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OPAA Weekly Update

Hello OPAA! It's been a busy week for us. Organizationally, we are excited to announce our Steering Committee. Thank you to Ksenija Olmer, Richard Winefield, Ogie Stragatz, Amy Chen, and Carolyn Knoll for joining Monika and Rebecca in this capacity. The Steering Committee will not only expand what we can accomplish, but it will also ensure that we are prioritizing effective actions and more equitably representing our membership’s diverse interests. Thank you also to David Libby for stepping up as our Media Consultant. His experience will help guide us to developing an effective strategy to working with the press. Here’s what else we’ve been up to: EDUCATION:

  1. Orinda Unified School Board: Monday Feb 13th, OPAA members stood up for public comment at the OUSD School Board meeting, in response to recent swastikas inside our school buses and to ask Board Resolution in support of diversity in our schools. It will likely be placed on the agenda for March, but phone calls and emails to support it would be a great help! Info on who to contact is here. Alcalanes has just passed such a resolution, and we would like to see OUSD step up as well. When it is agendized, support at the meeting will be crucial. We’ll keep you updated.

  2. Contra Costa County Board of Education: OPAA members, as well as several sister groups, and some unaffiliated individuals, attended the BoE meeting Feb 15th to object to Board Trustee Jeff Belle, who has been using his public platform to advocate in support of the Immigration Ban and the closing of County education offices. He’s also a documented liar and cheat. Read more about Jeff here, and read the OPAA description of how the meeting went – including his appalling behavior during the meeting in our blog. We will want a big outpouring of support at the next BoE meeting on March 1, 5 pm, Contra Costa County Office of Education, 77 Santa Barbara Road, Pleasant Hill. Before then, letters and emails to the Board in support of diversity will help. We will add talking points to our blog this coming week.

  3. We have reached out to California Senator Glazer to schedule an appointment with his staff to discuss legislation supporting children with disabilities in California in case the federal IDEA policies are dismantled. Contact us with GLAZER in the subject line if you’d like to get involved.

OUTREACH & COMMUNICATION:

  1. Tuesday the 14th we gathered at Orinda Books to write thank you postcards to elected officials, businesses, and others who have stood up for the Resistance. 18+ attendees, and 170 postcards were written. Thank yous are necessary for encouraging our representatives to keep standing up — they must know when we’re pleased as well as when we’re disappointed. If you missed our meeting you can use our script and write some from home. Orinda Books is very supportive of our group and has agreed to continue to host such gatherings — let’s show them our thanks, too.

  2. OPAA was recently contacted by a group of six local citizens who are working toward making the towns of Lamorinda Sanctuary Cities. Because several OPAA members have expressed interest in similar goals, we are helping to broadcast this group's efforts, in the hope that we can all work together to achieve Sanctuary City status for all three towns. Check our blog post here or their GoogleDocs for more information. They are requesting members who support their efforts to attend the following City Council meetings this month to speak during the public comments period in support of putting the item on the agendas:

  • Feb. 21: Orinda City Council Meeting at 7 pm: Library Auditorium, 26 Orinda Way, Orinda

  • Feb. 22: Moraga Town Council Meeting at 7 pm: Council Chambers and Community Meeting Room, 335 Rheem Boulevard, Moraga

  1. Bob Burt has been staying in communication with Mark DeSaulnier’s staff, to try and get that Town Hall scheduled, or at least an in person meeting with Mark. So far, they’re resisting, so shoot Mark DeSaulnier a quick email that says “We want to meet with you, Mark” and sign with your name and OPAA. Mark is hosting three townhalls over the break:

  • Feb. 18: A policy townhall on the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Medicaid. We hope to have a recap of this up soon.

  • Feb. 22: A political town hall on effective strategies for resistance. Jackie Moreau will be hosting a planning session to get ready for this town hall for Monday, February 20th, 5 pm, 9 Greenwood Court, Orinda. This is hosted by his campaign, and thus should allow more open dialogue

  • Feb. 23: A general townhall where you can listen to a presentation and legislative update and ask questions. Held by his public office, not campaign office, so more limited in scope than the 22nd.

  1. Upcoming Events: We will be hosting both daytime and evening "Write to Reps" groups each month. Bring postcards, your favorite pen, and stamps (we'll bring extras of everything if you forget). We will provide addresses and sample scripts, but we always welcome your suggestions for who needs mail! RSVP on Facebook or to orindaprogressiveaction@gmail.com with Postcards March 6 or Postcards March 15 in the subject line.

  • March 6: Hosted at a private residence in Orinda, at 7pm. RSVP for the address.

  • March 15: Orinda Books, at 10:30 am.

  1. For more frequent communication from us, you'll find our Facebook Group is the most active, however we also update our blog semi regularly with news and calls to action, so be sure to check there as well.

ACTS OF KINDNESS & SUPPORT

  1. A subgroup led by Michele Robbins is planning for community dinners with a focus on diversity. The first dinner will focus on the wonderful diversity in faith traditions we have in our area. There will be a panel with leaders from as many traditions as we can get. Want more info? We’ll post more here as plans firm up, or reach out to Michele at shalompastor3@gmail.com

  2. OPAA Talk and Walk: Don’t forget that we all need to step away from the news sometimes! Join OPAA members weekly, Thursdays at 10 am for a walk around the Lafayette Reservoir. Rain cancels.

  3. We are accepting suggestions for acts of kindness & support for those in our community. Suggestions received so far include yard signs supportive of diversity, support of refugee families, and support of immigrant communities. If you have a project you’d like OPAA to get behind, please send us an email with "Acts of Kindness" in the subject line. Even better if you’re willing to help organize the act.

ADDITIONAL GROUPS: We are forming subgroups to plan actions around a number of diverse topics. To be included in a subgroup, either take our facebook poll, or if you’re not on Facebook and missed our last General Meeting, drop us an email. Groups are coming together to study issues around health care, education, impeachment, sanctuary cities, and unprecedented attacks on environmental legislation. We’ll keep you informed as actions firm up. Many of you expressed interest in phone banking — we expect to start holding those this spring. ADJUSTING SOME INITIAL GOALS: As we’ve all seen, the administration is moving so fast that urgent phone calls and emails in opposition are popping up at the rate of 4-10/day. It was our goal initially to keep our members apprised by email of letter writing and call campaigns: that has proven impractical. Instead, we recommend interested members sign up for email alerts from organizations which send you either weekly or daily phone call suggestions and scripts.

Another initial goal was to hold two General Meetings monthly: one daytime and one evening. Given the heavy ongoing time commitments for our leadership team, we are going to try to hold one monthly General Meeting, alternate daytime vs. evening. We hope that this will give us all time to participate more in specific action meetings, whether organizing around a topic or attending public meetings and other events. Please as always, check our Website Calendar or our Facebook Events Page to see what’s coming up. Jump in, participate, we’re so glad you’re standing with us. Sincerely, Monika and Rebecca


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