Event:2016/07/07 Delegates Meeting

Weekly Omni Delegates' Meeting - 7 July 2016

https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Event:2016/06/16_Delegates_Meeting Last meeting's notes]

Introductions

Introduce yourself: Name; Preferred Pronoun; Affiliation

• Matt - facilitator - he/him/whatever - sudo
• Marcus - facilitator - abdc / working groups he/him
• ken - ccl delegate
• arthur - fnb
• helen - fnb dleegate
• mindy
• matt
• josh
• shawn
• simon
• john
• almaz - global communications collective proposal
• Jenny / she/her - sudo room / wgs
• lynn - she/her - commons working group
• maryann - she/her - chiapas support committee
• julio - he/him - commons working group

Meeting Roles

• Facilitator/s: GWS Marcus & Matt
• Explanation of hand signals: "deaf applause", "raised hand", "point of process", "direct response"(wildcard), etc.
• Stacktaker: Ken (begrudginglingy)
• Timekeeper: Austin (can keep time)
• Notetaker/s: Jenny / Kambiz (analog notes)
  • URL of this pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/omninom
• Vibe Reader: Lynn
• Next meeting's facilitator(s): Joe L
• Next Next Meeting facilitator: Helen F

Delegates

• ABDC: Marcus
• BAPS:
• BH: Alex (remote)
• CCL: Ken
• CSC: Maryann
• FNB: Helen
• GWS:
• LL: Liz remote!
• Sudo: Jenny
• TIL: inactive
• Quorum: 7 out of 9, yes? or 6/9 because Alex logged off...?

Antifa Demo Fundraiser Folks

• We want to have a benefit on the 16th at 7pm - medical costs of the people who were injured during the June 26th protest in sacramento -- against nazis in CA.
  • Already raised $15,000 -- have another $20,000 to go to reach $35,000.
  • Using http://rally.org/june26th
• Questions about finances and how they're handled
  • Don't want to pressure those injured re: their costs, typically people who don't have coverage
• Offering $200 for space rental for the night
• Question re: insurance -
  • "We don't have any reason to believe this group is being targeted by anyone. People who were stabbed were black / transgender.
    • Jenny: Inquiries re: insurance - we need every large event in the space to have event coverage - we recommend theeventhelper.com
• Marcus; Would be great if something happened, that y'all rallied with us to talk with the media, the neighbors, etcetera...
• Matt: Even in best case scenario - event before the shooting had amazing security, but it still didn't prevent the incident and backlash from happening
• Ken: Just what I'm concerned about, not putting event on FB... this is national scope. What about alerting the OPD

unanimous no's :::

• helped run social spaces in oakland, understand keeping the balance... gotta understand there's no guarantee, esp if you're a space that holds political events. we can do our best to show up and be accountable and that's the best we can give you.
• there's a lot of us, people who've done security at music venues in various patrts of the country... we know what these people look like... if there is an incident it will 1) be predictable, if 2) neonazis come to oak to fight black people, good luck
• want to point out that when this demo was organized, there wasn't any flyer that said "if anything happens, this is what we promised" - no one stepped in to help, we just see it as our responsibility... they're with us.
• arthur: we've been talking about this for a really long time, i'm completely in support. let's move it along
• almaz: if omni didn't support this kind of group, what kind of group can we support?
• matt: narrative and feedback has been really helpful... good for y'all not to be caught off guard about the context here.

Announcements

• There will be an event -- BIL Unconference / Poverty and Progress this weekend starting at 5pm this Friday 7/8 (at least 100 people) -- unconference, paid event.
  • Will be setting up tomorrow (fri) in early evening
• Jenny: Omni Commoner July newsletters are out! Help distribute them to the neighborhood plz.
• Matt: Went to Temescal BID Neighborhood Security meeting yesterday - $10K line item for Temescal newsletter, looking for an editor... get in and take it over! Considering contacting Oakland North about adding a N. O. beat for Temescal. Otherwise, also presented a proposal to fund conflict resolution / restorative justice / youth training etc - asking for $2500 - presenting @ next board meeting next Thursday
• First Volunteer of the Month -- Robb Benson

Bans/Asked to Leave

• Leon, initiated by sudo room, for sexual harassment -- at least 6 months before mediation could start.

Working Group Report-Backs

Building & permits

Meetings: Mondays at 8pm

• This group needs help; https://omnicommons.org/lists/listinfo/building
• Ballroom wall looks great
• Wall in entrance hall needs attention
• Basement cleaning progress needs help
• Cafe space in front getting scheduled with Agua Viva

Commons

Meetings: Second and Fourth Thursdays at 7pm

• Next meeting next week!
• lots of events, we need YOU.
• Aorta Collective events on Tues/Weds next week open to public for POC and white facilitators (respectively)

Communications

• Discussion still on agenda to kick-start this group again

Finance

Meetings: Every other Thursday at 6pm

• Barely made July rent.
  • Borrowed another $5,000 / mo. Since January -- running a $5k deficit each month.

Buy the Building

Meetings: Mondays at 6:00pm

• Sent in our 501c3 application last week
• Working with a loan consultant from the Northern California Community Loan Foundation to make our application ship-shape
• Meeting with Paul Chin from La Pena about how they operate, how they book events, how they fundraise, etc - who's interested in joining the meeting, what questions they have, etc;

Proposal: Application from Global Communication Services/YES Program to become a member collective of the Omni Commons

Proposed by Almaz Yihdego, 6/2/16

1. Mission statement What do you do? The mission of Global Communication Services (GCS) is to provide community service for individuals, families, and community groups toward health consulting, health benefits, cultural exchange and immigrate support here in United States and international. The mission of Youth Empowerment Services (YES) is to advance and support children, youth, and family on academic breakthroughs in life development, job placement and other activities focusing and envisioning a community where all young people have the opportunities and access to programs without restriction of race, cultural difference or socioeconomic status.

What happens in the world because you exist? Our program serves the community by tutoring/mentoring and providing educational workshops. We also teach cultural art history, and different languages through workshops and events. Our services encompass problem solving approaches based on education and tapping into the cultural strengths and living experiences of African immigrants and Black African American youth and families. We help to uncover the individuals hidden talents and strengths which leads to healthy self esteem, individual and group self-reliance. Our program is open to all ethnic groups who choose to excel and claim their genius!

2. Origin and group history How did you start? Originally, Global Communication Services (GCS) was established in 2012 as my (Almaz’s) consulting business to provide community service for individuals, families, and community groups toward health consulting, health benefits, immigrate support. Which inculeds language interpreting and translating services. I had people working with me doing the same thing. As a part of GCS we taught cultural literacy for African immigrant youth, like cultural dance, language; as well as sports and hiking and camping trip to Yosemite National Park. After a long time personal experience working with immigrant families and being one of the reader for 13 afterschool programs at the City of Oakland in 2013. I seen the main problem children face especially around the low-income families and how new immigrant dealt within the public school system. At the end of 2014 decided to incorporate a few staff members to GCS and enhance the youth program, YES, which will focus on youth academic and life development support. www.globalcommunicationservices.org

How does your group make decisions? Our group makes decision collectively by majority vote if necessary to do so. So far we don’t have any conflicts or misunderstanding, each staff member contributes to the program cooperatively.

What have you done? We have helped several youth with their academic work, job placement, health and wellness training. We host community based cultural events and workshops. We are a pioneer collective group with different cultural and educational backgrounds. We work collectively with community groups locally, nationally and internationally. Our staff meets at least once per month.

3. Participation in the Omni Why are you interested in becoming a member? How does your group intend to use the space? What are your needs? Our mission and the objectives of the Omni are aligned. We both are working diligently to improve and empower individuals and the community. We also enjoy the location of the Omni. Hosting events at the Omni would be of great value to our team. Becoming a part of the ownership team is also a very exciting opportunity for our organization. We would like to be fiscally sponsored by the Omni. How does your group intend to use the space? We intend to use the space for workshops, classroom trainings, events, rehearsals, and collective member meetings. What are your needs? Our need is to have space at the Omni as a member collective. We will use the space to have locked storage, books, and a table for small class meetings. We will also have larger events like fundraisers, health trainings, or music and cultural programs that we would like to hold in the larger common spaces.

4. Group finances and paying rent? What does your group do to support itself financially? What is your best plan for contributing your potential share of rent to the Omni?

Please include relevant financial statements, documentation of sufficient income (e.g. balance sheet, bank statement profit & loss statement).

We have about $500 from the community fundraiser events and we are planning to charge sliding scale admission for workshops, classroom trainings, and other large music events. We have been invited to apply for several government and private grants. Our anticipated largest funding source for our youth project will be coming from grants and monthly member donations.

We propose to pay $100 a month in rent plus utilities for the first three-months until we receive grants to support our program. After the first three months we will pay $200 for rent plus utilities and would like to become the stewards of the blue classroom and have priority use of that space. We do not plan to charge youth or low-income families for our services however, we do accept donations.

We do not currently have a bank account. As a fiscally sponsored project we would open a sub account under the Omni’s bank account.

5. Dedicated space If your group would like some dedicated space at the Omni, what square footage and what features are you looking for? Which specific rooms do you feel might be suitable?

We are proposing to steward and maintain the Blue classroom and keep a locked storage cabinet there after our first three months of membership. We would have priority for our youth classes and family consulting, and would make the space available to other groups when we were not using it.

6. Other contributions to the Omni This question should inspire some imagination. We are exploring ideas to pay rent and purchase the building in the long-term. The basic plan is for each group paying a share of rent. Potential plans include groups sharing profit from their activities, producing Omni events, and booking other events. What is the best-case scenario for using the Omni space to further support your group?

One of the ways that we may be able to generate funds is by hosting monthly events. At first this income may be slow yet if we continue we will look to attract sponsors and also grow our attendance of our events.

We also plan to produce mutually beneficial community programs for the Omni that would entail youth related film screenings, concerts & workshops...

We can help the Omni by participating on the working groups. Almaz has been volunteering with the Commons working group for about 2 months.

We hope that this project will greatly expand the scope of the Omni’s community and increase its visibility. There is a chance that funders and donors introduced to the Omni through our Program would financially support the project of the Omni. We plan to bring more African and African American community members and others who would increase the diversity of the Omni’s community in many ways, including inviting programming for and by community groups who represent our neighborhood and community.

Wanda Sabir of KPFA and Sophie of KPOO are also media supporters of YES. We can mention the Omni on our radio broadcast and other media collaborations.

7. Additional information?

Our collective will have diverse group members, artists, business owners, educators, musicians, authors, which all those who organize and those who participate are all considered collective members. Will also have volunteers temporary member participates from deferent community groups, which include college/university students and community educators. All participates in our program would not necessarily be considered members unless they show constant involvement at YES program.

Introduce your key collective members here

• Almaz Yihdego Founder and program coordinator/Tigrinya/Amharic teacher.
• Noura Hassaini Child Development English/French/ and Arabic teacher
• Lawrence Brisco Business development, entrepreneurship trainer through creative gardening and landscape design.
• Daniel Williams Swahili and mathematics teacher
• Akanke Adesokan Holistic health and culturally relevant, Responsive holistic empowering counselor and performing artist
• Eden Mana health and wellness, health eating habits and nutrition counselor
• Fiyory Melake chemistry and biology teacher
• Mical Free art and graphic-design teacher
• Baba Kala Music and cultural history teacher
• Far I Shields musician, artist and author for global transformation
• Melvin Cowan program fund and resource advisor
• Yoel Haile student academic resource and job placement coordinator

Discussion

• Concern about locking the room vs: stewarding the room
  • Not going to lock the room, maybe have locked storage in there eventually
• What do you do?
  • Tutoring, mentoring, cultural events, youth program from 8th grade to college. Not only here, but also W Oakland Youth Cnter, Lafayette Youth Center, Public schools, etc; Want to use the Omni as a home base, collective of the Omni. Have over 20-50 collective groups working with us... Ethiopian/Eritrean/W African community groups
• $100/month for 3 months, then $200/month after that. Room still open to everybody. Rehearsal event on the 13th, maybe here or maybe the youth center.. major summer project. Mostly tutoring and mentoring in the fall.
• Is it friendly to propose that you're having a locker and using the commons space for 3 months, then use the blue classroom more after 3 months
  • That's what the proposal says
    • Not exactly, don't see anything about locked storage in the original proposal
• Helen: Why 3 months?
  • Almaz: Waiting for grant money, applying for grants... we could pay $300 now, but need time to organize, clean up the space, etc;
    • Judith: So making a commitment to set a date, ~3 months from when this proposal is accepted
• Matt: Just trying to gain clarity, make sure there's less overhead. One section says $100/month until 3 months
  • Jenny: No, they both say the same thing
• Judith: Seems like a lot of confusion over $$$ - I've heard 200, 300...
  • Almaz: $300 includes utilities
• Helen - 3 misunderstandings - stewardship - clarified; 3 months - clarified; utilities - clarified. Any questions that have not been clarified?
  • Ken: As a collective you can rent the ballroom yourself and have priority over fundraising for the omni. if you can rent it out what's the issue
    • Robb: Looking at 4x/yr to have an event, not unusual for any other collective
      • Almaz: It's on the proposal that a percentage of any ballroom event goes to the Omni
        • Ken: My concern is that you were unhappy after the last meeting. I'm not concerned, want some tangible things that we're not getting clarification on in writing.

~~communication breakdown~~

• Jenny: Let's all be more gentle and patient with each other - this is an opportunity for collaboration and cooperation, not a crisis in need of aggression
• Ken: Want to reread the original proposal before I can vote on that.
• More discussion occurs, notetaker gets caught up and distracted - sorry!

Consenso?

• Are there any major blocking concerns?
  • Seems like no

• Passing: Helen (FNB), Mary Ann (CSC), Jenny (sudo), LL (Liz)
• Abstaining: Marcus (ABDC), Ken (CCL)

Proposal for Recording Studio in the Basement

• to start a working group to manage booking & setup of recording & rehearsal space in the middle & right rooms adjacent to liberated lens.

omni will keep $ from rentals, however, members of the working group will contract w/musicians for time spent stewarding the space.

musicians may pay or volunteer with commons or studio working group for access to the space.

the delegates may terminate the arrangement w/a month's notice.

Proposal for Coworking Space in the Basement

Proposed by Marcus Zamani 07/07/2016 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G-orldFG2uPDJfhupOm5dY0JpfcpG0wP7Ki5S1nx2_A

• Liz: oh dang Marcus! You've worked a lot on this! OH MY GAWD you did CAD drawings?? you put the door to the library room in the wrong spot, though
  • Marcus: actually just a free program i d/l from net called Sweet Home 3d. yeah, i gotta change that placement.
  • what's the tiny rentable room for?
  • if members wanted a private space for whatever reasons. maybe meeting with a client. Thank You: i will clarify that in the proposal
  • How will you make the basement ADA accessible? also, who else is on board to help with all this work?
    • The last point stated in the "Benefits to Omni" section addresses ADA. So far Matt Senate has volunteered, a couple friends of mine and a work-trade program with future members. oh I see the wheelchair lifts

Proposal for Timeless, Infinite Light to use the Haunted Closet in the Basement for Book Storage

Hi Omni. We recently invited Chiapas Support Committee and Global Womens Strike into our shared space, which we are very excited about! This is great because they didn’t have a dedicated space to meet to work and store their stuff for quite awhile. One of the outcomes of this development, however, is that we offered up half of our storage space for their use. As we continue to produce more and more books, our need for book storage is increasing. We are now beyond capacity in our space.

We would like to use the Haunted Closet on the Eastern wall of the basement under the stairs. The one that has a spray-painted ghost and an “office” sign on the door and was previously used by squatters. We believe that it is currently not being utilized, and it has the space to accommodate our storage needs for quite awhile. We would need this space to remain locked to prevent damage or theft to our books.

In the spirit of helping keeping Omni afloat, we could contribute $30/mo for the use of this space.

Discussion: How do we communicate with our neighbors?

• Julio: Scuttlebutt mailing list: How is it used? Okay to delay discussion to next meeting if run out of time and others don't want to discuss.

End of Meeting

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