Steering Committee Meeting: May 4th, 2026

Chair/Facilitator(s): Tiffany S.

Attendance:  Tiffany S., Brian T.S., Sophie D., Anthony L., Casey L., Jaden P., Lorenzita S., Sand H., Kathleen C., Stephen S., Crimson H.,

Notetaker:  Sand H.

Agenda 

Meeting Minutes

• Call to order at 7:04pm
• Sophie motions to adopt the agenda
  • No opposition
• Anthony motions to approve last meeting’s minutes
  • Casey seconds, no opposition
• Check ins
  • Casey will be gone the week of the 19th
• EWG would like to purchase notecards for thank you cards
  • EWG only needs 100, minimum purchase is 500, but if they are generic we can use for future events, EWG is okay with generic options
  • 78 cents per stamp for postage
  • Tiffany made a tentative design based on styles used by other chapters, Sophie wants to add roses, Anthony notes that we may not want to directly tail NYCDSA
  • This will not be considered a contribution to candidates as the chapter is sending them directly to volunteers
  • Funds will be pulled from the working group line item on the budget
  • Tiffany motions to allocate $250 for 1000 notecards, design will be decided on later, 100 will be used specifically for EWG volunteers
    • Anthony seconds
    • Passes unanimously 
• Tyler motions to give Hex access to Crimson
  • Tiffany seconds
  • Passes unanimously
• Queer and Feminist Section Bylaws
  • Intended to work with mutual aid, political education, etc. specifically for queer and feminist causes
  • Tiffany motions to approve the creation of the Queer and Feminist section petition
    • Sophie seconds
    • Passes unanimously
• Sun Valley DSA proposal
  • Coming from NNVDSA, has been approved by the NPC for funding
  • There is a billionaire summer camp that they want to protest
  • This would be concurrent with our Local Convention
  • Tiffany – doesn’t see the point in protesting this outside of media attention, Sophie agrees
  • Anthony – agrees and notes that the location is very far
• GBMs
  • It would be nice to set up a second mic for speakers during debate so the chair doesn’t need to move around so much and can cut people off easier, the library may not have one
  • What went poorly 
    • Make sure zoom can hear speakers
    • Move at zoom speed, not room speed
    • Need a method to identify who in zoom are members
    • Show amended text visually on openslides 
    • Have a designated tech contact for zoom, should not be the person doing the slides
    • Our members are not reading resolutions before the meetings, we need to give members a reminder
    • Fix the vibes, reassure people that things will be fixed
    • Stop starting late, no later than 3:05
  • What to correct for next time
    • Post resolutions in slack discussion channel – Secretary
    • Add clarification for zoom role on how to run a gbm doc
    • Add section to script to greet zoom people and give them info on who to reach out to with issues
    • Swap roberts rules doc in resources tab on website for the version handed out at GBM
  • Booking August GBM venue
    • Intended to help incoming Steering members to not have to scramble to find a location
    • Same location and time
• National Organizer Conference
  • Deadline to apply is the 18th, we don’t have answers to clarifying questions yet
  • What do we potentially want out of this conference?
    • Tiffany – one or two leaders per track, Sophie and Anthony agree
    • Anthony – would we open it up to membership or screen interested members and give permission to apply?
      • Sophie – will we fundraise, as that impacts how many people should apply?
      • Tiffany – open it and have a list of encouraged people, general agreement
      • Brian – this is a good opportunity to deepen the bench, encourage people who could be good leaders but aren’t in leadership roles yet/are new leaders
    • Email and slack message will be sent out to members with info
• Local Convention planning update
  • Proposed timeline
  • There will be a draft resolution directory like last time, we will be having a formal amendment period 
  • No questions or objections to timeline
  • Anthony – amendments should still have a membership support requirement, we could suggest not having floor amendments and membership can change it if needed
  • Organizer development & leadership training
    • Month of May will include two tracks – strategic campaign discussion (in person 5/23 and virtually at some point) and leadership training (primarily on Zoom in the evenings, basic organizing skills, how to run a committee, delegating work, etc.)
    • Roberts rules training in June
    • SC positions presentation – slides will be summaries of the slack posts, presentation will be at the GBM before Convention, will need to suspend the new speaking time limit rule for this
• May Day debrief
  • Anthony sent partners a thank you email
  • In the future, recommends focusing on organizing rank and file rather than working through union leadership
  • Participants loved Solidarity School, should use it as a model for future events
  • LVWOC wants to turn this into a Labor Notes session hosted in LV
  • 4th amendment canvassing
    • Went very well, ACLU printouts were great, want to do it once a month, relationship with NIC is going well
  • First Friday tabling
    • Went well, more people went for the show than the tabling, good conversations about labor questions 
  • We should plan events for May Day and ask unions to get involved moving forward
  • We need to get on board with teaching people to agitate for no work, no school, no shopping
• Electoral race check in
  • In the home stretch, we need as many people as possible to phone bank and canvass
  • Focus on 1 on 1 asks to increase turnout 
• SC term wind down
  • Need to start creating and updating guides for whoever takes over 
  • MEC guide example
  • Transition retreat after Local Convention to talk things over, discuss obstacles, etc.
    • No set date yet
  • Be careful to note that Steering is not deciding who is taking on roles, we are encouraging not choosing
• Executive session begins at 8:42pm