Facilitators: Linda York, Gunnel Clark.
Location: Broadview Community Church, 325 North 125th St., Seattle.
Neighborhood Reports
14 neighborhood reports were given. Activities noted included: petition gathering for King County Council resolution opposing the USA Patriot Act, tabling, canvassing neighborhoods, forums on a wide variety of topics, arranging for community meeting w/ legislative representatives, book discussions, meetings and discussions of ways to integrate SNOW activities with upcoming holiday events. The importance of both being visible in the wider community as well as connecting with ones SNOW neighborhoods was noted.
There was a suggestion from the Lake Forest Park representative that we all take a look at the Moveon.org flier regarding the lies of the Bush Administration which can be accessed from the MoveOn website and which was published in the Thursday edition of the NYT.
Study of SNOW
Bill Loewen, a professor of sociology at Seattle University presented a request to document the "SNOW story". His hope is that the work of SNOW would be of interest to others and his thinking is that it would provide insight into how an organization which grows at the rate that SNOW has grown can continue to function effectively. He and students in his classes would build a story of SNOW by observing meetings (both general and CC) and by interviewing individuals within the SNOW organization.
Interviews would be anonymous and those interviewed would give permission for their interviews to be used. The "audience" for this study would be other like-minded organizations who would like to learn from SNOW's success as well as sociology students wanting to understand the nature of organizations such as SNOW.
No objections to this rough outline were raised. Bill will come back to the CC with an even more fully developed proposal which will be brought to a general meeting before the study actually begins.
USA Patriot Act Update
Ellen Finklestein updated the group on the status of the efforts to gather petitions to request that the King County Council pass a resolution in opposition to the USA Patriot Act. Many neighborhood groups are using the petitions for tabling and for neighborhood organizing. Petitions are circulated at a variety of events (Zunes talk, Issaquah Salmon Days, etc.) and a stack of them have been passed on to the ACLU.
The working group for this campaign is moving into the phase of asking individuals within each King County District to arrange meetings with their representatives such that the reps are aware of the strength of support for this in their district. It seems likely that the resolution will pass, given the support that is already there but the meetings are still important as are the continued efforts to gather signatures for petitions.
Ellen reported that the SNOW website has a wealth of information for those who are interested in learning more about the USA Patriot Act itself as well as about opposition to it. 186 cities and towns as well as 3 states have already passed similar resolutions.
US Out/UN In
Mike Yarrow reported on the other major SNOW campaign. The kick off event with Stephen Zunes was quite successful.
Educational efforts, including materials for tabling, surveys designed to help promote conversation, and information about contacts with representatives in Congress (to ask them to vote against approval of the $87 billion dollars with "no strings attached") are underway. There are delicate issues involved here so this has been a difficult issue to encapsulate in a flier. A leaflet, however, is to be out sometime next week.
Others interested in joining this working group are invited to attend meetings (Thursdays at 3:00 a the SNOW office) or to contact Mike Yarrow (wwfor@connectexpress.com or 206-7895565).
Bylaws Update
Attendees were asked to review two drafts for the bylaws sections relative to membership and voting. Comments were taken by the CC (see below) and will be considered as the next draft of this section is written.
Those not in attendance at the meeting will be invited to comment on the drafts prior to the next CC meeting (10/20) where this issue will be a major item of discussion. We were reminded that the actual "bylaws" need to be kept simple, with details spelled out in "guidelines" as necessary. Comments can be made at any time by writing to bylaws@snowcoalition.org
Feedback from the General Meeting re: SNOW Bylaws
- Several people spoke to the need to keep the bylaws simple and doable. We could get into trouble by not following the bylaws. Other things (such as pre-posted agendas) could be "guidelines."
- re: meetings
- We need a mechanism for getting neighborhood group input other than at General Meetings.
- Some people want to participate in SNOW but can't get to neighborhood SNOW meetings. They appreciate the opportunity to participate directly in general meetings.
- How do we promote more cooperation among neighborhood groups?
- We need to notify people about the agenda for General Meetings ahead of time. This would allow neighborhoods the chance to be sure that there was a rep present if there were issues of significance.
- It is important to have meetings be worth peoples' time.
- re: decision-making and voting
- We need to define more clearly what decisions will be made by the General Meetings vs. those made by the Coordinating Committee.
- As a coalition shouldn't decisions be made by delegates of the groups?
- In addition to discussion at a General Meeting, consultation with groups on major decisions should occur.
- Concern was expressed that individuals voices will be lost -- especially of those who are more interested in the general meetings than in neighborhood ones.
- Notice of major decisions needs to go out to SNOW people well in advance of decision meetings.
- Decisions may come up which would not allow previous notification. Maybe prior notification expectation could be in guidelines rather than bylaws which would be a legal requirement.
- If there are to be votes in the general meeting, only entertain ones on items that have been published in advance.
- A "sense of the meeting" can be taken when items are not published ahead of time.
- We need a mechanism for people to participate in decisions who cannot make meetings. There needs to be some additional way to register neighborhood votes on major program areas when those neighborhoods are not represented at the meeting. (Maybe some sort of "comment period" on major issues which could accept comments -- even votes? -- on major issues...)
- Do we need a way to verify which individuals are actually in a neighborhood group if we are to allow individual votes? Perhaps attendees at General Meetings could be vouched for by others at the meeting from their neighborhood.
- re: specific proposals submitted
- Several expressed preferences for going, generally, in the Mike direction vs. the Will direction in the new sections, both for simplicity's sake and because we began as a coalition not as a group of individual members.
- Perhaps an even simpler variation on Mike's proposal is that only delegates of neighborhoods or groups vote, i.e. that there be no "individual" votes.
Fundraising
The fundraising committee reminded us of the vital need for more income. We have only enough in the treasury to pay our employees through December. A number of fundraising endeavors are being pursued.
One that was proposed and which received grateful support came from Tiffany Larscheid who is offering to make holiday cards for SNOW with all proceeds going to SNOW. It was affirmed that these cards would be featured both on the website as well as in the next Bulletin. Tiffany will pursue other outlets, asking neighborhood groups to get on board by promoting these at tabling and other upcoming events.
Another line of cards (not strictly as holiday items) developed by Ric Powers from photos taken by a number of people will be printed and sold for SNOW income.
Announcements
Several announcements were made and the meeting was adjourned.
Minutes submitted by Marcia Mullins