Workgroup: Food Security - Apr 14, 2011

Mission statement
To facilitate local food production and distribution while reinforcing the values of the community safety workgroup including autonomy, self reliance, and DIY.

How food security relates to Community safety

-Food security is related to community health; mental and physical
-Enabling people to meet their daily needs (food, space, community) makes them less likely to resort to crime (theft, blackmarket sales, solicitation) to meet those needs.
-Wasted Food (from restaurants and stores) represents a squandered resource that is easily utilized with community connections
-Poorly used land in cities and surrounding areas is a nuisance, while properly utilized land is a resource for the community

Workgroup: Crisis Response - Apr 14, 2011

SMALL GROUPS:
Crisis Response Team

*talked about strategy/action examples from last week
*some discourse about whether or not we should have a mission statement
*questions about the extent of a transparent process whether that means we are disclosing our process to the police

Mission statement: "We want to create a safe, confidential, trusted & non-hierarchical system for addressing local conflicts and issues without involving police or external authorities, excepting in medical emergencies."

Workgroup: Crisis Response - Apr 28, 2011

This is a recounting of the minutes of the Crisis Response Committee for
the Community Safety Meeting conducted on 4/28/2011 at Subrosa.

Three participants present for entire meeting. One listened and left before the group concluded.

1. Review of notes of previous meetings, strategies: Legal ramifications of having a group such as this. U.S. Code 1503: Obstruction of justice was reviewed. Discussion was had regarding the charge of "Interfering with a police investigation," and the need to be careful in dealing with police, as well as examples of situations in which this statute was interpreted broadly, resulting in arrest and/or prosecution of witnesses attempting to observe and record police action with a video camera.

2. What is the purpose of having such a group? Someone suggested: Linking people in your neighborhood, building community and neighborhood trust, to create the possibility of neighbors calling on each other rather than authorities. A variety of viewpoints were presented about the nature of a "Crisis Response Team."

Workgroup: Community Connectedness - Apr 28, 2011

AGENDA
* Review of action items
* Strategies
* Actions

STRATEGIES
How do we connect with other communities?
   - Through shared needs, shared resources, and/or shared threats.
Interestingly, we realized this is also how we connect with individuals within our community as well.

Workgroup: Community Connectedness - Apr 14, 2011

AGENDA
* Mission Statement
* Review Past Actions
* Strategies
* Actions


MISSION

How can communities connect with each other and to communities outside?
Why interested in this?
* we are societelly alienated
* connectedness = safety
* we want to find and build trust
* we want reliability
* confidentiality is important
* take anarchism to its logical conclusion: how link together
* local decentralized non-hierarchical
* work together

Mission Statement
"We desire to meaningfully connect with others within our communities and have our communities connected with other communities.  We want to be welcoming, inclusive, and willing to grow."

Workgroup: Public Spaces - Apr 28, 2011

Public Spaces small group notes 4 - 28

 - Components -
Protecting existing spaces

Creating new public spaces


 - Thoughts -
Current and new space Dynamics

Community space strengthens communities by creating a place for people to come together

people need space to assemble publicly: eat, sleep, store possessions, make music, socialize

There is insufficient space for people to publicly assemble

There are many regulations governing what people can do in public spaces

Workgroup: Community Connectedness May 12, 2011

[brief notes from small group]

community connectedness: Vibe at Subrosa, how to integrate anarchist community and "street people" community

Themes: need for check-ins, what defines a community, communication, need for a shared community, desire not to other, find commonalities, need for a drop-in center, desire to see houseless folks self-organize to resist oppression

New Workgroup Notes May 12th

Intro
action oriented this week
        
Check-ins
interests: successes, recent jail-visit, show people that we can do this, crisis response, connection to action, follow-through, excited about the group premises

Accords
that people feel safe, transparency of this group, and balance between these two. 

Quick review
premises: solutions outside institutional solutions; step-back, step--up
                     brief review of previous meetings

Introducing "phase zero"
get it out there, do something (especially when daunted by phase 1 of a plan)

phase zero check-ins (what have people already done to get these projects out there):  "barely anything,"
 resisted contacted the police,
contacted non-violent communication teacher,
contacted neighbors,
got involved in cop-watch,
figure out what our communities need,
communicated the processes and work of this group to others,
collectively brainstormed ways to avoid police intervention through communication,
tried to connect with neighbors,
collectively acknowledging difficulties of some of these projects,
assessing what the challenges are that we face,
research on legal challenges of some of these projects,
getting together with community/neighbors,
sent out email to rally people,
building framework to connect communities,
connecting and being present in the neighborhood in a genuine way.

facilitator- there are going to be barriers, but think about them as open-questions that can be returned to.

A Phase Zero brainstorm
For some of our small groups, what would Phase Zero look like?

Crisis response (crisis can be simple or extreme, non-medical): a phone list to share with friends, list of resources, a number on the website to call, scheduled NVC training, find resources for crisis handlin', KYR training,

Community Conectedness:  Saying "Hi", introduce, door to door, "Here's my number!, What do you need?"

Police: Share stories/successes/failures (e.g cop and jail experiences), know ur rights, cop watch (grassroots style), do follow-ups with those involved in a police interaction, find documentation on this topic, take photos

New Accountability: teach restorative justice, don't ignore it, ask questions, get info, talk to people, examine all possibilities, tell your story, let intentions of accountability be known, research other efforts

benefits of phase zero?  great, but let's stay connected!

Workgroup: Community Connectedness May 26, 2011

[A focus on SubRosa as a community, with lots of levels of participation]

In the small group, members of the SR collective and non-members talked about community connectedness in this community.  We started by brainstorming our understanding of what's going on.  On a general level, some people don't like how it feels at the space.  We cited the drug dealing [on the nearby street], the reputation of the space that is connected with this, and feeling [overwhelmed] in the space as concerns.  This lead to questions of what is going on the flip side, i.e. what is good and welcoming at the space?  We deepening the conversation with open questions of what is anarchism, SR, and whether being a place to hang out is a part of being radical or not.  We agreed that SR is very open to interpretation, which is positive, but that being so open may let behavior happen that creates hostility. 

This led to action suggestions.  In the vein of connectedness, we thought having conversations and direct questions of the patrons might be a place to start.  More than this having forums to collaborate and describe SR, a la demystifying anarchism, would be insightful.  Also, thinking about the Spruce street milieu and possible ways to transform that space were discussed.  Two members committed to systematically engaging, observing and interacting with as many people as possible in order to understand the issue at a deeper level.  A third member committed to addending the open letter from SR to the community 

We ended with questions of do we underestimate SR?  Do people value it more than we think?  And asking about behavior in the space, what makes us happy, angry, scared, and/or sad? 

Workgroup: Small Groups May 12, 2011

POLICE WORKGROUP-

First Thoughts:
  • potluck or get together to talk about cops as a problem.
  • letting people know that there are other ways to handle problems in lieu of calling the cops.
  • convincing neighbors that cops are problematic.
  • within household, education about the harm that police bring.
  • idea for testimonial zine of peoples' experiences with cops and jail.
             --->PROJECT! callout for stories about cops to later be disseminated.
  • set of guidelines for cop interactions and reasons not to interact with cops.
             --->PROJECT! one or two publications: reasons why cops are harmful and how to deal with situations without cops.
  • posting fucked up experiences with police up to a space over the internet.
  • trying to understand how police violence is going over in our community/ gauging where people are at in their feelings about cops.
  • worry posed that this small group's discussion is repeating work other groups are focused on; desire to hone in on very specific anti-cop projects (i.e. literally getting cops out of santa cruz)
SUGGESTION! everyone bring in 3 ideas to put on an anti-cop flyer to be posted everywhere around town.
  • list of things to do when faced with cop contact.
  • questions cops about where they're taking people, etc.
  • create a culture of resistance: stand up to police, let them know they aren't welcome nor appreciated.
  • interjecting in police interactions
  • helping other people find strength to speak with courage to police.
  • holding cops accountable: making cop profiles.
               --->PROJECT! flyers with cops' faces, badge numbers; listing complaints and experiences with them.
               --->PROJECT! some sort of database online that logs cops and what they've been up to. (worry about it not being visible enough)
  • lot of worry about legal repercussions.
  • response that every time we talk about "anti-cop" stuff, we're obviously putting ourselves in trouble, so...
  • weekly newsletter or report.
  • mentioning of sharing a particular bad cop experience on the radio.
  • addressing younger people... going to schools and programs in which cops are doing "we're heroes" presentations, and doing counter-talks about why cops are dangerous and need to be opposed.

New Workgroup Notes Apr 14th

Community Safety Workgroup
-APRIL FOURTEENTH-

AGENDA:
*Go around/ talk about vision
*"Feeling For The Edge"
*Facilitation/ notes
*Small groups
*Report back

One of the facilitators speaks about the premises of the workgroup:
*focused on definitive actions
*autonomous- not based on petitioning the legal structure
*collective process
*leaving space for each other

Feeling for the Edge of your Imagination: finding ways not to call the police

(from Imagine Alternatives)

Dear friends, family, acquaintances and people with whom I share house party dance floors and supermarket lines,

A few weeks ago, an acquaintance of mine attended a police lineup, pointed at someone, and sent them to jail or prison. Last night, a friend’s roommate called the cops about something happening outside, and the effect of that action was a young man getting tasered.

So I’ve decided to write you a letter. All of you, but especially those of you who, like myself and the two people mentioned above, are white and/or grew up middle class and/or didn’t grow up in NYC. I’m writing to you, also, if you’ve smiled your way out of a speeding ticket, if you’ve been most afraid of cops at mass protests, or if you generally feel safer when you see police around.

Workgroup: Crisis Response Team - Mar 31st, 2011

Scope
Facilitator reviewed the scope list that had been generated for this group at class one;
  • Alternative to 911
  • Phone tree
  • Triage skills – connections and resources
  • Emergency Health was decided to NOT be within the scope of CRT
Participants offered additions to scope:

New Workgroup Notes Mar 31st

Community Safety Workgroup – Free Skool Class
Notes from Thursday, March 31, SubRosa, 5-7PM
Notes by JM
About 10 participants


Facilitators Editorial
Last week's workgroup was great though under-attended.  Start thinking now who you'd like to invite to next Thursday's Community Safety Workgroup.  There is a lot to do to make our communities safer from police, from violence (internal and external), and from the gaping needs so often left unmet.  And we can't do it alone.  It will take a lot of help.  Please come and please bring two friends.

Workgroup: Crisis Response Team

Goals
One vision- team of ppl who can respond to crisises small and large. not necessarily responsible for dealing w/it, more with helping you get the resources you need to solve your own problems.

Alternative to 911! when ya need something like that, but don't want the cops to come too. More like a starting point to get the support ppl need.

Workgroup: Community Connectedness Mar 17, 2011

Notes from the isolation small group on Mar 17. 2011


Larger Goals
-organize a neighborhood meeting to address the concerns?
-block parties?
-block parent-houses (known/advertised safe houses in the neighborhood)?
-phone-tree to help with crisis prevention/response (instead of la policia)
Roadblocks:
-limitation of language (none of us speak Spanish)
-difficult to have a meaningful/engaged conversation with strangers
-how to phrase intentions (flyers?/clipboard with pen?/freshly baked cookies?...)

Announcing the Community Safety Workgroup

Community Safety Workgroup
Every Other Thursday starting Thu Mar 17th 5pm to 7pm
SubRosa, 703 Pacific Ave

"Without police, wouldn't there be chaos?" "What about the bad people?" As anarchists we get asked these legit questions all the time. It's time we began to wrestle with some possible answers. Don't be fooled by the bland title, this is a project that has the potential to change the world.

This is a structured workshop to plan ways to keep our communities safe at all levels. Here are the challenges we'll tackle

Workgroup Notes: Community Safety Workgroup 17 March 2011

Check-in from participants

Alternatives to police, good ideas, integrating with community better, want safety like TBSC (with different tactics), Appreciation for this class, has seen changes over the years and fear of TBSC vigilantes, interest in practical ideas to replace police, anarchism through making redundant the organs of the state. Woo!

Facilitator's Intro

Facilitator wants to stay nimble, be open to new ways of talking about these things.

Motivation: Hears, what would we do w/o police? Wouldn't thugs rule? But they already do, with their badges. What to do w/o cops, realistically? And how do we provide the good stuff w/o the bad? (avoid the phrase "community policing")

Facilitator's Bottomline

These are the shared premises of the class.  See Premises here.

Our Vision for a World of Community Safety

Brainstorm about a world w/o police, where people provide for each others' safety.  See Vision here.

The Values We Share

Brainstorm about our values, (some shared and some unique) to find our shared views.  We start from here rather than assuming anything.  See Values here.

The Challenges We Face (What are the big pieces of this?)


A brainstorm about the large challenges we face.  The numbers is parenthesis represent the results of a straw poll:  "Which of these things do you consider a priority to work on, something you are willing to put energy into, and potentially has attainable results?"  See Challenges here.

Small Group Work

We gathered into small groups based on the challenges we saw were important and achievable.  We were tasked to look at the following aspects of the big piece that we grabbed:

  1. Goals
  2. Roadblocks
  3. Strategy
  4. Deadlines & next steps

Challenges

The Challenges We Face (What are the big pieces of this?)

A brainstorm about the large challenges we face.  The numbers is parenthesis represent the results of a straw poll:  "Which of these things do you consider a priority to work on, something you are willing to put energy into, and potentially has attainable results?"
  • accountability (14)
  • education (13)
  • crisis response (13)
  • Hierarchy (12)
  • Police (11)
  • community defense/defense of communities (11)
  • violence (specifically domestic and/or sexual) (11)
  • a sense of isolation (9)
  • need to heal (9)
  • environmental justice (8)
  • spaces (places to do the things you do) (8)
  • larger sense of trust (7)
  • unequal dist. of wealth (6)
  • mental health (6)
  • personal identity (who we identify with, on what level, how that holds us back) (6)
  • lack of constancy of commitment (6)
  • Culture of violence (media, television, worship of aggressive competition) (5)
  • Physical health (3)
  • whether we share common values, or even language (3)

Values

The Values We Share

Brainstorm about our values, (some shared and some unique) to find our shared views.  We start from here rather than assuming anything.

  • Autonomy
  • self reliant
  • Honesty
  • free-expression/protection and respect for it
  • trust
  • Genuine
  • Transparency
  • accountability
  • DIY
  • spontaneity
  • mutual support (the support you offer your fellows)
  • Solidarity (support for those people over there)
  • Courage
  • empathy
  • creativity
  • SAFETY

Vision

Our Vision for a World of Community Safety

Brainstorm about a world w/o police, where people provide for each others' safety

  • More community involvement and personal investment in community
  • Having phone trees/knowledge about neighbors
  • more confidence in our ability to care for each other
  • Hapiness, friendliness
  • Safety for everyone - not just the wealthy or housed
  • taking responsibility whenever anything wrong is going on- no matter who it is
  • an understanding in the general public not just of the benefits of police but also the risks- juducial process, lack of control
  • Fluidity and communication between classes
  • Skillsets for non-coercive compassionate conflict resolution
  • knowing you can rely on the ppl around you to help you in case of emergency
  • accountability for our own actions
  • safety vs security- a sense of stability and security so there's no need for desperate choices
  • Autonomy
  • Mutual support, solidarity
  • Home to mean more than house- desire for feeling of community in neighborhood
  • community resiliency- friendship for strong communities, more gatherings
  • common medical knowledge/health knowledge (mental, physical, environmental)
  • knowing that my wolrd won't be poisoned
  • healing and workshops w herbs and spirit- first responder skills, accessible knowledge.
  • Change in the rigidity of laws- more case-to-case decision making
  • Knowing that the members of my comm. have similar interests and goals
  • sharing health knowledge
  • elimination of the specialization of the cop role- more generalized participation from everyone rather than a select few holding all the power
  • need separation between different sets of knowledge- EMTs, firefighters, cops, Red Cross,
  • no sexism, more honor for crones and older women

Premises

These are the shared premises of the class:

  • Everyone desires safety and security (even if we disagree about strategy and threats)
  • We want to work collaboratively. We are here to find solutions together.  
  • We are looking for solutions outside of institutional ones. We solve problems ourselves.  That is, we won't spend time discussing the merits of going to city council to ask them to reprioritize their budget.
  • We are not a service or an institution; we enable people and communities to provide for their own safety. 
  • We believe in transparency.  We document everything we do.  We want people to be able to learn from our process and replicate our work as needed in every town that desires a world without cops.
  • We are here to listen to each other.  We give each other space for people to talk and participate.  Step up, step back.  
  • We are committed.  
  • We are here to act.  
  • What we are wanting is possible and desirable. 

Open Questions

Here is an ongoing list of open questions that have no simple answers. We keep track of them so we don't lose sight of them in the complexity of our task:

  • What do we mean by community?
  • What do we mean by safety?
  • What problems do we face?
  • What infrastructure do we need?
  • How do we divide this up?
  • How do we maintain momentum?
  • What about those laws?
  • Do we have the commitment?

RE Community: let's define it ourselves. Your house? Sure. Watershed? Sure. Let's work w/ what we have and stay open about it.

Workgroup: Mental Health Mar 17, 2011

Notes from the mental health small group work on Mar 17. 2011


Goals 
- not judging, what people need to express.
- open forum for discussion, processing
-approaching everyone without preconceptions of human relationships
-need to heal, and spaces to provide that.
-being gentle towards people that are going toward some kind of awakening.

Strategy

1) Manual for methods of integration. To create a valid space, for anyone who feels isolated for what they ever they are going through.

2) Journal in a public space, where people could share alternative mental experiences, stories, and tools. (A glass of water, and deep breaths, social skills, critical thinking skills about how to look at things in a different perspective ((eliminating static views of self))

3) some kind of mental health medic