Leadership Committee Mid Year Priorities Report 2016/2017

Introduction

Every year First/People Link holds our annual membership meeting where our members define the priorities for the coming year and elect a leadership committee (LC) to guide the organization in implementing those priorities.

This report documents the progress, mid-year, of the Leadership Committee in implementing the priorities identified in our November 2016 membership meeting (https://mayfirst.org/en/priorities/).

Assessment

The Leadership Committee began by assessing the priorities, grouping similar ones together, and coming up with an overall plan for the year (​https://support.mayfirst.org/wiki/projects/leadership-committee/2016-priorities-summary).

Technology and Revolution

The LC decided that most of the priorities could be addressed via a single, unified campaign for the year. Called "Technology and Revolution," May First/People Link launched this campaign in the early Spring of 2017 via a web site (​https://techandrev.org/) and through a number of convergences held in a variety of settings.

The campaign brings together activists from all parts of the movement to discuss the relationship between technology and revolution and charts a strategy for moving forward. The goals of the campaign are to contribute to a movement wide strategy, build tighter relationships between experienced movement organizers with limited understanding of technology and techie activists with limited movement experience, and practice developing inter-generational, mixed race and gender environments that builds respect and power.

As of the end of June, the LC has organized six convergences, bringing together over 300 organizers and activists. And we have many more planned throughout this year.

Progress

As part of this campaign, we have made tremendous progress with the following priorities:

• Target groups under threat and communities of color - Not only have the convergences intentionally put people of color and women in leadership roles, but May First/People Link has also played an instrumental role in developing a network of techies of color which met at the Highlander Center in May. The ideas behind the Technology and Revolution campaign played a large role in the gathering and promises to continue influencing this critical work
• Story-based approaches to education on technology use - all convergences start with a pop corn exercise that encourages visioning the future we want, and encouraging a broad narrative approach to developing strategy
• Improve participation of MF/PL members and deepen political development based on realities in each center - through the Technology and Revolution campaign, the gathering at Highlander, and our continued participation in the Media Action Grassroots Network, we have developed critical new relationships with members and seen new leadership arise within the LC.

In Progress

The following are not yet complete, but underway:

• The creation of curriculum that covers basic education about technology and the Internet as well as security and collaboration
• A hub for resources (tip sheets, etc) to support the curriculum
• Explore and report on distributed, de-centralized computing strategies for organizing

Through a strategic partnership with the Center for Media Justice, we have been participating in a project to collect this kind of information and make it available to organizers and activists in the black lives matter movement.

In addition, we already have many similar resources available on our wiki.

However, they have not yet been connected to the Technology and Revolution campaign or made available in a coherent and meaningful way. This will be a focus of our work this summer.

• A survey about political and technical strategies and pain points within the movement

This priority is currently in development and we hope to have it completed by the end of the summer

Improvement Needed

• Actively seek partners in Latin America as part of our effort to explore creation of additional centers for the organization

We plan to work on this area via our membership in the Association of Progressive Communication.

Other areas

Three other priorities fall outside of the campaign:

• Implement and widely publicize the new dues structure as a form of recruitment and with the goal of increased financial stability

We are in progress with plans to both publicize and recruit, and also partner with allies to increase membership.

• Form a dedicated fundraising committee to explore new funding opportunities, including consulting services, and opportunities for crowd funding. This committee will be merged with the existing admin committee.

We have not yet made progress in this front.

• Continue the project of installing new servers in Mexico

In May, two servers were purchased for colocation in Mexico. These two are in addition to a third experimental server that has been available for a few years but not yet put into production. In July, a high speed Internet connection will be installed. In addition, a program of technical skills sharing is planned for the end of the year.