Regular Meeting - Las Vegas DSA

Location of Meeting: Zoom

The monthly meeting of the LV DSA was called to order at 6:35 PM on April 16th, 2020 by Shaun N.

Adoption of the Meeting Agenda & Approval of Previous Minutes (February 20th, 2020): Motion passed.

New Business (6:45 PM)
1. Inside/Outside Strategy Statement — Kara H.
  Las Vegas DSA will not be endorsing Joe Biden. This was a decision made by national DSA voted upon during the last convention. Do we exit the party? Do we join a new party? The chapter’s stance is we believe these should be individual decisions. We want to make sure this is a safe space and that there are openings for discussion on these issues. We are a big tent organization and want to listen to everyone.
2. LV DSA Study Group — Kara H. (filling in for Jesse F.)
  The study group will happen in 2 weeks. This group will be specifically to talk about inside vs. outside strategies for our chapter regarding electoralism
3. Ecosocialism Committee Proposal — Jake F.
  Jake and Brittany proposed a reopening of the Ecosocialism Committee. A link to the proposal was provided in the agenda. The group wants to focus on mining companies, water rights, and indigenous groups. They are also considering community building with events such as camping trips and park clean ups. Email survey was sent out for voting for members present as the meeting and the committee proposal unanimously passed.
4. LV DSA Election Nominations Committee — Kara H.
  Chapter board elections will take place during our next general meeting. This meeting will only include our board members. This will happen in May as the board officer terms run June 1st through May 31st. As a chapter, we must elect a 3 person nominations committee. They will decide how the election is going to work. Jessie P. nominated Ryley H. and Mariah H. Jessie P. nominated herself. Andrew L. nominated Thomas K. → Email survey was sent out for voting for members present as the meeting using ranked choice voting. While voting was still going on, Jessie withdrew from being nominated and the final nominations committee is: Mariah H., Ryley H., and Tom K.
Officer Reports (7:00 PM)
1. Shaun N. (Co-Chair) — Fireside Chats
  Every Monday at 6:30 PM, the LV DSA holds their Fireside Chats. This is a casual and informal meeting. It is a way to give people a space to come together and stay connected. Next week, we will have a guest from the DSA National Political Committee, Blanca Estevez, on the call. If anyone wants to add an agenda item to the Fireside Chats, they can contact Shaun N.
2. Kara H. (Co-Chair) — Membership
  Our membership has been growing. We have 34 new dues paying members since our last meeting. We are currently at 228 members. We also have a dues waiver.
3. Lourdes E. (Treasurer) — Financial Report
  Lourdes was absent from the meeting. Nothing new to report.
4. Ashley M. (Secretary) — COVID-19 Response
  Ashley M. spoke about the mutual aid project. It’s currently raised $3510. There is a need for additional delivery drivers at this time.
5. Jessie P. (Comms Chair) — Communications Report
  Communications is currently working on an online blog. Tiffany is working on implementing the blog on our website. Anyone can submit articles to the blog approval committee. Once it is approved, it will be submitted on the website.
6. Richard V. (Education Chair) — Education Committee Report
  Richard V. is working on resurrecting Socialism Nights in Zoom form. Education committee has also created a list of education resources list on LVDSA.org.
7. Tamara T. (Grievance Officer) — Info/Update
Committee Reports
1. Medicare for All Committee — James P. (chair)
  Introduced the new chair, James P. The next meeting will be next Sunday, April 26th at 6 PM. Discussed responding to local politicians such as Steven Horsford about pressing for universal health care support.
2. Labor Committee — Kristofer D. (chair)
  There are two national projects that labor is focusing on. One is the Unemployed Restaurant Workers for Relief and Power. Wants to create a better safety net for restaurant workers. The other is emergency workplace organization.
3. UNLV YDSA — Jesser S. (chair)
  Working on reading groups with Jesse F. and Adam T. Waiting for campus to open back up.
4. Electoral Committee — Kara H. (filling in for Judith W., chair)
  Clark County Democratic Party has a platform meeting today and another platform meeting on Monday. If you’d like to add anything to the platform, please contact us so we can walk you through the process. LV DSA Electoral committee is currently working on an internal endorsement process as well as a possible voter’s guide.
Break Out Groups (7:15 PM)
1. Groups of four. Ten minute groups. Talk to one another. Ask questions.
Misc./Open Comment Period (7:25 PM)
1. Adam T. wanted to reach out to anyone who works at CSN or UNLV about possible furloughs and organizing against them.

The next meeting will be held: TBD

The agenda for the next meeting is as follows: TBD

The meeting was adjourned at 7:55 PM by Shaun N.

Officer Reports

Secretary Report (Ashley M.): Right now, most of our focus is on our mutual aid project. Our network has been working hard to provide direct assistance to people in need. We’ve received over $3300 in donations, and that money is currently being used for direct cash assistance, with a $100 max assistance amount. At the moment, we are in need of more drivers and more donations, so if you are interested in helping out, you can talk to me after the meeting. I’d also just like to give a shout out to everyone who has been helping our project thus far. Everyone has done amazing and really gone above and beyond to help people in need during this time.

YDSA Report (Jesser S.): The UNLV YDSA was working on political outreach before social distancing measures took place. We were planning more on-campus study groups and had a guest speaker lead a discussion on winning socialism, where we made great new connections with interested students and faculty members. As of late, we’ve been continuing the study groups with the LVDSA education committee and waiting patiently to get back on campus to continue our work.

Education Report (Richard V.): Please have a look at the new education resources available at LVDSA.org. Click on committees, education, then scroll down. You’ll find a whole array of links to news sources and videos. Also, big shout out to Jesser Sanchez, Jessie Fitts and Adam Turl for hosting a very successful reading group on Socialism and Pandemics. Next reading tentatively will be ‘Reform or Revolution’ by Rosa Luxemburg. Date and time TBD. Also, for all budding agitators out there, I will not be running for Education Chair in the upcoming elections. Thanks for the support from everyone through out the past year. Solidarity!

Electoral Report (Judith W.): The electoral committee was originally established to work as a coordinated campaign to elect Senator Sanders here in Nevada. Not only were we successful in that effort, LVDSA was integral in Bernie’s landslide victory here in Nevada. Our goal now is to recruit and elect DSA candidates to local offices here in Nevada. The committee recently completed a standard endorsement questionnaire and submitted the final document for review. We are currently working on guidelines for setting up an interview panel, scoring candidates, making final endorsement recommendations and a process for notification of determination. Given that the filing deadline has passed for this election cycle, we are currently reviewing some local races to see if we should consider publishing any recommendations to our members without formal endorsement in the upcoming primary election.