8-20-08 Icarus Coordinator Meeting

madigan molly mimi nick neil will

will notetaker mimi facilitator

working group incl. personal check-ins

ed/outreach -- neil -- michael not back from nasco yet. hunter college -- social worker school might be interested. needs help sorting out collaboration issues. madigan - need to support each other in how we relate, addressing sexism, classism issue.

molly - important to know commitment levels of showing up following through, obligations of coordinators in terms of meeting attendance etc.

mimi -- need to flag/table this for further ongoing discussion.

molly- related to 3 mos period of reassessing structure what's working what's not.

oxford -- neil made proposal regarding this. might not have good tabling sell materials opportunity.

mimi doing check request for fjc

coords approve $1400 for eddy and neil + they will try to raise $ if possible during trip thru lit they bring with them. plus


media-pub group -
 
polly - newsletter project editor - blog post/announce
blog post approval
navigating crisis handout - clare + will finalizing it
talking points handout project
interview silverelf was in local media; get on site

support network group

molly - only coordinator presence on site regularly, concern
lots of support and people needing support.
good mutual aid emerging

emerging boston group getting organized, what get in a group startup package -- schwag, stickers, postcards. need more postcards that are informational - are we still printing orange/black cards 4x6?

mimi - still have about 1000 4x6 stickers

molly portland icarus group not responding, hasnt responded for couple of mos

pdx radical mental health discussion group spin-off, still emerging, not solidly or consistently happening at this point

bigger issue -- people using icarus name without sharing icarus principles. if people listed on our site as resources -- at minimum they need to be able to respond to emails. having resources that don't email back is not good.

idea 7 had - points of unity, tangible document that these are our points of unity, beliefs we share

mimi - points of unity would be useful. also evaluating collective organizing structure, also how to support local organizers getting together regional or with us or something. for ongoing growth.

not easy to contact local groups out there. local group mentoring thing good -- asheville helped richmond start, they can help boston people.

madigan - kansas city?

molly -- kansas city just came and went. mostly boston, dc, denver getting started, gathering resources. Also london group just getting going - good for neil to connect

flag for further discussion -- points of unity - molly will bring this thread back up

molly - community call was really great. one thing that came out was in next month or two have conference call for local group summit, new organizers old organizers share their experience and questions, round table. specific to that.

will -- idea to have specific topics/themes for each conf call, advertise this on the site

mimi - good idea

molly -- prefer to separate, monthly call is really good for first timers to first hear each others voices, open calls more accessible to people.

madigan -- maybe we could have a schedule of folks on call so monthly call has consistency on facilitation, not just rest on one person. at least a schedule of who's going to be there.

flag this issue for next meeting

rnc funding -- they want $500 to pay for rent and supplies (much will be donated) - permanent support space opening before rnc and close couple days after also having nightly support groups, counselors/healers available, comforts, got input from site. setting precedent of making mental health as big as first aid in these types of setting so we don't lose organizers in future bc of trauma + intensity. legacy they'll leave is How To set up this type of space at other events/large events/festivals that can be replicated. Also doing trainings - 4 three hour trainings on trauma and emotional support prior. when medics giving basic first aid they're doing mini mental health component as well.

collaboration btwn northstar and icarus as partners. longtime organizers

mimi - budget issue - let's think about how to incorporate into our budget, how do we fit it into framework of spending and priorities, set goals, have process that's intentional and inclusive and accountable. How to file this?

also want literature, pdfs from site

molly - until we have a budget + process for people requesting funds but let's try to hold off on other seed funds until we do know what our budget is

mimi -- we're close

Nick - web group - out of town for a few days - ran migration script to merge forum, drupal users - working to merge individual accounts, add features missing. scrambling to do that, things working smoothly. working on interface on database. close to done.

madigan - people want a chat room? aren't these independent initiatives

nick - could have both, dif chat rooms for different groups. web team didn't really work well to use chat room

molly - came up on forums bc couple of users use forums as kind of a chat. many people not comfortable. many people do one-sentence replies in roll call

will -- set posts to take a minute before another post, so people can't treat forum like chat room?

mimi -- admin / development -- sent out proposed shell for working group budget. categories based on quickbooks jessie. travel, supplies, whatever else. hoping working groups can put heads together and figure out what need to spend $ on over next year. July 1-July 1 icarus fiscal year. going into a master document we can then look at together and tweak to come up with overall budget for the year, based on budget for working groups. categories are examples - feel free to change/add. e.g. publications costs, consultants. make deadline for getting budgets done. summary of goals to go along with budget. e.g. have database up and running. help guide when other people looking at budget what you're trying to accomplish.

madigan - great - this is amazing, last year it would have been only will + madigan to sort it out, great we are so far along with people committed, still continuing as project at the moment. crashing falling flying support. more cohesive than it's ever been.

madigan - want fundraising with sascha - do something with sascha contacts, historical fundraising, summer burst, then new years/end of year burst. we may be ahead of that curve instead of scrambling at end of year -- want to plug in with sascha on this as well

mimi -- willing to help do fundraising, take notes, next week - switch gear to focus more on fundraising. once we get budgets in we can look at fundraising goals.

mimi - housekeep things -- nick we owe him payment for $450. needs Nick invoice from Nick. get everyone to sign off? how should this work?

already had consensus on nick $ -- person puts in invoice on payment that is so mimi empowered to follow through. if not sure whether it was consensed to before, then mimi checks in with coords.

mimi -- empties officially off the payroll; nick getting other part of jobshare.

mimi ongoing sticker debacle -- mimi has talked with fjc and alicia - fjc suggested going through nys attorney general office arbitration, small claims court, trying to avoid that happening. sent alicia an email. sent em to person who owes us $.