[statecom-discuss] 2 days remaining for Part-Time position
withLocal Organizing Initiative
danthbagelman at msn.com
danthbagelman at msn.com
Tue Feb 13 09:45:02 EST 2007
I am interested but right now I am traveling and working around the country
and do not know when this job will end so put me on the back burner for that
job but I am interested with many years of exp. for that job!
>From: Ron Francis <ronwf777 at yahoo.com>
>Reply-To: Discussion List for StateCom members
><statecom-discuss at green-rainbow.org>
>To: locals at green-rainbow.org, statecom-discuss at green-rainbow.org
>Subject: [statecom-discuss] 2 days remaining for Part-Time position
>withLocal Organizing Initiative
>Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2007 13:24:28 -0800 (PST)
>
>Ron Francis <ronwf777 at yahoo.com> wrote: Dear GRP folks,
>
>Just 2 days left (Tuesday Evening deadline) to inquire about the part-time
>position for local organizer (see below) working with the Local Organizing
>Initiative.
>
>People of color and others whose very act of living means fighting
>oppression, are encouraged to apply.
>
>Please have interested people send me an email or phone...
>
>ron francis
>617 230-2835
>
>Ron Francis <ronwf777 at yahoo.com> wrote Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 17:22:26
>-0800 (PST)
>From: Ron Francis <ronwf777 at yahoo.com>
>Subject: Part-time work to build GRP local chapters using WSGRP model
>To: statecom-discuss at green-rainbow.org
>
>Dear GRP locals 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:
>
> This work was done by a student for a Service Learning
> Project at Shrewsbury High School to rejuvenate the Somerville GRP
>chapter.
>
>The student wrote this report in concluding the work.
>
>
> A) Time spent:
> 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.
>
> B) Money Spent
> 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 membership committee would cover some of these
>one-time costs, if this method proves workable for jump-starting other
>chapters) This cost of 172 was offset by $90 raised by the group at the
>meeting in small donations.
>
> C) The mailing.
> 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)
>
> D) The phone calling
> Of the 130 with numbers, I tried 115 of them, while Ron Francis tried
>15. Our results were: 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.
>
> E) What could be done better:
> 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.) 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.
>
> F) Overall results of the outreach part of experiment:
> 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) 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.
>
> G) Results of the Meeting:
> Eleven people were there, 5 women and 6 men. (plus jamie's little son)
>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. Others seemed generally willing to
>participate. Lot of discussion
> about climate / 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.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>statecom-discuss mailing list
>statecom-discuss at green-rainbow.org
>http://www.green-rainbow.org/mailman/listinfo/statecom-discuss
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