Owl Collective Meeting
3/21/08  12p (pacific)

Present:  Sascha, Molly, Will, Madigan, Mimi

Facilitator(s):  Will, Madigan (w/support of all)

Review of last meeting agenda and leftover items. 
Agenda priorities:  Mimi Check-in, Transition Team Planning, Encuentro Update

(Check Ins—notes not taken)

Mimi:  Main priorities from Alicia are check email, thank you/donor tracking, distro/inventory, process new orders, maintain FH office, be visible presence.

Email, distro fine.  No need to reorder main publications/stickers at this time.
Brendon potential person to work with. 
Thank you/donor letters most difficult, not clear, unwieldly. 
Improved system will work with database.
Re:  Office, optimistic about being in the space. 
Regular office hours Tuesday 1-6pm. 
In newsletter (FH), connecting with staff, Alex, Casey there to work on NYC Icarus group.  Feels functional and spirited! 

Where are things with database?
Spoke with Brendon about experience, ability, willingness.  Need to link with Will and web team.  Convenient location near Nick (who will be working on drupal). 

Main challenge:  Communication with owls.  It would be great if Mimi could participate semi-regularly, get notes, email, etc.  Hard to know who can make decision.  Good if there was a time/way to do this. 

Example:  Giving $ to volunteer for travel—not sure, don’t want to make assumptions.  I’ll make decisions if I’m empowered to do so. 
For now the questions should be sent to all. 

Work on solution: 
CC Owl Notes to Mimi
Madigan agreed to be point person if needed.
We need to be mindful of scribe role, be clear, look at the flow of information.
Mimi will be cc’d and try to come to meeting at least once a month. 

Transition Team:

Where is owl body/women’s encuentro at on this? 
How will we invite people into transition team?
Does anyone want to put out a proposal where transition team goes from here? 
What can we do?

Stuff needs to get resolved with the WE. 
Don’t want to wait. 

Proposal:  6 people meet in person to work on flight plan, in intense intentional space.

Proposals for the WE will lay parameters with community feedback. 

Come back to structural bones Will has put forth. 

Steps:  Owls meet, WE meet and make recommendations, open space to others.

Something missing from proposal…having fresh/new folks while craving the wisdom of elder folks with experience.  It should be a mix. 

The WE does represent that mix.  Excited about wildest dreams brainstorm.  Glad Will sent past org. structure ideas.  Look at and pull up more past proposals.  If we go into retreat, voices of the past will come with us. 

We have already created a dialog, now we need to implement it. 

Carry topic forward to next meeting with input from women’s encuentro. 

Flight Plan:

Who are we accountable to and how?  How is policy made, grievances handled, etc?
Funding dilemma.  We can ask but someone needs to answer. 

Goal of TIP should be to weave a new path from the impossibility of total consensus without moving towards an authoritarian structure. 

Perspective based on transition team invites:  First thought good, I had a stake in process, I’m being asked.  There were concrete ideas in TT responses.  They should be revisited with encuentro recommendations.  Has potential. 

Move invite to open call. 
How many active TIP community members are out there?  Call out to self select.  Need for openness. 

Painful aspects of gender oppression.  Getting people in one place for training, building community, discuss language around oppression.  People’s Institute model.  Actively partner.  Can inform organizational process and open space for dialog. 
Open call could be org. hub, building common language.  Maybe put of site move forward in collective solidarity. 

Next meeting Wednesday 3/26 11am (pacific)
(Thursday was also mentioned…I’m confused about this, please confirm and clarify.)

Women’s Encuentro this weekend so we can move forward by next meeting make a plan before this drags out longer. 

Discussion about face to face meeting to do transition team work.  Not a panacea.  Let’s keep talking!!! 

Need to transform “cop in the head”.