Agenda

Times are approximate and subject to change at the Chair’s discretion.

Chair: Aimee H.

Notetaker: Jesser S.

Attendance: Aimee H, Jesser S, Anthony L, Minnie W, Tiffany S, Shaun N, Mike Y, Lorenzita S, Jackie S, Paul John C.

Adoption of agenda:

• Aimee motions. Seconded.
• Steering Committee portfolio discussion is moved to the end.

Adoption of last meeting’s minutes:

• Anthony motions. Minnie seconds.

Review of last week’s action items:

• Aimee discusses social. Set for the 21st.
• Shaun and Aimee are working on the Red Deal book club. Probably 8PM start time during the week.
• Jackie says Nesler is still interested in working on brake light clinics.

Treasurer’s report:

• Aimee says nothing much has changed money-wise since the last meeting.
• Anthony suggests sending out an email about funds from the LVDSA gmail.
• Shaun talked to Laura about PLAN funds.
• Aimee volunteers to email PLAN about the funds.

Priority updates:

• Community aid: Brendan B presents.
  • Brendan reports 2892 instances of aid given out from a stated goal of 3000 before the next convention.
  • 139 members have participated in mutual aid. The goal is for 30% of members to participate.
  • Outdoor brake light clinic will be happening on January 29th at the mosque where Sunday Solidarity happens.
  • Brake light clinic will be happening at Shaun’s house a week before the event.
  • Brendan details desired safety protocols (at least two shots, mask, disposable gloves, etc).
  • February Sunday Solidarity will be from 10AM to 12PM. Asking for tents and winter items.
  • Discussion on tools comes up for the brake light clinic. Lorenzita says various members have stated they would bring tools and lights would be purchased as they come along.
  • Mike Y suggests working on content to promote the clinic and serve as a call to action. LVDSA members to be contacted only. Brendan likes the idea.
• Mutual aid: Aimee presents for Justin L.
  • There are plans for phone banks in February and May. One is set for the 19th of this month.
  • Aimee discussed the surge of COVID with Justin and the possibility of providing aid related to this (masks and other supplies).
  • Aimee is working with Justin to get the mutual aid form promoted more.
  • Jackie says the Housing Stewards would like to do a mutual phone bank with mutual aid.
  • Anthony says we have received 2 requests that are not related to COVID and many requests to help.
  • Anthony says 295 masks have been ordered to be distributed to members.
• Housing:
  • Jackie reports Housing stewards will be present at the next SC meeting to present.
• Electoral: Anthony presents.
  • Written report provided by Anthony: “This weekend, Valerie informed Anthony and the other stewards that she is resigning from her role. She hopes to continue to be involved as her capacity allows. The Electoral Priority has focused on research and recruitment and discussed the results of their findings at the meeting on 1/15/2022. A small number of potential candidates have been identified at this point, with two who have expressed intention to apply for endorsement and two who are considering running for office. Until an endorsement application is received, Electoral group will now focus their efforts on preparing a Voter Guide. A significant amount of research was done at the most recent meeting, and meetings will have dedicated time to perform research for the guide. Anthony, Roy, Cody, Angel, Sarah, and Jackie met this weekend to discuss opportunities to promote housing legislation during the upcoming election cycle. The group will meet again at the end of the month to discuss further. Electoral meetings have now been set to weekly instead of biweekly. However, the stewards would like to move meetings to weekday evenings if possible and would like the SC’s support for this.”
  • Tiffany says there is not a regular weekly consistent time for meetings. Anthony suggests 6PM on mondays. Tiffany says 8PM any day of the week works.

Special election schedule and process:

• We have four candidates: Natasha S, Tamara T , Victoria F, and Angel L.
• All four candidates were given the questionnaire and were instructed to provide it by a specific date.
• All four candidates are available for a Steering Committee candidate town hall on Friday the 28th at 7PM.
• Anthony says it should be handled similarly to how the endorsement town hall would have gone.
• Tiffany asks if questions will be submitted ahead of time. Anthony agrees and says he’ll do a form for questions.
• Jackie and Tiffany volunteer to help.

Review HGO applicants:

• Tiffany motions to keep executive session for this topic with other executive session materials. Anthony seconds.
• SC enters executive session.
• After returning from executive session, Anthony motions to elect Jackie Harris as HGO officer. Shaun seconds.
• Motion to appoint Jackie Harris as HGO passes. 10 in favor. 0 opposed.
• Anthony motions to appoint Niall R as HGA. Minnie seconds. 10 in favor. 0 opposed.

Interacting w/Non-endorsed Elected Officials:

• Anthony reads bylaws related to non-endorsed candidates (see section 7.2 of the bylaws).
• Discussion on non-endorsed candidates sponsoring events starts.
  • Tiffany is against non-endorsed candidates sponsoring events since it breaks the bylaws.
  • Lorenzita interprets the bylaws to say non-endorsed candidates coming to events is fine but they cannot sponsor like Tick does with our events.
  • Shaun says we should be more careful about how we interact with non-endorsed candidates.
  • Anthony motions to enter executive session for discussion on HGO interest. Minnie seconds.

SC portfolio discussion:

• Anthony starts discussion on portfolios.
• Anthony reviews his portfolio and the portfolio spreadsheet. Anthony is willing to take on the  organizer training portfolio and pass off the member accountability one if need be.
• Jackie says she could use more support in member engagement and supports more organizer training but says things are going good.
• Tiffany feels good about her portfolio but mentions things she would like to get more members involved in such as data entry which can be done from home. Tiffany will be putting out a call for help on certain digital tasks.
• Minnie says her portfolio is going fine and she feels more aware of what is happening at the national level. Minnie has also been spending time in member engagement, worker power wednesday, and electoral as well. Minnie asks for feedback about national work within the chapter.
• Aimee says her portfolio will be better next year since she is laying down the groundwork right now and personal issues are getting in the way.
• Jesser gives updates on political education. Previous issues with event frequency have been fixed and new members are joining the work.
• Mike says his portfolio is going well and posting is happening frequently and regularly. Mike hopes to get more people in communications and that the language in comms has more radical language.
• Paul John speaks about the events portfolio and expresses uncertainty about it. Paul John reviews events he has worked on. He would like to do more work with member engagement and housing and offers to work with Jackie. Paul John would also like to do more work on labor.
• Minnie asks Paul John if he thinks merchandise work should be listed in the portfolio since it takes a substantial amount of time and work. Paul John agrees.
• Shaun is excited about the current state of coalition building and reviews the details of certain coalitions.
• Lorenzita talks about the legislative portfolio. They say the portfolio probably shouldn’t exist in off years. They have been doing work with mutual aid as well as coalition work and other things to stay involved in the chapter. Lorenzita says they are against “blind” coalition work and doing coalition work with organizations with paid staff.
• Anthony says the areas of greatest need are member engagement, security, data & tech management, and events.
• Tiffany feels that Mike is doing too much of the comms work himself and that portfolios don’t need to be individual things and we can help each other.
• Anthony emphasizes the need to engage members for this work and that we should ensure that work happens.

Other actions and proposals: Open floor.

• Aimee says we should think about bylaws.
• Lorenzita says they have the capacity to help with the partner relations portfolio.
• Tiffany brings up the advisor for sections and caucuses portfolio and prefers to pass it on if possible.
• Tiffany says she would like to get a timeline for planning the next convention.
• Shaun says Nathaniel P and Jose S have shown interest in starting a BIPOC caucus in LVDSA.

Meeting is adjourned at 9:20PM.