Notes and Actions from 4/22 Group Meeting

Saturday, April 22, 2017, 6:30 PM
Black Raven Brewing, Redmond, WA



In attendance at the meeting: Eric Veal, Jessica Veal, Linda, Jody, Cheryl, Bevin, Mark, Dorothy
Hi All!  Thanks for attending last night.  Very good.  Eric took the liberty of writing up his notes from last night.  Much appreciated.  He also published the summary of our interests out to a Tableau dashboard.  You can use the dashboard to see topics (interest areas) that we could use to coordinate our efforts and people going forward.  The proposed areas are:

Area
Description
ACT – Action
Organizing, campaigning, groups, action and advocacy
CFE - Children, Families and Education
Children and family issues, education
CWR - Civil and Women's Rights
Immigration, civil, human and women's rights
ECON - The Economy
Rich poor gap, the economy, jobs and the middle class
GQT - Government Quality and Taxes
Open government, responsibility, accountability, transparency, money in politics, voting equality, tax reform
HSE - Healthcare, Safety and the Environment
Gun and Public Safety, Healthcare, the environment

The dashboard lists Topics and potential members as well as people and their interests and how those map into the topics.   PLEASE CHECK OUT THE GROUPS AND INTEREST AREAS.  DO YOU LIKE THEM?

Details from the Meeting
Eric led us in a roundtable discussion about two questions: 1) what are people’s primary political interests and objectives and B) what would they like to get out of the group (how the group could help them with their interests, involvement and activism).

ERIC shared that he was most interested in government accountability and transparency but has some guilt in that interest as many conservatives also have this interest.  He later went on to share that he could use help from the group in helping him narrow his focus and ‘spur him on’ to take actions in the area.

DOROTHY, who was there with her husband, Mark, shared that, as a mother, is most interested in opportunities for the poor and closing the disparity between rich and poor in our country.  She also expressed interests in healthcare, against Dave Reichert and help for small businesses as a former business owner herself.

BEVIN sat to Eric’s left and told us of her interests in foster care at the state level, tax reform, women’s rights, immigration and that she is even considering running for office.  

JESSICA, Eric’s wife, who is a veterinarian practicing in Woodinville, expressed her interests in the environment and gun control.  Cheryl, who is a retired Portland police officer, liked thinking of gun control as gun responsibility.  Also, money in politics and gerrymandering.

CHERYL shares the interest with Dorothy about the middle class, opportunities for her grandchildren, her three daughters, education, jobs, women’s rights and having more women in public office (and more broadly civil rights), money in politics (Jessica has this interest, too) and voting.

JODY is most interested in the environment and is very passionate about gun control.  She expressed that she has been in communications with Senator Guy Palumbo and is even willing to participation in the creation of a new organization against guns.  She said she is a good worker bee.

LINDA, who has been the organizer of the group of late, is interested in opportunities for youth, women’s rights and also government accountability.  She has concerns about Russia (international affairs), voting rights and is interested in organizing, planning, enabling and groups like Indivisible.

MARK, who was fairly new to political involvement’s biggest challenge was finding focus but he didn’t want to sit idly by while he watches unfavorable things happen.  He is against many of Trump’s policies.

Other resources and things that were discussed:

o   Free Speech TV
o   13th Documentary via Dorothy
o   Red Army via Eric and Jessica
o   Book: Slavery by Another Name via Bevin
·        Ideas for future from Eric:
o   A Slack or Microsoft Teams group with “channels” on specific topics (the colored ones above) to ease and enable communications
o   Idea of risk mitigation as key part of culture and context: people to need to manage and mitigate their own risks no matter who they are (self-interest).
o   Process of: Creating excitement and involvement, inclusion, recruiting > Facilitation of meetings and events, communication, partnering, pairing, interest groups > Collaboration tools and planning > Action > Lessons and outcomes and next steps

SUMMARY OF INTERESTS AND IDEAS STATED:

ERIC      
government accountability and transparency
the economy

DOROTHY           
opportunities for the poor and closing the disparity between rich and poor
Healthcare
against Dave Reichert
help for small businesses

BEVIN
foster care at the state level
tax reform
women’s rights
immigration
running for office

JESSICA
environment
gun control / gun responsibility
money in politics
gerrymandering

CHERYL
the middle class
education
jobs
women’s rights and having more women in public office (and more broadly civil rights)
money in politics
voting

JODY
the environment
gun control
creation of a new organization against guns
worker bee

LINDA
opportunities for youth
women’s rights
government accountability
Russia (international affairs and corruption)
voting rights
organizing, planning, enabling and groups like Indivisible.

MARK
finding focus
against many of Trump’s policies

                                                                                                                                                                  

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