12/17 Organizers' meeting notes

We had a productive and rich dialogue this past Thursday. Thank you to Chong Kee, Aaron, Rani, Tara and others for helping to prepare our agenda and for offering to lead discussion topics. Thanks to YaVette for co-facilitating with me. Thanks to Corrine and Colin for hosting. Thanks to Aaron for note-taking. (If there are edits to the notes, please let me know.)

Here are the notes pasted in and attached.

We look forward to re-gathering in 2016 as we move forward to organize for the fall conference.

Happy New Years to everyone! May we co-create justice and beauty in 2016.

Alli

Notes:

Living the New/Next Economy Oakland 2016 Meeting Dec. 17, 2015:

ATTENDING:
· Aaron Guthrie Lehmer-Chang, House Kombucha and Bay Localize

· YaVette Holts, Cowrie Village, OnePresence Massage, BAOBOB

· Alli Chagi-Starr, Mills College Socially Responsible MBA Candidate; Social Justice Organizer

· Corrine Lena Van Hook-Turner, Bay Localize

· Chong Kee Tan, Bay Bucks

· Rana Lehmer-Chang, House Kombucha and Henry George School of SF

· Nika Quirk, Meridian University

· Tara Marchant-Wilson

· Angela Elizabeth Sevin, Green Life and LNE 2014 Collaborative member

· Dave Ron, Energy Solidarity Cooperative

Vision Statement:
· Accepted with slight modifications as follows: “In 2014, over 250 people came together for the Living the New Economy Convergence in Oakland to create a vision for an economy in service of people and the planet. In 2016, a broad coalition of community leaders and social entrepreneurs will host a follow-up convergence focused on radically inclusive economic, racial, and environmental justice solutions in Oakland. This theme is inspired by the #BlackLivesMatter movement and others’ call to overcome systemic racism that to this day deprives Black Americans, indigenous peoples, and others of their inherent dignity and fair share of Oakland’s economic prosperity. Through interactive, participatory activities, we will shine the light on what’s working, what’s not, and what more we can do to build the inclusive, vibrant Oakland of our dreams.”

· Will be used on:

o Website

o Crowdfunding/advance ticketing page

o Community flyers

o E-mails/social media

o Printed program

o Media kit

o Condensed version of media release

· TASK: Messaging/Communications/Outreach Group to finalize, expound upon. Final version to be ready for primetime by: January 30, 2016. Angela, Nika, Corrine, and Rana to meet as subgroup in early half of January.

Convergence Structure:
· Chong Kee: Likes it a lot, represents the collective vision from prior meetings. Honors the desire for open spaces.

· Nika: Likes it a lot. End of the vision statement should incorporate the activities

· YaVette: Wants to be sure that the open space activities are documented and used in some fashion.

· Nika: Could have the documentation go immediately online after the sessions.

· Rana: Integrate local government responses to sessions.

· Alli: Emphasize: Courageous conversations/vulnerability/learning lead to stronger communities

· DECISION: Approved structure, with intention to flesh out over time.

LNE Oakland Budget:
· DECISION: Approved HGS of SF as fiscal sponsor.

· Alli: Could cut expenses for “hacking” space, photography/videography by “crowdsourcing” documentation. Raise budget line items for keynote, food,

· Chong Kee: Should differentiate between seed funders

· Alli: Parse out the sponsorship and ad revenue line items.

· Alli: Could parse out ticket sales in different categories: student/low-income, business, etc.

· TASK: Budget subgroup of Alli, Chong Kee, Colin and Rana to refine budget by end of January, including breakdown of monies organizer will need to raise.

· TASK: Chong Kee to start document of potential sponsors for LNE Oakland 2016.

Hiring Convergence Organizer:
· DECISION: Approved timeline and job description, with addition of person needing to be comfortable representing the collaborative publicly as needed.

· TASK: Hiring Subcommittee: Aaron, YaVette, and Chong Kee (to steward the process)

Venue Criteria:

• Alli: Mills MBA Graduate Building would be free and is available, A/V in every room, nice outdoor space. Dean of the Socially Responsible MBA is on board. Parking is available, but some is about 5 min walk; lots of AC transit, but not on BART line nor central to downtown. Could connect to Mills' socially responsible business conference in March.

• YaVette: Mills is not centrally located, which could pose a challenge for some folks to attend. Could do a regular shuttle that goes to Mills.

• Aaron: Could be very pro-active with transportation and outreach strategy if held at Mills.

• Colin: There’s an opportunity to connect to East Oakland / local community to Mills.

• YaVette: Have a dedicated person focused on coordinating transportation. Laney is another great venue, where Black Urban Farmers conference was held.

Poem written from the collective words of attendee's opening remarks:

For our children…
Bringing the love of the fathers
The fire of the mothers
Designing the plan for the next 100 years
Getting off the grid onto the land
Socializing the commons
Yurt Raising, finding home
Always, Justice at the center
Earth-based celebrant
Playful collaboration
Grateful for the work
And looking to fill heart space
The emerald city within, emergent healing
We thrive when we are connected
Realigning public infrastructure toward the people.
We are mountain climbers
From new justice to green life
Grateful and scared for our community
Committed, there is no way out, but in
We’re here.

Mills also has a shuttle, tickets are $3 picks up from UCB, Lakeshore and at MacArthur Bart. Of course the shuttle wouldn't work for all conference attendees but is an option. You could also set up a carpool ... views of the campus make up for the walk from parking ... knowing if other events (ie weddings, symposiums, sports match, etc) really helps navigate the parking