- 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
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