OPAA Planning Meeting Recap
Our OPAA meeting on January 12 was a great success! At 50+ attendees our space was near capacity. Jump to the end of this email to find links to resources & upcoming events.
We began our meeting by going through the group, with each member introducing themselves and naming one issue that brought them to the meeting. Some of the issues named included:
- Women’s Rights including: Reproductive Rights & Women’s Health Access
- Kind Community
- Protection for Seniors and Kids & All Vulnerable Communities
- Education
- LGBTQ Rights
- Desire for Diversity
- Gun Control
- Preserve Democracy
- Healthy Environment (Pesticide Reduction)/Food Safety
- Climate Change
- Gerrymandering
- Health Care/ACA
- Social & Racial Justice
- Supreme Court
- Poverty/Homelessness
- Peace/True Costs of War
- Youthful Energy
- Disability Rights
- Accountability of Elected Officials
- International Politics
- Electoral College
Members also shared their skills and strengths that they bring to the group and we were impressed by the breadth and depth of talent, networks, experience, and knowledge of our members. Some of the many talents/experience mentioned included:
- Public speaking
- Networking/organizing
- Social media
- Persuasive writing
- Fact checking
- Fundraising
- Persuasive speaking
- Phone banking
During the second half of our meeting we broke into smaller groups to identify specific actions we want to take. We will include some of the ideas, resources, and events below, but we didn’t manage to capture everything you talked about so please follow up with an email if we forgot something and we will add it to our blog and event calendar, our Facebook Group, and our next newsletter.
Action Ideas:
- Calling our Members of Congress. Huge interest in this. We are planning meetings to make calls together. Calling reps is the most effective way to get your voice heard. Per an interview with journalist and former aide to Keith Ellison, Zahir Janmohamed (listen here starting at minute 3:00), one letter or phone call = 10,000 online petition signatures. The interview includes many details on how to effectively communicate with your MoC.
- Write letters to the editor
- Write to your Members of Congress
- Purchase subscriptions to REAL NEWS magazines, newspapers, and websites
- Outreach to progressive/socially liberal Republicans to find common ground
- Attend marches and rallies
- Visit your MoC local offices
- Art activism
- Knitt hats
- Know your facts
- Recruit
- Build community in Lamorinda
- Fundraising
- Phone banking/connect with other states
- Give Talks
- Show Up
Notes:
- We want to diversify our membership to include more people of color as well as members of other communities that may feel threatened by the incoming administration. Please spread the word.
- We want to support existing progressively minded groups by sharing their groups and events with our members.
- Only about 2/3 of attendees are on Facebook, so email and our website continue to be important for outreach & staying connected.
- 1/2 of the group is most eager to get involved in Urgent Actions NOW (please consider joining Facebook as there are so many groups posting daily urgent actions and we are sharing them on the OPAA Facebook page as well).
- 1/2 of the group is interested in continuing to attend planning meetings like this one and we agreed to aim for one per month.
- We all recognize that evening and weekend meetings are important and will expand our reach. We want to make these happen and we are seeking co-hosts. Please reach out to us if you want to talk more about this (we will help with moderating, finding locations, agendas, and getting the word out).
Links to Local Groups:
- OPAA Facebook: We have an active group on Facebook with over 100 members. Join us there to share urgent action items, events, and other progressive news.
- Lamorinda for Action Emails: (lamorinda_for_action@comcast.net)
- OCC Justice and Mercy Commission
- MDUUC has multiple highly active social justice committees
Resources Mentioned at the Meeting:
- The Amplifier Foundation Free graphics for protest signs
- Hopeworks Free graphics for protest signs
- Just Seeds Free graphics for protest signs
- Post Election Toolkit for Educators
Upcoming Events Mentioned at the Meeting:
See our event calendar for all of these & more!
January 20
January 21
- Women’s March — OPAA members will be marching in Walnut Creek, Oakland, San Francisco, and DC! Some OPAA members plan to meet at Orinda BART to catch the 9:25 train.
January 22
OK-US Children’s March: An Inauguration Day Response & March for kids in Orinda, 1:30 PM - 4 PM, meet at the Orinda Community Church
January 27
OPAA Action Meeting: Phone Banking Training at 281 Courtney Lane in Orinda, 10:30AM - noon. We have limited space so please RSVP either on the Facebook event page or via email.
February 4
Community Conversation with Maura Wolf at St. Mary's College 9:30AM - 11:30AM
February 8
February 13 *date tentative*
OPAA Action Meeting: Gather to Call Reps on Critical Issues
- If we missed your event or group, email us (orindaprogressiveaction@gmail.com) and we will include your information in the next mailer and post it on our website and Facebook Group
FINALLY:
- We thank St. Mark’s church in Orinda for hosting our event
- And most importantly: BIG thanks to all of you who attended. We look forward to seeing you again soon & working together to make our world a better place for everyone.SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave