TWOG Schedule and Meeting Minutes

[Tom Anderson]

The TWOG will be meeting every other Wednesday starting 8/25/10 starting at 6pm. Initially the meetings will be at Paul Kearsley's home at 2609 Cedarwood Ave Bellingham. Anyone is welcome to attend or to send a question that needs addressing. For now send questions to Tom Anderson at [e-mail].

[warren miller]

TWOG Meeting #6
10/20/10
Present: Tom, Travis, Juliet, Warren, Laura, Paul
Absent: Angela, Erica Guest: Rhys Faler

Next TWOG Meeting will be at 6:00PM on 11/03/10.

Notes: A summary of the key items discussed at the meeting to inform Transition Whatcom members who might be interested in providing feedback to the TWOG.

1. Organization: We assigned primary and secondary ‘Bucket Carriers’ to the following areas to help organize our efforts. These TWOGs will be the focal points for actions within these areas. Each Primary bucket carrier should investigate the contents of their buckets, identify issues, identify TWIGs that relate to each bucket, put thoughts into a written proposal to bring to TWOG, and then start moving forward including asking for help.
a. Marketing/Publicity- Primary: Warren, Secondary: Paul
b. Infrastructure- Primary: Travis, Secondary: Juliet
c. Partners- Primary: Erica, Secondary: Tom
d. EDAP- Primary: Erica, Secondary: Travis
e. Workgroups- Primary: Paul, Secondary: Laura and Juliet
f. Legal/Government- Primary: Tom, Secondary: Juliet
g. Transition Coordination- Primary: Warren, Secondary: Laura
h. Finance- Primary: Laura, Secondary: Tom

2. Marketing/Publicity (Events)
a. Fairhaven Applied Ecology Class
b. Discussed the recent TWIG/TWOG meeting. Notes are posted to the TW Ning site.
c. TWOG agreed Laura can move forward with events committee, using the volunteers and workparty event to gain traction.
d. Joyride Sustainable transportation event debrief. 18 new members signed up.
e. 350.org/10.10.10 event debrief. We need a replacement banner.
f. Blue Gold film event. Juliet planning to go.
g. How to Stay Sane as the World Goes Crazy. Tom and Laura planning to go. Open Space Day, following day (Saturday). Laura planning to go.
h. Roving WorkParty. Laura updated on progress.
i. Train the Trainers event Nov 11-14th.
j. Council Meeting. Agreed to start as per the adopted structure for now and go from there. Agreed to start before the end of year. Warren will work on this.
k. Food Summit. Falls into WorkGroup bucket, Paul will contact Kate.
l. Inspiration Farm Seed Swap. TW will sponsor. Laura will contact Brian to see what is needed.
m. Seed Swap in early February. Tom will find out if this is still on.
n. Green drinks. Occurs during TWOG meeting. Warren will contact TWIG to see if any of them are willing to represent and report back.

3. Infrastructure (Web Site)
a. Rhys Faler reviewed the use of Google Docs, mail, and calendar. TWOG will spend some time exploring the software and get back to Rhys.
b. Facebook. Travis is looking into integrating facebook and ning site.
c. Workgroup founders cannot be changed, Travis found out. For now we’ll have to live with it.
d. Discussed criteria for membership, events, changes, and out of county membership. Suggestion to create a visitor spot that would allow interaction with out-of area folks, but limit the discussions they could respond to.
e. Blog from the TWOG. Agreed to share responsibility (not necessarily the content) of posting on a weekly basis. Warren will schedule this.
f. Laura updated on “Collaborating with the TWOG.” No new feedback. Only Angela MacLeod acknowledged TWOG reply. No email notification that a reply has been made.

4. WorkGroups
a. Laura updated on the venue list. Will post to ning when complete.
b. Laura updated on new member orientation. Working with Matt Kaufman, Heather Katahdn, and Alan Seid.
c. Laura updated on meeting effectiveness. Working with Alan Seid.
d. Discussion on what to do with WorkGroups without Active leaders. May need to make personal contact to find new leadership not just thru an email blast. Paul as WorkGroup bucket carrier will follow-up.
e. Workgroup consolidation was discussed. WorkGroup bucket carrier will consider options and present them at future TWOG meeting.
f. Surveys. Angela absent. Should redirect to Paul.

5. Legal/Government
a. Follow-up discussion from TWIG/TWOG meeting on 5013c status. Tom will follow-up.

6. Finance
a. Checking account. Laura and Tom will get with Rick to get signed on or create a new account.
b. 4th Corner Exchange account. Travis will get Laura the password. Agreed Laura can spend some LD’s for workparty prizes. Agreed to look into uncollected LD’s from the Unleashing.

[Juliet Thompson]

TWOG Meeting #7 Notes
11/03/10

Present: Paul Kearsley, Travis Linds, Warren Miller, Erica Shuhler, Juliet Thompson, Laura Sellens
Absent: Angela Mercy, Tom Anderson
Visiting: Amy Martin
A quorum was not achieved until later in the meeting, so many of the items discussed at this meeting will be revisited at the next meeting.

The Notes are a summary of the key items discussed at the meeting to inform Transition Whatcom members who might be interested in providing feedback to the TWOG.

1. Seed Swap – The event is planned for January 30th. Paul will communicate with and support the organizers of the event (Alain and Shannon) to help make the Second Seed Swap an even more visible and well-attended event than last year’s.

2. EDAP – Erica will organize the logistics of the EDAP project, and will be in contact with other TW members who have volunteered to work on the EDAP. Juliet will facilitate making the connections.

3. Tee Shirts – Laura has an idea for getting TW tee shirts printed using recycled shirts and the enlisting the printer (Jeff?) from Skagit County who printed T-shirts at the Great Unleashing. The logistics and costs of this will be discussed at a future meeting.

4. Council Meeting, Dec. 11th – We will draft an agenda for the Council meeting and discuss the proposed agenda at the next meeting. Laura would like to provide an orientation at the beginning of the Council Meeting, and will be in touch with David M. around this topic. Paul will bring a chart of the organizational structure to the next meeting.

5. The TWOG will seek out Heart and Soul members who would like to assist with facilitating, vibes watching, and other techniques to help ensure that meetings are effective. Juliet will facilitate the next meeting, and will prepare the notes for this meeting.

Next meeting topics: Council Meeting, Big Picture thinking - Where are we headed?, Workgroup Survey Results

[Laura J Sellens]

TWOG Meeting #8 Notes
11/17/10

Present: Paul Kearsley, Erica Shuhler, Juliet Thompson, Laura Sellens, Tom Anderson
Absent: Angela Mercy, Travis Linds, Warren Miller

A quorum was not achieved at this meeting, so many of the items discussed at this meeting will be revisited at the next meeting.

The Notes are a summary of the key items discussed at the meeting to inform Transition Whatcom members who might be interested in providing feedback to the TWOG. Next TWOG Meeting will be at 6:00PM on 12/1/10. If you have an agenda item you'd like the TWOG to consider, or if you'd like to attend, please contact any TWOG member.
http://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/page/the-twog
Notes
1. Workgroup survey results. Laura and Paul presented on the results and Paul will start responding to the requests.

2a. Big Picture Thinking: Paul’s TW map. Paul presented his map of the three main components of TW: the Core Group, the Interest Groups and the TIs and the inherent relationships between them. Emphasized grassroots, bottom up structure, not a top-down organization. EDAP is the central binding idea. TWOG’s job to mind the long-term bigger picture.

2b. Big Picture Thinking: EDAP. No expectation that EDAP is the solution—it’s a framework for the transition process. Build EDAP team, begin at Assembly meeting. Action item to include this in a ning broadcast.

3. Assembly. Purpose is to create networking/sharing opportunities. Discussed the value of EDAP as an organizing tool. Laura will type up some workgroup leader guidelines to present. Tom will draft an Assembly meeting agenda for the ning broadcast. Should include a reminder for each group to send a representative to the Assembly, however it’s an open meeting. Juliet will work on venue.

4. Juliet presented a proposal on bucket carriers and short/long term replacements. Will post on Google docs. Group asked clarifying questions.

5. Debriefed on last meeting, evaluated current meeting.

Juliet will facilitate next time.

[Laura J Sellens]

TWOG Meeting #8 Notes
11/17/10

Present: Paul Kearsley, Erica Shuhler, Juliet Thompson, Laura Sellens, Tom Anderson
Absent: Angela Mercy, Travis Linds, Warren Miller

A quorum was not achieved at this meeting, so many of the items discussed at this meeting will be revisited at the next meeting.

The Notes are a summary of the key items discussed at the meeting to inform Transition Whatcom members who might be interested in providing feedback to the TWOG. Next TWOG Meeting will be at 6:00PM on 12/1/10. If you have an agenda item you'd like the TWOG to consider, or if you'd like to attend, please contact any TWOG member.
http://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/page/the-twog
Notes
1. Workgroup survey results. Laura and Paul presented on the results and Paul will start responding to the requests.

2a. Big Picture Thinking: Paul’s TW map. Paul presented his map of the three main components of TW: the Core Group, the Interest Groups and the TIs and the inherent relationships between them. Emphasized grassroots, bottom up structure, not a top-down organization. EDAP is the central binding idea. TWOG’s job to mind the long-term bigger picture.

2b. Big Picture Thinking: EDAP. No expectation that EDAP is the solution—it’s a framework for the transition process. Build EDAP team, begin at Assembly meeting. Action item to include this in a ning broadcast.

3. Assembly. Purpose is to create networking/sharing opportunities. Discussed the value of EDAP as an organizing tool. Laura will type up some workgroup leader guidelines to present. Tom will draft an Assembly meeting agenda for the ning broadcast. Should include a reminder for each group to send a representative to the Assembly, however it’s an open meeting. Juliet will work on venue.

4. Juliet presented a proposal on bucket carriers and short/long term replacements. Will post on Google docs. Group asked clarifying questions.

5. Debriefed on last meeting, evaluated current meeting.

Juliet will facilitate next time.

[warren miller]

TWOG Meeting 12/15/10

Present: Tom Anderson, Paul Kearsley, Travis Linds, Warren Miller, Juliet Thompson, Laura Sellens

Notes

A summary of the key items discussed at the meeting to inform Transition Whatcom members who might be interested in providing feedback to the TWOG.

1)      Debrief of Assembly Highlights

a.       Check with David on guidelines for membership and events, create a written doc- Travis

b.      Work with Angela McLeod to fold workgroup feedback into organized groupings based on assembly discussion/categories- Travis

c.       Keep Assembly as name. Next meeting in March.

d.      Transition Drinks, interface with Chris/Adam- Travis with Paul’s help.

2)      Work Party

a.       Need Jan party ideas, TWOG to provide Laura with ideas.

3)      Sustainable Bellingham- Tom to attend board meeting and report.

4)      Blog Schedule- Agreed to

5)      Ning Site-

a.       Travis will approve events and membership

b.      Travis will update and send out proposal to move events to more prominence on the Ning site.

c.       We will ask David to put proposal together on updating TW.org site. Travis will check with Reese and Amy Martin to see what they are doing. Juliet and Travis will organize web group meetings.

6)      Hub meeting-

a.       Organized by David Marshak. Travis will ask David to post it.

7)      Resources Reskilling-

a.       Resources is asking for courses. What do our members want to do? Paul will talk to Cindi (Folk School) and then coordinate with Hannah at Resources,

8)      Marketing Effort Discussion-

a.       What should our goal be?

                                                               i.      Focus will be on Work Group Enablement

b.      Visual Campaign Ideas- How do we make TW more visible?

                                                               i.      Warren will schedule a planning meeting. Paul will provide some names of people we should include.

9)      Proposal to revamp work groups

a.       Need to find new leaders for inactive groups or delete the group.

b.      The proposal suggests that groups could be re-vitalized by reforming them annually, and people would rejoin groups that they want to participate in. Concerns were raised about saving the history of the groups.

c.       Juliet will ask David to review the proposal to see what is possible.

10)   Warren will move the Blog from the Twog to the Blog section. Will send out instructions.

11)   Juliet presented a proposal for adding TWOGs at the meeting on November 17th, and now will put together a ning blast to encourage and request applications for 2 new Twog positions.

12)   Laura will check on printing costs for flags.

 

[warren miller]

Transition Whatcom First Assembly Meeting                                12/11/10

1)      Introduction and Work Group Report

Goshen - Started spring ’09 and created a list of resources/skills/tools/etc, 25 members, wiki website, have a shared shredder, doing grain/peas/millet research, seed share, 5 homes with solar panels, <and an impressive list of other stuff>.

Personal Finance- have had multiple meetings and have a handout that has been used to help people decide on local banking alternatives.

Ning Website- has been up and working well, Travis will now be helping David with postings and new members, have a bi-weekly meeting to discuss/plan improvements.

Living Democracy- have had multiple meetings and an active discussion on the Ning site.

Heart and Soul- have helped with local presentations, training and an open space. Active group.

Herbalism- have 14 members and have done training sessions for making medicinals from local sources.

Reskilling- opportunity to create a ‘University’ like environment – Folk School -  similar to NW Freedom University, needs additional members for an initiating group.

 

2)      Toms state of the world report

a.       IEA report

 

3)      Work group survey report

a.       Only 15 responses

b.      Would like to understand what barriers exist to Work group action

 

4)      TWOG Intro

 

5)      Discussion

a.    Is the status of the work groups a problem or is this the normal way these things work?

b.     Is there something the TWOG needs to do to make work groups successful?

c.       Ning site as a good way to capture institutional memory.

d.      Are there consistent obstacles for work groups?

e.      Can the Ning site be used to help drive the EDAP?

f.        What are the guidelines for posting events/workshops?

g.       The important thing is to have the Transition Whatcom structure remove roadblocks- for example working with the government, need to find a way to do this.

h.      Post the great unleashing there was lots of energy, to get action you need a common shared goal.

i.         Can the next goal be the EDAP (Maybe EDAPT instead?) with a limited number of categories. How do we get as many people involved as possible?

j.        Can we capture a short, one paragraph summary after each event  as collective memory?

k.       Can we sponsor Transition Drinks with a table for each section of the EDAPT and capture thoughts and actions? Face to Face meetings drive movements.

l.         The summary of these discussions could go out as an email to other interested members to drive more involvement in the Drinks and Work Group activity.

m.    Creating energized work groups will make creating the EDAPT easy.

n.      One way the Transition Goshen folks help generate activity is at the end of every meeting they ask if anyone has a project they need help on this week.

o.      Need to start the fact finding portion of the EDAPT so we can tell if the Work Group ideas can actually work in Whatcom county.

p.      How do we take this kind of work and make it sexy?

 

6)      Action Plans

a.       Create reporting threads on the Ning site to be used to capture institutional memory (Adam/David)

b.      Initiate Transition Drinks- find venue, etc (Adam/Chris)

c.       EDAPT planning- Erica

 

7)      Visioning Exercise- Chris Wolf

a.  The group formed the following subgroups and conducted the visioning exercise thinking about the ideal future for their theme and listed a couple elements they discussed- Energy (Horses, Windmills), Government (government working with the community), Community (Land stewardship, sharing resources), Ecology (our world in harmony as a multi-sensory garden, people with skills who care), Heart and Soul (personal discussions instead of Facebook), Transportation (fewer cars, energy efficient public transit), Finance (Relocalization, facilitate connections between people).

 

8)      EDAPT Action Proposal

a.       Volunteers signed up to the core group- Erica and Travis will facilitate

                                                                     i.      Francis Ayley, Lia Ayley, Irene Hinkle, Adam Ward and Tris Shirley

 

9)      Actions Voted on-

a.  Transition Drinks monthly, Council meeting quarterly (Both passed)

 

10)   Agenda for Council Meeting

a.  Plans for the future, celebration of past action, fool on the council to speak the truth, update the working groups on TWOG activity, review inputs from Transition Drinks, improve communications for non-computer users, use schools, grange halls, etc for meetings, informal social time, line music, child care option.

[warren miller]

TWOG Meeting 12/29/10

Present: Tom , Paul, Warren, Juliet , Laura, Erica

Absent: Travis, Angela

Guest: Kate Clark

Notes

A summary of the key items discussed at the meeting to inform Transition Whatcom members who might be interested in providing feedback to the TWOG.

1)      Assembly Meeting-

a.       Plan for a mid-March meeting as a work/prep day for the April Event.

b.      Any progress on Transition Drinks (Transition Café?) idea- Paul will follow-up.

2)      Work Parties

a.       Need a Jan Event- Paul will contact Liz @ school garden collective about a possible Jan event.

b.      Target Shuksan School for a Feb event

c.       Juliet will look into an event at Inspiration Farm.

3)      Sustainable Bellingham Meeting- Debrief by Tom

a.       Outcome is that we can get event insurance or accept tax deductable donations via SB if we need to. Tom will attend Feb board meeting.

4)      Revamping Workgroups-

a.       How to distinguish between Action groups and Discussion groups? Encourage the groups to put one or the other word in their name.

b.      Juliet will start the analysis of groups, find out about the archive feature and report back to the next meeting.

5)      Hub Meeting Proposal- Jan 13^th 7-9PM. Location TBD.

a.       Juliet will call Dave Marshak to find out status. Travis to post event.

6)      Email list of people interested in TW but not on Ning site.

a.       Laura will send out list.

b.      Warren will ask David if the email list can also receive the Ning Blast.

7)      Flag Cost- Laura contacted vendor and is waiting for a response.

8)      Volunteers- Juliet to send out list of names to TWOG.

9)      TWOG Application-

a.       Laura will send out the old TWOG member application for TWOG review.

10)   EDAPt-

a.       Erica will contact EDAPt folks and get an email thread/meeting schedule organized.

11)   Food Security Discussion-

a.       Kate attended the TWOG meeting to give a Food Security update. The idea of a Food Security Summit has come up. Sustainable Connections might be doing something like this in 2012. Can we do one earlier, maybe around the time of our April Event? Kate may ask Cindi to contact Sustainable Connections to see what their plan is and try and identify partnership opportunities. Kate volunteered to contact helpers and schedule a Food Security Summit Planning meeting.

12)   Transition Whatcom and Political Involvement- Kate

a.       This topic has come up again as the work on the TW.org site has moved along. How much should we say about our stand on Political Involvement on the web site? What level of involvement is the TWOG comfortable with? After some discussion and background from Kate no proposal was presented. We will revisit this as needed in future meetings.

13)   April event – A planning group is being organized by Warren, and he is in the process of finding a meeting date and location.

[warren miller]

TWOG Meeting                01/12/11

Attendees:         Tom, Laura, Juliet, Erica, Warren, Paul, Travis

Not Present:      Angela, Erica

Notes

A summary of the key items discussed at the meeting to inform Transition Whatcom members who might be interested in providing feedback to the TWOG.

1)      Old Business

1. Assembly Meeting bucket carrier- Juliet
2. Transition Café with Adam/Chris (Proposal is Feb 19^th at Public Market 6-7PM social, 7-9 café) Paul will follow-up and facilitate with the TWOG
3. Jan Work Party- Happy Valley Elementary School) Jan 17^th. Paul to contact and post.
4. Feb Work party event- Feb 5^th (school garden collective- Shuksan Middle School)
5. March event possibilities

              i.      Inspiration Farm, Gardens for Foodbank

1. Analysis of Groups

               i.      Archive didn’t work yet

               ii.      Create a drop down list on top tabs

               iii.      Juliet will discuss at next web group meeting

1. Food Security meeting is posted
2. Juliet will send out volunteer list
3. EDAPt- Travis will be primary bucket carrier

2)      April Event-

1. City Repair element, update from Paul

          i.      3-4 people willing to volunteer

          ii.      Mark Lakeman from Portland city repair is putting together an outreach group, May timeframe

1. Economics of Happiness showing

          i.      Globalization vs Localization

          ii.      We want to show it

         iii.      Laura will set-up a doodle for a review showing for TWOG+

1. Food Security summit

3)      TWOG Structure

1. Working group leaders targeted for TWOG membership- could drain energy from workgroups
2. TWOG application process- open call with application. Warren to email out new application. Review for next meeting.
3. Should we formalize our terms? 1yr minimum, 1 ½ years, 2 years
4. Revise TWOG duties and send out- Warren

4)      Seed Swap/Green Group Politics

1. In the future we could focus on helping not just partnering

5)      BLOG needs

1. Warren to blog and send out schedule for next weeks.
2. The blogger should check the collaboration with TWOG discussion and respond.

6)      Google Docs Update

1. Travis will do an update at next meeting

7)      Policy for new group formation

1. Juliet will go thru notes on new group formation and extract policy notes
2. Will take a few weeks

8)      Transportation Group

1. Laura will send out transportation group doodle. Volunteered to be leader for now.

[Laura J Sellens]

TWOG meeting 2/23/11

Present:  Angela, Tom, Warren, Juliet, Laura

 

1.  Ning site member issues: It was decided to make personal contact with members when it is felt that content on the ning site could be overly disturbing, repetitive or when content could appear to be endorsed by the entire organization, if in reality it is not.

 

2.  May Event: Warren compiled all the ideas for the May event to date. It was decided that a series of events would happen over one weekend based on the City Repair offer to come to Bellingham. Tentative dates:  May 13-15.  We will continue to discuss a Re-Skilling Faire as a possible fall event.  Discussed focus on personal/family scale, examples: Transition for renters/owners, Transition study group.  Laura will contact David MacLeod and see about starting a study group in March.

 

3.  Juliet will prepare an agenda, contact a speaker, and arrange for a facility for the next Assembly, to be held March 27th.

Laura will organize the next Hub meeting for April.

 

4.  New twogs and applicants were discussed. Warren and Laura will contact potential twogs and invite them to future twog meetings.  Tom will talk to Travis about dividing EDAP/TWOG responsibilities and what he wants to do.

 

5.  Juliet will firm up the details of the next TW Work Party to be held at Inspiration Farm on March 20th from 1 until 5 pm.  Skills:  animal husbandry/goats, possibly others

 

6.  Discussed Living Democracy group and their plans for Democracy School.

 

7.  Angela will complete proposal guidelines for requesting TW funds.

 

8.  Laura will reimburse David Waugh $23 for TW.org website hosting.

 

9.  Discussed Resilience Nursery Project idea. Laura will make a real proposal next time.

 

10.  Juliet is working on a mock-up of workgroups page on ning site.  She will complete and present at March web team meeting.

 

11.  A monthly or bi-monthly twog work day was also discussed, and will be re-visited at the next meeting.