Event:2024/01/05 06 Delegates

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Omni Accountability Meetings. January 5 6:30pm-9pm and January 6 1PM-6PM, 2024


Jan 5 meeting

Meeting Details

Roles

  • Facilitator/s:
  • Stacktaker:
  • Timekeeper:
  • Notetaker/s: paige
  • Next meeting's facilitator(s):
  • decision making model
  • what proposals are viable and can be worked on?
  • and point people for those proposals
  • when are you meeting again to go over it?
    • tuesday evening
  • problem at Omni of disagreeing privately. saying things partially true.
  • need for a project managed plan to give to the lender
  • letter writing to lender, top priority right now
    • paige patrik peter philip yar jamal
    • advice: letter includes a plan. need some meat and responsible parties. jamal can help with the framework. matrix to do that
  • offer - everyone gets 2 30 minute calls with jamal
  • consensus - 1 going forward with tiered voting at end if necessary
  • component of this fundraising in nature. requests for support need to be targeted. jamal will reach out to fife. dan kalb -- peter. trying to compile a potential list is important.
  • G - where is an accountability letter addressing racism and harm at omni. PP has experienced racism very recently.
  • jamal - lets talk about that tomorrow with the delegates. tomorrow is a planning meeting.
  • jamal - requests for proposals. when you grade, you want the same people looking at every proposal. for continuity, lens being the same.
  • peter - one text agreement
  • yar - dont need me, im bringing relationship with PP and some understanding of the building. i am able to flesh that out. i dont think that skills transfers every plan
  • jamal - one set of people need to offer proposals and grade proposals. same group of people. RFP - in many orgs and businesses, it is by device of law. same people look at it. if people split on proposals, it invites dirty data.
  • PP and phils proposal - silver, yar, patrik,

Jan 6th meeting notes

Roles

  • Facilitator/s:
  • Stacktaker:
  • Timekeeper:
  • Notetaker/s: multiple people
  • Next meeting's facilitator(s):

Delegates

  • BOGSS: inactive
  • CCL: patrik
  • FNB: toan
  • LL: John
  • SB: Natalie
  • SM: inactive
  • SR: Paige

Quorum (2/3 of active groups):

Topics for discussion / hacking today

  • Future structure of Omni Commons
    • Patrik: delegates should have authority to make decisions on the spot. Also, Omni needs to have REAL president / secretary / treasurer
    • Jamal: Omni really needs an ED, or nobody will take us seriously. But no money, so will need to be self-funded position
  • Flesh out PP and CityInMotion proposals
    • Jemma: our job should be to put together a grading rubric, then get the groups to write a proposal that passes
      • Patrik and Yar: we will likely have the write the proposals ourselves
  • Accountability process - both in the abstract, and dealing with specific concrete conflicts
    • G was asking about a letter around accountability
      • What kind of public statements from Omni have there been so far?
    • Statement in direct reply to boycott
  • Bylaw changes for Omni
  • Press release?

Current proposals, next steps

  • proof of money from both groups
  • city in motion - not a 501c3, can only give them ownership based off assesment (cannot "donate" any portion of the building ownership to them)
  • pp - 501c3 so can decide whatever split of the building we decide, essentially as donation to another nonprofit
  • yar - i think it should be close to market given it opens up an exploit
  • john - discussion with university cooperative association. do they have the capital? when talking about trusts or business loans.
  • deadline for LLC - yar: less stringent. - 31st to prove viable
  • land trust to be in negotiation - jan 31
  • TANC meeting to discuss becoming collective jan 28
  • PP - counter proposal jan 15
  • city in motion - needs to show money by 15.

accountability

  • jamal - problematic behaviors at omni commons. boycotting 1. active unlearning of behaviours. can get that from a number of people. DEI consultants. admit there have been problems publicly, come up w plan to have someone come in on unlearning anti-black behavior, unconscious or subconscious bias, etc. monthly activity. different person. "we have had issues and we are moving forward in this way" ppl explain why it's not racist, but it is racist. Those in charge will have to accept accountability for things you didn't do, but facilitated the environment or culture for. What's next?
  • paige: have someone talk to CLP about the boycott?
  • patrik: not interested in restorative justice with clp.
  • anwar: ppl can refuse to participate in restorative justice. can we say we don't want to do it when harm has been done. (kick them out even if victim does not want to participate in RJ process)
  • yar: only restorative justice if survivor of harm wants to participate.
  • john: diversity, equity, and inclusion as an industry. affirmative action as a reform strategy have been developed in contexts that are different than omni. structured bureaucratically. remedying harm is difficult. i agree there are specific individuals who do not get when they are being prejudiced or racist. those individuals have not been held accountable. also individuals who are sexist or lacking in awareness of queer and gender and neurodivergence. are we a board of directors? we come from a critique of capitalism. we exist in this capitalist system and we need to find a way to address these issues. not sure how we move to restorative justice. addressing harm process, without structure.
  • jamal: we need to be prioritizing healing harm that has been done. specific people that have continuously caused harm. can't have same peoples name coming up every time something happens without doing something. ppl don't like term of accountability.
  • yar: we have been trying to create alternative structures for the past 10 years. racism is the reason that those structures have failed in this space. as a queer transwoman i'd put that above sexism and anything else.
  • ?: ppl are being called out but nothing is being done. if collective could also have an accountability process within own collective.
  • paige: depends if conflict is isolated within the collective
  • anwar: why we failed?
  • jamal: no just need to hold them accountable. i heard about this one person from everybody. a reminder they need to be reflective about how they hold people in this space. you typically don't let the person, i think it would be difficult to ask the collective to punish the person. omni commons is not acting when it is raised. i don't know what that looks like. but you need to come up with a plan. we have heard you this is what we're doing. unfair to ask collective to do that. no adopted process for doing anything. gotta take an aciton. when i need to discipline i just do it and move on. to send a message that it won't be tolerated.
  • silver: ppl excused rob's behavior because he does so much for omni. no one is in such a position of power that we can excuse their bad behavior.
  • yar: someone in community who wants to spread lies as a sock puppet
  • jemma - we need a moderator, someone screening of emails
  • toan - FNB anonymous person attended, straight up blocked a proposal. there was some mediation process with some of the people accused of bad behavior. since people are open to the mediation process, can we hire a mediator?
  • jamal - i think that's an option.
  • jamal - ask that everyone leave the room except delegates
  • Proposal: 3 month ban of jake, including email, slack communications. letter needs to include racism and harmful behavior, failed mediation, and give time to pick up stuff
    • SB - yes, LL - yes, CCL - yes SR - yes. FNB block.
  • jamal - ask to silver to manage emotions better
  • silver - jake, yar sarah, myself being in a position of power. reads stepping down letter. no proposals to consensus for one year. was going to publish it but then jake and sarah withdrew
  • who will draft accountability letter coming out from all of us? G?
    • what are we willing to do to make this an anti-racist space? 1 person hired monthly for training?
  • patrik - if we organize a training, how do we actually get people to show up?
  • jamal - you should record it, but you can never ensure. can never make ppl do anything. if people continue to engage in racist behavior, any such action will be met with discipline up to ban. if i have the time, I can volunteer to do 1 or 2 of these sessions.
  • working group to decide what is process for holding people accountable
  • silver - im only interested working on this because i have started this conversation, so i know who is interested and can bring people into that group. but i still am wanting to step back
  • jamal - need one page doc on diversity, whatever you want to call it, omni being a safe space. these are the consequences for these rules. step 1. mediated conversation 2. ... if the situation is egregious
  • patrik: do we need to update our code of conduct? Can also borrow from PP and CityInMotion's code of conduct if useful
  • yar - our code of conduct is just an anti harassment policy. does not set positive expectations about how we treat each other.
  • jamal - that working group can work from that document. yar jump in and add that language.
  • yar - i feel invested in that process. it cant just be me and silver.
  • anwar - want to name yar is already doing counter proposal work
  • patrik - by next delegates meeting, reports back from all agenda items.
  • anwar - needed for that meeting is: update on proposal fleshing out, accountability working group, letter for attorney,
  • jamal - you need to find someone, not me, to serve as an executive director. you can run this organization. conversations in here... i dont think anyone has bad intent, but people in here clawing in different directions. a lot of emotion, stuff you had to intervene in. if you have an ed, they can suspend people, if that person wants to appeal, they appeal to the delegates. this model does not make sense.
  • john - ive served as officer in name only. ive served in many other nonprofits. i am support and inclined to horizontal organizing. one of the consistent thing ive heard from contractors to fire, we are not set up to raise money in larger amounts from corporate world. as we seek to refinance, its virtually impossible given revenue/expense to get a commercial lender. while i appreciate the energy and passion and thoughtfulness people bring, i keep my involvement bounded precisely because its more drama i can handle. i really would like to see OC serving full diversity of omni, and incubate cultural arts orgs, and nurtures the movement, whatever you want to call it, leftist, progressive, grassroots in the bay area. if we can get through this, another 100 years, i think that would be fantastic. im excited about possibilities and opportunities in the left in bay. one of the most dense in the country in terms of movement history and resources. PP listened to org, this really does constitute a continuation of the black liberation movement. we would be blessed as a community based org to be part of this space. many of our orgs are in a position to work with this group and make it more effective than it is, and we would benefit. the kind of work that develops revolutionary theory, is this kind of grassroots interpersonal stuff. i dont think we need to be horizontal and consensus and assembly based model to do this work. there is a history of orgs working inside nonprofit corporate world, entirely effective. example of union, revolutionary nationalist, democratically centralist. served chinese laundry men in nyc. because of how principled the cadre were within the organization as a whole, they repeatedly were elected. this was a democratic electoral structure. we're in a place where we have amazing opportunities to build human liberation and revolution if we can get through all of this. ED director and staffed model is something we should consider. we have been trying to do other forms and not successful. how we develop a consensus around that is tbd. i had conversation with anka, and thats where we stand
  • jamal - no one will take you seriously right now, to give you a loan. the work you all do is massive work, super important. people in their collectives are doing good work. but the building is not being tended to. you also dont have money, people you bring in will have to raise their own salary. really think through who has experience in development, and what a model might look like to get you through this. i'm still hesitant, absence of hand-holding, next meeting might be in the same situation. whoever makes the biggest wave moves the ship how they want it to go
  • john - rethinking structure
  • jamal - how many delegates feel they are doing too much? it should not feel like this, and y'all need to change the culture.
  • jamal: yar and patrick think about counter proposal. i'll call phillip. knock off some tasks. time to get actual work done.
  • jamal - feedback from those on the phone - people would like a weekly update so people arent telling their own stories.
  • anwar will write weekly letter and send to delegates
  • jamal: need to go to your trust with a plan is top priority
  • talk about getting tax money back

Jamal as interim executive director

  • jamal - offering to help for 2-3 months. will not be permanent
  • jamal - if i have to pay myself, would come from money i would raise. have to think about what is a sustainable staff in this building. and think about cleaning the building up. day 1, all collectives have to clean it up. nobody is going to rent space. bathrooms and. free store is in the wrong place. strange for two reasons. 1. people from unhoused community dont come in further.. keeps them right at door, not welcoming in. suspect.
  • yar - plan, originally free store in the middle of the space. but floor needed repair. proposal to repair the floor a long time ago, only recently finished. we could move it now. another part of the long term plan is to put another door over there.
  • jamal - you have some things to make it habitable, and bring in money. some efforts, talking to city council, talk to the mayor
  • 67 billionaires in the county
  • jamal - if they believe you will pay them back, probably an ability for an extension.
  • john - correct if im hearing this wrong, but i hear your offer as helping us as combo of grant writing and organizational consulting
  • jamal - theres a grant writer already. im ok to work with her, but she needs to do the work. i can help make a campaign. use my connections to raise money. also systems and processes in place. and i dont want you to pick me if your not going to let me to do the job. i need full responsibility. my concern is ability to job. some things dont need to be brought to the board. i.e. if someone is harmful, doesnt need to be brought to the board. if they want to repeal, sure. cant be digging in ditch every 5 minutes. it's why people are resigning. i need silver to hang around to help me, since i dont have the institutional knowledge. but yes, im happy to do it for a few months
  • john - my sense of the room is that this is a conversation as delegates, as board, as the community: we want to go into. my sense also is you also have all of us in the board present. there can be further conversation about terms of a contract for a interim executive director. organizational development is hardest part because it is herding cats.
  • jamal - yall need to talk amongst yourselves. im going to go out and smoke.
  • toan - can you describe more, like i.e. would you move free store?
  • jamal - if theres a hole in the roof, you have to fix it. im not going to come to you and ask, i will come forward with a proposal with costs and options. i need to be able to do work without asking for permission for ever things.
  • silver - want to name people were frustrated with me doing this meeting without consensus process
  • patrik - i dont think any of us agreed it would be 5 hr slog fest, but happy with do-ocracy if stuff happens
  • john - you took the time to organize us to do stuff very much needed. helpful, thank you
  • silver - jamal is great cause he already knows omni at this point
  • toan - request for more ahead of time notice for meetings
  • yar - this weekend could go down as a transformative process for omni
  • silver - big pro that he is willing to raise his own money.
  • john: do we trust jamal to lead omni in the right direction
  • yes, we have consensus to begin contract negotiation for jamal to be interim ED*
  • jamal: something like $200/per month, everything else i raise. You need to decide what percentage i can raise from this role to keep as a salary. tuan to ask lawyer to write this up.

review

  • jamal: 1st steps: work with paige on doc to trust talk to some donors.
    • get jesse involved in contract negotiation
  • jamal - i will start working immediately. monday or tuesday meeting. leaving wednesday-sunday. talk about cleaning the building looks like.
  • jamal - i will take the racist and accountability conversation/agenda. need to bring more diversity to the board. figure out why no black orgs in the space, remedy it quickly. apologize for way it has been
  • natalie - low black/brown rep in coops. i want to note that observation is a cultural question.
  • jamal - events needs to transition to silver.
  • yar - if we are asking silver to stay on more, we need to figure out how to show up for them. we know youve been at the end of your rope.
  • jamal - i got it. me running a building will be different than facilitating a meeting.

End of Meeting

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