OCP Workshop 10/24/2012

• Last week, the proposal to explore membership passed;  there was some discussion to dissolve membership into Friends of OCP;  another option was to explore other deliverables;  we could also brainstorm about teams and what they might be – this isn't membership but it would be an important aspect for people who needed to have some volunteer hours in order to be a member; 
• Mike:  seems like at the end of last week, we were vague about what we wanted to move onto; would it be helpful to “count noses” today before we start to see where we want to go
• Ron:  at the end of last meeting, we were deciding if we wanted to move on to a new deliverable, talk more about benefits and requirements of membership;  to dissolve ocp and friends to be one;  we decided we would move on to flushing out more about membership; there was also some general interest in beginning to talk about teams
• Ron:  if we brainstorm some teams, it will start to seem like there is actually a lot to do around here for volunteering;  we are going to do a brainstorm about some teams
• Suzy:  interested in maintenance, kitchen, clerical/administrative
• Mike:  we had teams at one point – maybe we can remember some of the ones we used to have
• Zach:  music, promotion, events, vehicles, grounds/garden
• Teams brainstorm:  fine arts, music, promotion, events, vehicles, grounds/garden, activities, recreation, movie nights, maintenance, kitchen, clerical/administrative, education, clothes closet, donations, cleaning, recycling, computer, fund raising, men's needs, women's needs, donations – people going out to find donations, spiritual/worship, recovery, outreach, counseling, anger management, mental health, youth/after school, theater, judiciary/adjudication, tidy/décor, community services/community resources, website, Tuesday workday, newsletter, prison letter writing, purchasing, hospitality, college liason, volunteer management, enterprises, conflict mediation, vehicles/car sharing/rides/transportation, latino liason, historian, hospitality, thank you notes, crafts, photography/blogging, jobs, technology, spirit/celebrating, OCP community care, neighborhood (North End) outreach,
• Ron:  what are the requirements for membership, what are the benefits, what counts as volunteering
• Jonathan:  membership cards?  T-shirts for members?  How do we know who a member is?
• Jonathan:  would like to keep member requirements high so people can be proud when they become a member
• Zach:  likes that people would have some sort of membership card
• Matthew:  wonders about members coming to three meetings in order to be a member
• Ron:  this group is called Friends of OCP, and in order to be part of the Friends group, you only need to come three times to have a vote;  we are developing a membership that could look differently; 
• Christina:  likes the idea of a t-shirt for members so that we could identify who is who
• Daniel:  happy balance between the low and high requirements to become a member;  we should look for a good balance;  agrees with Jonathan that there are lots of ways to be a part or be in OCP without being a member;  doesn't think that just anyone should be able to be a member;  there should be some consistency to being a member;  we should consider people's disabilities
• Ron:  how to identify members should be something we talk about later;  there are also people who have fulltime jobs who Ron would also like to see be a member;  15 a month could be a low threshhold;  Ron would like to see some trial period – maybe be on a team for 3 months;  some official way to become a member would be cool;  maybe presenting something to the membership – maybe just presenting themselves
• Kris:  it doesn't just have to be volunteering that makes one a member
• Daniel:  how many hours a month, what counts as participation
• Jonathan:  is ok with a low thresh hold to stay a  member but would like to see us have a list of things to accomplish to become a membership
• Ron:  likes the idea of people to become a member:  attend a volunteer orientation, attend a cooperative behavior workshop, attend a certain number of membership meetings;  then requirements of a member become sort of a minimum and if someone wasn't keeping up with these, they might not stay a member;  someone who comes to meetings and puts themselves on an agenda to become a member might be enough to be a member;  likes the thinking of what it takes to become a member
• Mike:  spirit is an important aspect to becoming a member;  this might help us see who is on the way out;  although some of us might not like the term membership, it does work for our needs; would like to see us think about a name to call this “membership” that isn't using the word membership;  we could ask a group to come up with some ideas about becoming a member and bring it back to the group; maybe we could use bandanas for identifying members; 
• Daniel:  wants to apologize for being impatient;  maybe too much coffee;  really, really like the idea of a project, separate from anything else to become a member;  likes the idea of a higher bar to become a member and a lower bar to stay a member;  we had some success breaking up into small groups and discussing ideas – maybe we could do that next week; 
• Ron suggests talking about volunteer hours in order to stay a member;  maybe we should talk about how to become a member
• Ron:  3 month trial period,
• Daniel:  concerning a project for people to become a member:  a project might have to do with a team that you decide to be a part of; 
• Ron:  projects could be catered or tailored to people's abilities, hold a class – maybe a member would work with a member on this project
• Heather:  what about mentally ill that might not want to be treated specially; 
• Ron:  sometimes the way that it goes is that some group that starts things gets grandfathered – maybe we give people a last notice to be a part or not before having to go through membership trial time;  Ron would advocate for this group not necessarily having to do all these things; wouldn't like to see us have no members and we are all on a 3 month trial period
• Mike:  maybe there would be a subset of trial member requirements that we might need to do; maybe we say that members need to do a certain amount of volunteering a week to stay a member, but maybe we have some alternatives that people can “do” instead of volunteering per week;  as far as a project, there are a number of steps and one might have to have a large amount of skill to see something like this all the way through
• Trista:  wonders about grandfathering
• Daniel:  likes that some things need to be done for people who may get grandfathered;  doesn't like the idea of people just being a part of the group automatically
• Ron:  would like to see the volunteer time the same for pre-members and for members;  not sure about someone not living around here could be a member – someone geographically separate weighing in to much;  doesn't like the idea of alternate ways to accomplish volunteer hours – not sure who or how or why one would fit into this category – people – anyone can still be a part of ocp but might just not be a member;  worries that the idea of completing a project might be too much for a pre-member
• Mike:  the person living out of town might have some skills that would have them be a member without being able to volunteer day to day;  money and donations help – if someone puts up a donation to help a team, maybe donating could count for something – might be worth it to the team and the community center;  “Stairway to Heaven” is the road to becoming a member;
• Daniel:  the idea of completing a project is the answer to a lot of the questions we have;  if you can complete a project from new york, then you should be able to be a member from new york;
• Ron:  bristles at the idea of someone's money making him/her a member;  you can be a donor but you don't have to be a member;  feels like he would always be against someone using money to become a member
• Mike:  likes the way Daniel is talking about this project;  of two minds with the money topic – money and God meet in the donation box;  doesn't have to only be money that someone donates

Requirements to be a member:

- sponsorship/mentorship

- project – completion/teams

- cooperative behavior workshop

- grandfathering

- trial period/pre-member

- alternative list

- becoming/staying

- remote participation

OCP Workshop 10/17/2012

• Ron:  would like to continue with this process even though there is a proposal on the table
• Mike:  maybe we should vote on membership so we can start implementing some of the things we are talking about
• Tiffany:  maybe we could break up into groups so that everyone has a chance
• Ron:  as you speak, try to speak to the whole group and not just Ron – Ron is the facilitator – it would make Ron more comfortable and be better for group process;  if we do have the vote, we still haven't said whether or not the Friends of OCP group is or is not the membership; 
• Jamie:  agrees with Kris that we should break down into teams to get everyone's input before voting
• Kris:  before we vote on the proposal, maybe we should talk about what the teams might look like; 
• Membership has been a deliverable
• Trista:  membership could be an optional thing, but voting should be based on the 3 meeting idea
• Mike:  do we want to vote on having a membership or do we want to talk about all of the aspects of membership before voting on it;  if we vote on it, we achieve a deliverable
• Ron:  we have decided all ready that we wanted to look at the idea of membership and some of the details before voting; 
• Proposal:  “To develop a system of membership that encourages, coordinates, and captures the volunteer energy to make OCP and the community at large a better place, that will emerge out of Friends of OCP”
• Ron:  does anyone object to voting on this kind of proposal
• Tiffany:  would like to see us discuss membership first before voting
• Matthew:  would like to see us go ahead and vote
• 14 voted yes;  1 opposed – does not want to block the vote – motion carries
• Mike:  feels good to get something solid like this done;  now we can keep going into the discussion more and we could possibly start benefiting from this;  we could also move on to another deliverable
• Trista:  what is the purpose of this place?
• Heather:  would like to see us talk about teams next
• Jamie:  is interested in talking about teams so everyone isn't crowed around one topic
• Philip:  agrees with Heather – would like to talk more about teams;  also wants to know how membership interacts with this Friends group – what if this group starts making decisions about membership but these people aren't members
• Mike:  the Friends group is more of a thinking body and the membership is more of an action body;  has been thinking about a workday that might be members only or maybe someone has to be given a team to come to a workday
• Ron:  sometimes wonder if the Friends group being different from membership is a bad idea – it seems like the people involved are the same people that would make up a membership;  not ready to make the proposal to bring the two together but does think it could be a good idea; could get behind discussing teams
• Philip:  likes the idea of dissolving the difference between membership and Friends group – seems cleaner and that everyone in the circle now would be members
• Anna:  also agrees that if we are moving towards membership, we should dissolve real or imagined differences
• Kris:  wants people who care about the place to be involved
• Jamie:  teams could be working on different things at the same time
• Mike:  would like to leave some room that there could be different people who might want to be invovled in membership different from Friends of OCP
• Daniel:  is also interested in meshing the membership with the Friends of OCP – bar for membership would be set pretty low
• Tim:  there were only about 6 or 7 people here doing work, but when the food was served, there were about 30 people;  if there are team members, the rules will be followed better and things will flow better
• Ron:  appreciates what Mike has said about the idea that we haven't said that the Friends group ISNT the membership yet, so we don't need to hurry about and vote about it;  thinks we can handle the idea that some people might not want to be members but would like to have some say
• Mike:  it might be too much to have two completely separate groups, but for now, they could develop together;  there might be members who don't live in Harrisonburg but who would like to be involved – like to leave some room for keeping these separate
• Trista:  agrees with Timmy that teams would help get this place under control;  more people would be willing to help
• Ron:  trying to do things in a way that brings the community along so that people are engaged and have some buy in and that this group could be self-governing;  if we can get some focus, we can dive in – do we want to talk more about teams, about bringing the groups together
• Sigi:  seems like giving people something who come on Tuesday and aren't helping, that is OCP's mercy;  has seen teams made and then people don't show up, how do we deal with this
• Heather:  agrees with Sigi – why did teams fall apart before?  How can we make teams better now?
• Timmy:  there were too many chiefs and not enough indians – that is why teams fell apart; would like to be on the maintenance team
• Ron:  we could imagine the teams and then come back to the membership discussion which could give some body to the teams;  not a fan of people who aren't here being talked about negatively;  why things fell apart – believes that the mistake in the beginning was that OCP was open all the time with no adequate staff – it was too much – many people blamed the individuals causing trouble, but it isn't their fault – there was not enough structure and no real daily plan;  can the current staff and the committed community members make something happen now; 
• Mike:  we seem to be discussing teams before we have decided to discuss teams and there seems to be a lot on energy around this topic;  would it be helpful to go over the various deliverables or should we just go to team talk
• Tiffany:  about dishes, we should divide up the tasks so that everything gets done
• Heather:  in the old days, if only one person showed up for various things, can that one or two people get help;
• Jamie:  it wasn't so good in the past before we closed in September;  we are trying to make this a better community;  this membership will probably help makes things better
• Trista:  is there any way that people that were here earlier can help people now understand how to make things better
• Daniel:  please remember to raise your hand to get on the stack
• Mike:  lets go over deliverables
• Ron:  larger changes to staffing or programming may need to be proposals to philip or the board
• Tiffany:  we could sell things like we have done in the past to help with funding
• Ron:  membership seems to drive so many of these topics -

OCP Workshop 10/10/2012

●     Proposal on the table

●     Ron:  Jamie clarified to Ron that he thought people would have to pay money to become a member – seems like most people would be opposed to such an idea of paying for membership

●     Today maybe we could discuss what might be some of the requirements to be a “member”

●     What are the questions:  Do we want teams, how do you become part of a team, are there dues and how do you pay them, what counts as a volunteer task

●     We may need two lists:  a list of what needs to be done as a member, and how that list is interpreted

●     Jonathan:  what about a list of how to become a member

●     Daniel:  maybe teams could be developed at the same time as membership – teams could be tracking hours and to be a member of a specific team, you might have to volunteer with that team, each team would have a team leader and the team leader would be in charge of tracking hours for people

●     Ron:  should be have someone at the chalkboard doing a brainstorm (no idea is a bad idea) – coming up with topics that would apply to membership

●     Ideas:

○     Be a member of a team

○     Volunteer hours (rotation)

○     Trial period or pre-membership

○     Consistency of being around – leave of absence

○     Meeting attendance

○     Adherence to ocp rituals or ways – following ocp creed/spirit/honor

○     Privileges/rewards

■     Computers, lockers, showers, clothes, phone, internet access, property access, voting, programming, part of judiciary, living in ocp housing, represent ocp, animals in the building, music, access to vehicles/rides, access to income/jobs, access to counseling

○     Volunteering at Early Church

○     Be a part of workday/farm workday

○     Support – staff

○     Participation in mediation/honesty work/conflict resolution

●     Volunteering

○     Zach:  people who don’t meet their requirements will lose some privileges;  have two people sign off on

○     Teig:  Membership card so that there can be punches for time volunteered

○     Heather:  go to edible landscaping - once

○     Daniel:  set amount of hours that need to be done – maybe a 3 hour/wk minimum – FOR OCP but not always AT OCP

○     Kris:  maybe track by month so that you can get in a night out

○     Ron:  at least 15 hours/month

○     Khaleel:  24 hours/month

○     Daniel:  spirit of working here is different from time of being here

○     Zach:  low numbers but a good spirit

○     Mike:  we could come up with a list of ways to accomplish these hours – people with disabilities might have an altered list that would work for them

○     Teig:  different grades of membership – someone who volunteers different amounts of hours might have different privileges

○     Ron:  to be a worker-owner at the LGC, you had to work a certain minimum in order to continue to be an owner

○     Kris:  team leader might put more hours in – team members might not have as much responsibility

○     Mike:  having alternative ways of meeting work requirements;  for some people, there is other work that does not involve getting your hands dirty

○     Ron:  likes zach’s point about low threshold;  if we had multiple things going on during a day, participation seems important – participation might count for hours – and you might wash dishes once a week

○     Zach:  having the incentive of money might not be a great thing – people might be attracted to doing some hard work for money instead of doing it to help the community – the spirit of ocp

○     Daniel:  maybe there could break down hours between participation and volunteer; 

○     Teig:  there should definitely be a difference between participation and volunteering to do work

○     Khaleel:  wonders about movies more often

○     Ron:  maybe a team could look at entertainment

○     Kris:  who out of this group would want to be a member?

○     Anna:  intrigued by the participation vs. work – believes that we should have a requirement for both – both concepts have value and make one a more clear part of membership

○     Ron:  the person doing the hard work would by definition be a home-team player;  Ron is much more worried about people who are only participating;  maybe participation happens naturally

○     Daniel:  maybe people should rotate each week or month what work is done – a clear schedule – if people don’t show up, we would know this

○     Kris:  what about people who are on staff but aren’t able to volunteer

○     Ron:  we just need to determine whether or not being a staff member counts towards hours of being a member

○     Kris:  there might be 50 things to be done around here – maybe the same person would want to do the same things each month;  we should have a list of jobs but maybe we shouldn’t require people to change tasks all the time

○     Ron:  this is where teams start to come in – if there is an entertainment team, their work is going to be to get the show together, greet the band, be here during the event, and helping close up afterwards;  Maintenance, promotions – these teams can help us define what work needs to be done here;  we would want to make sure that anyone with disabilities would also have a chance to be involved

●     Next week:  talk about a list of teams, volunteering vs participation