. Temescal and the Omni is a different situation than East Oakland. How we interface with those groups is critically important. Whether it's a big group of white people or a big group of people in general we need to talk about how we're going to stand in solidarity with oppressed people.

Move In Logistics

 * Water
 * CCL Needs sinks: What's the process?
 * DK: Contact John to discuss plan, need to provide simple proposal, may need 20 day notice

Community Announcement

 * Next Omni meeting will be at the Omni!
 * DBZ: Since we're holding the EBPS next week, I would suggest that as a provisional workaround, we adopt Sudo's Safe Space and Conflict Resolution Policy.
 * Danny: We should work some of this out at the Hackathon on Thurs.
 * Andrew: Want to second the proposal to provisionally adopt Sudo Room's Safe Space and Conflict Resolution Policy
 * Birdland
 * Meeting before event at Marcus Books (event it from 8-10pm)
 * Hackathon
 * Can we have it at the Omni? Yes!

Vote on passing new Bylaws sent to the list two weeks ago for deliberation by member-groups

 * http://wiki.omni-oakland.org/w/Bylaws_v3

=Action Items=
 * Set a date for the hackathon - Next Tues 7pm @ Omni! (post to the list)
 * Need insurance updates from FNB, SR, PA and CCL
 * Delegates review proposal from CDC for next week
 * Review Sudo Room's safe space policy & conflict resolution

Event Mgmt / New Events

 * We should have a narrative for new groups / events before we've solidified our process.

next week
Future Groups:
 * Events Mgmt?
 * Building Administration / Logistics:
 * Focus on intercollectivity?
 * Values
 * New Member Getting to know you Committee