[statecom-discuss] Part-time work to build GRP local chapters using WSGRP model

[Melissa Harrell]

Hi Ron,

Can you clarify for me who would be making this loan?  Is there a local or
WSGP making this loan?  Is the State Party expected to do this?

~Melissa

On 2/6/07, Ron Francis <ronwf777 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Great Questions Grace...
>
> I was not at statecom but I read the minutes and I don't think that this
> proposal or anything resembling it was made.
>
> The answers to your most of your questions follow from the model (see
> below) but I'm happy to answer the questions and it might also help other
> people too (to hear the answers), so thanks for responding....
>
> The main sponsor in the WSGRP model is the local anchor, (who is given a
> loan initially and then subsequently raises the money from the locally
> organized people and repays the loan).  In West Somerville I gave myself the
> loan and the WSGRP repaid me willlingly.    I'll do the same (give a loan to
> any willing anchor), in other areas, who is willing to go through the sixth
> month process, and said anchor will repay the lender.
>
> So an anchor must be located,.... but the only requirement is that the
> person be willing to shephard 3 or 4 meetings (preferably first one at their
> own house) starting at about three months from now.  (Part of the work by
> the part-time staff could be help locate an anchor although I was mainly
> planning on doing that myself or having someone else who is familiar with
> the model be involved in locating anchor)
>
> All of these things are in the notes for the model although the amount
> paid I think could be between $150 and $200.
>
> I already have two people interested in doing the work but I will announce
> that there are 5 days left to apply and make decisions early next week. So
> if you know people who are interested then please have them apply in the
> next 4 or 5 days.
>
> The anchor can work from anywhere.  (Michelle operated from Shrewsbury and
> did the West Somerville work)
>
> (Initially the part-time staff person would have to work with me for an
> hour or so over the phone or in person, in order that they understand the
> model.  (I will also volunteer time, as I did in West Somerville, to help
> guide the anchor's work although Michelle did the work in West Somerville
> with only a little bit of guidance....)
>
> Hope that helps...
>
> Also note that the person would probably work in a given State Rep
> district as this idea can parallel (in terms of geographic structuring) the
> Local Ballot 2008 proposal I have recently posted.  In fact it might be
> worth a trial run to try to execute the model with a particular issue chosen
> to organize around (rather than the survey used in West Somerville)
>
> Ron
> 617 230-2835
>
> Gracegrnrnbw at aol.com wrote: Ron - is this based on one of the proposals we
> missed at Statecom?
>
> Who is sponsoring this?   Do you know where this person would be
> working?   I
> assume you raised the $ for this?
>
> A few of these details, I'll see if any of the younger folks from my
> campaign
> are interested - thanks, grace
> In a message dated 2/6/07 12:07:19 PM, ronwf777 at yahoo.com writes:
>
>
> > Dear GRP folks,
> >
> > If anyone knows someone who would be interested in part-time work over
> the
> > next half a year ($12) to kickstart, or start anew, Green-Rainbow
> chapters by
> > doing phonecalling work, mailings, some door to door work and other
> types of
> > outreach work (see below), then please let me know.
> >
> > The work would be for 12 +/- 2 hours and would take place over the next
> > month and a half.
> >
> > The person should have good positive energy about organizing, be
> organized,
> > be committed to GRP values, and be comfortable on the phone and in
> reporting
> > progress on a regular basis.
> >
> > The person would look to replicate the steps indicated below (See WSGRP
> > outreach model including student intern comments on improving the
> model), or a
> > very similar set of steps.  Included in this email are two of the
> flyers used
> > to do some of the WSGRP mailing effort from Dec 2005 WEst Somerville
> outreach
> > effort culminating in a kick-off meeting of 13 people and two subsequent
> > meetings of 10 people each.
> >
> > The outreach work would culminate in three to four meetings beginning
> three
> > to four months from now in a given community for which an "anchor" can
> be
> > established.  If the work goes well then further part-time work is
> possible.
> >
> > Persons of color and people from other oppressed backgrounds are
> encouraged
> > to apply.
> >
> > If you know someone who is interested, then please forward them this
> email
> > and ask them to send a brief cover letter explaining (1 paragraph each
> please)
> >
> > 1) why she/he  would be good for this position
> > 2) what her or his commitment is for GRP values.
> > 3) experience doing local municipal level organizing
> >
> > for more info call
> > Ron Francis
> > 617 230-2835
> >
> > background:
> >
> > Various Chapter-building modalities have been tried by the GRP including
> the
> > West Somerville Model summarized below:
> > Â  Â
> > Â  This work was done by a student for a Service Learning
> > Â  Project at Shrewsbury High School to rejuvenate the Somerville GRP
> > chapter.
> >
> > The student wrote this report in concluding the work.
> >
> > Â  Â
> > Â  A) Time spent:Â
> >   The total time for outreach was 9 hours.   To put stamps on 230
> envelopes:
> > < 1 hr. Return labels on 460 envelopes (230 being the recipient
> envelopes) &
> > stuffing the 230 into the bigger envelopes: 2 hrs. Put name labels on
> 230
> > envelopes: < 1 hr. Stuffing envelopes three times (three separate pieces
> of
> > paper): 1 hr.15. 130 initial phone calls: < 2 hrs. Second, third round
> of phone
> > calls: 30 minutes. Additional time spent counting/recounting, reworking
> Excel
> > database, adding additional columns to database, and driving.   The
> process
> > in its entirety of reaching 230 people by mail and 37 people by phone
> took
> > about 8 hours for me, plus about an hour or so from Ron Francis helping
> with
> > flyers and a few calls and emails. Total 9 hours.Â
> > Â  Â
> > Â Â  B) Money SpentÂ
> > Â  Total money spent was $172 dollars. I spent $12.58 on a box of 500
> no. 6
> > envelopes, even though I only used 230, and I am returning the
> remainder. I
> > spent $85.47 on 230 stamps. I spent $73.66 at Staples for the three
> pieces of
> > paper included in the envelopes to be copied and folded.   The grand
> total is
> > $171.71. (Note: In order to raise money, perhaps at the meetings for
> each
> > chapter, they could pass a hat around to collect donations. Or maybe the
> me
> > mbership committee would cover some of these one-time costs, if this
> method proves
> > workable for jump-starting other chapters)Â  This cost of 172 was offset
> byÂ
> > $90 raised by the group at the meeting in small donations. Â
> > Â  Â
> >   C) The mailing. Â
> > Â  There were 543 names of Green-Rainbow Party Somerville residents. 130
> had
> > phone numbers, while 413 did not. Of the 413, I sent out 100 of the
> flyers to
> > random residents in the 02144 area code (close to meeting location). In
> > total 230 pieces of mail were sent out. (It will be interesting to see
> if there
> > is any difference in the turnout between those who received phone calls
> and
> > those who did not. At the meeting we will ask how people heard about the
> > meeting)Â Â
> > Â  Â
> >   D) The phone calling Â
> > Â  Of the 130 with numbers, I tried 115 of them, while Ron Francis tried
> 15.
> > Our results were:Â Â  93 whose phone numbers were disconnected, not in
> service,
> > had moved, were a wrong number, etc.,   8 who clearly stated they were
> not
> > interested,   15 who clearly stated they were interested, 5 of whom
> said they
> > were planning on attending the meeting,   And 14 who did not return
> the phone
> > messages.   A day before the meeting I reminded all 15 interested, and
> all
> > 14 in their messages, to come to teh meeting. and return the survey. The
> > number of these returned surveys is yet to be determined.   Numerous
> phone calls
> > revealed that some people had misplaced or not seriously looked at the
> flyer
> > they received, and a few said they had not received it at all. The 93
> whose
> > numbers were not good will serve the same purpose as the additional 100
> in the
> > random sample to see who shows up at the meeting without having been
> reached
> > via the phone.   Of the 8 who said they were no longer
> > interested, the responses were: two because of a change of party, one
> woman
> > changing to democrat, two because their English was not very good, one
> > because she was finishing grad school, one because she had just had a
> baby, one
> > because he was too busy, and one because she thought the use of the
> mailing list
> > would go better to saving a tree instead of being sent to her.   Of
> those
> > who were interested but could not come, most reasons were because of a
> conflict
> > in date or because they were generally interested but didn’t feel like
> > putting in the specific effort for this event.   The general response
> I received
> > was uncertainty in the strength of the party. One particular initial
> response
> > I got was “I got no money.” People seem to feel as if the party is
> always
> > asking for money, and in that sense, most people don’t seem very
> optimistic
> > about giving. Another man said how he preferred to give money to the
> local
> > chapter instead of Green Party USA . One person asked why the
> > Green-Rainbow Party didn’t join the Progressive Democrats to double
> the
> > strength into one party. Another man said how he found that many
> advocates for
> > the environment were then guilty of not recycling, etc. themselves. He
> thought
> > that the party should concentrate on the environment more.   One woman
> > mentioned how she used to receive the Green-Rainbow Party e-mails until
> she blocked
> > them.  She found them very irritating because they often only stated a
> > reminder that she was a member, and she recalls that they never really
> included
> > very important information. One man found the survey to be very rigid
> and
> > formulated, so he didn’t fill it out. He is however coming to the
> meeting, so we
> > will definitely be able to hear his two cents.   One man is disabled,
> and
> > rarely leaves the house. He was not sure if he would come or not,
> especially due
> > to his low energy and low capability to take in a lot of information. He
> said
> > he thought he could be helpful with phone calls, if we needed.
> > He has a big problem with the government, social security, the court
> system,
> > and the way it is run, and said if anyone had a problem with the court
> > system, he would be on the front line to help them. He also had strong
> interests
> > in animal rights, including cats, dogs, and other animals, such as
> raccoons,
> > the environment, and the education system. He works in an after school
> program
> > a few days a week. One man was concerned about the dinner being a
> vegetarian
> > meal, which of course, it was.   Two people we called said that they
> would
> > not respond to telephone calls, and one at the meeting said the same,
> and that
> > he’d prefer to be contacted via mail or email.   My feeling is this:
> Of all
> > these various and specific concerns comes a party with a lot of
> potential, if
> > only it could encourage its members via some tangible evidence. I told
> all
> > of those willing to listen about the win in the Cambridge school
> committee,
> > and the ballot question win in Waltham about land development.
> > Many people were excited and interested, but those were the people who
> were
> > already interested.   However, beginning with GRP members gaining
> recognition
> > in other committees and winning election questions / candidacies,
> perhaps
> > real change can begin to occur, eventually having with low-income
> families
> > beginning to speak out in favor of the GRP.Â
> > Â  Â
> > Â Â  E) What could be done better:Â Â
> > Â  Phone numbers: We will need to try the phone book more often in order
> to
> > get more phone numbers. (It will be interesting to see if using
> > peoplepages.com will yield more correct phone numbers than the ones
> provided by Dan through
> > that phone service.)Â Â  I think that sending members a copy of the GRP
> > newspaper would encourage them more, sending those on the borderline of
> interest
> > over to the side of interest. (Ron was supposed to do this but he got
> busy and
> > didn't)   Other than that, I don’t know how much you can improve
> > communications with each member without having their telephone number.
> The success of
> > solely sending mail will be proved at the meeting.   Perhaps
> door-to-door
> > contact would be the next step.  Also, at the door, there should be a
> sign-in
> > sheet, along with a list of members who do not have phone numbers, so
> those who
> > attend the meeting can look over the list for people they know whose
> numbers
> > they could give us.   The only other way to get the numbers of
> > those who do not attend the meeting would be to specifically send them
> > letters asking  for their numbers, and wait for responses.Â
> > Â  Â
> > Â Â  F) Overall results of the outreach part of experiment:Â Â
> > Â  Out of 37 people contacted by phone numbers, 5 people said that they
> would
> > show up at the meeting, although typically only 50% will actually come
> so
> > that may be 2 people but perhaps those 2 will bring others. Still these
> 5 could
> > be counted as being interested and may come to future meetings.   Of
> the 10
> > who said that they were interested but could not come, perhaps some will
> show
> > up in the future. It may also be that some folks bring other folks (some
> > said that they know people who may be interested)Â Â  It is encouraging
> that 15
> > out of 37 people that I talked to were interested. If we can figure out
> a way
> > to turn that interest into participation then that would be very good.
> There
> > are already some active GRP people in Somerville who may bring some
> people to
> > the meeting. Ron said that his friend Bob Cable from Somerville
> Divestment
> > Project is coming (didn’t come but called and was very interested and
> even
> > upset that he couldn’t make it) and Jamie did some outreach as well.
> >   Other cities may not have as many active GRP’s, proportionately to
> their
> > size, although they might, so this should be factored in determining the
> net
> > effect of this experiment. It was cold and snowy on Sunday so that might
> have
> > affected the meeting results. The meeting is being held at a place that
> has
> > public transportation so that is another variable.   Personally I
> would like
> > to stay involved with the party, and maybe other students could be
> encouraged
> > to take on such a project in another city.Â
> > Â  Â
> > Â Â  G) Results of the Meeting:
> > Â Â  Eleven people were there, 5 women and 6 men. (plus jamie's little
> son)Â
> > Of seven people (including Ron and me) who said they would come, five
> showed
> > up, so the additional six who came had not been contacted via the
> telephone.
> > They told us they had heard about the meeting via e-mail, or had gotten
> the
> > mailing (I think 3 and 3). The total cost for the meeting was $170, but
> we
> > raised $90 by passing a cup around.  Surprisingly every member at the
> meeting
> > said they would show up for the next meeting January 15th.  Everyone
> agreed to
> > take a look at the phone list and identify people that they knew and
> could
> > contact by phone (since many numbers were missing).  One man agreed to
> get
> > information about energy usage issues in Somerville . Another man agreed
> to get
> > information about military recruiting. Two people volunteered to
> organize an
> > activity for youth interested in GRP to make events more family
> friendly.Â
> > Others seemed generally willing to participate. Lot of discussion
> > about climate /Â  traffic and how that is interconnected to need for oil
> > based foreign policy.  For about 90 minutes the group discussed issues
> important
> > to members and how to go about them.   There is a copy of the minutes
> from
> > the meeting listed below, which gives some detail about every issue
> discussed.
> > Â  Â
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Â
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > statecom-discuss mailing list
> > statecom-discuss at green-rainbow.org
> > http://www.green-rainbow.org/mailman/listinfo/statecom-discuss
> >
> >
>
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