2026-01-22 Steering Committee Meeting

2026-01-22 Steering Committee Meeting

Meeting Minutes

Attendance
Campaign coordinator: @chima
Membership coordinator: @Adri_Martinez
Education coordinator: @Englishpete08
Treasurer: @Turcotte
Secretary: @ckposadas

General Meeting

Date: 2026-02-06T02:00:00Z

Recording Check

  • Ensure the meeting is being recorded.

Housekeeping

A. Reset WCU Accounts

As we begin the new year, @chima suggested that we clear non-members from WCU’s various organizing apps such as Solidarity Tech, WhatsApp, and our forum on Discourse. The rest of steering committee agreed and held a unanimous vote.

First Motion: @chima
Seconded: @Adri_Martinez

Membership dues

@chima reported that WCU’s membership dues will be tracked via Stripe. The configuration of the tables on Stripe is mainly complete.

Still working on ping notifications so that members are notified when they are about to pay their dues for the month.

Bylaw Review Meeting

In this meeting, the steering committee decided to schedule our yearly bylaw review meeting for the 2nd week of February.

B. Steering committee meetings

Steering committee members unanimously voted to have steering committee meet twice a month instead of just once. Specifically, these two meetings would be held on the following:

  1. The Monday following WCU’s monthly general meeting (first Thursday of the month)
  2. The 3rd Thursday of the month

First Motion: @chima
Seconded: @ckposadas

Increasing Membership

Petitions

The steering committee members explored various means of expanding WCU’s membership list. The most discussed topic, as presented by @chima, was about creating petitions through Solidarity Tech and posting them to Instagram. Even though these petitions may not seem to achieve long-term engagement, it provides the organization an opportunity to communicate to petition signers via email and thus away from social media platforms.

A clarifying question from @ckposadas addressed such petitions would be approved. Instead of delegating the task to specific person, any member would be able to create a petition via a guide we create and propose it as a Side Quest at a general meeting.

@Adri_Martinez provided a specific example where petitions were created to encourage people to contact their senators to denounce them for supporting increased funding for ICE.

Miscellaneous suggestions

@Adri_Martinez suggested that WCU host events (unlike canvassing and legal observing) that wouldn’t be daunting for new members to engage with. This might include:

  1. Monthly coffee get-togethers
  2. Tabling
  3. Reading groups
  4. Game night

The main thing that @chima expressed concerned with was keeping the dates consistent across months so people come to expect the event and plan for attending if they so wish.

@Turcotte suggested that WCU create business cards so that people could have a point of contact to join the organization and continue to work with us on any projects they need assistance with.

Tenant Union

According to @chima, the database for our tenant union campaign is complete. Our next steps moving forward are:

  1. Updating canvassing sheet
  2. Create landing page for campaign (including contact info and prior victories)

For the sake of creating engaging content, @chima also suggested breaking up our TU handbook and posting it online.

Know Your Rights

Community Check-in Booth (CCIB)

No major updates brought up during meeting. @chima did express a desire to reach out to Tristan and Maceo to see how things have been going.

Solidarity Committee

@chima and @Adri_Martinez attended a discussion group with the Solidarity Committee to examine the discourse about Venezuela after its president, Nicholas Maduro, was captured by the United States. They requested that WCU set up another time for a follow up discussion.

Calendar

February 2026

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5 (General) 6 (TU Outreach) 7
8 9 (First Steering) 10 11 12 (Kitchen Table Community Round Up) 13 14 (Coffee)
15 16 17 18 19 (Second Steering) 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 (Game Night) 28
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 (SOC101 Reading Group) 5 (General Meeting) 6 7
8 (Tabling at Weberstown Farmers Market) 9 (Steering Meeting) 10 11 12 (Kitchen Table) 13 14 (Coffee)
15 16 17 18 19 (Steering Meeting) 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 (Game Night) 28
29 30 31

Voting Record

A. Reseting WCU accounts B. Two steering committee meetings
@chima Yes Yes
@ckposadas Yes Yes
@turcotte Yes Yes
@Adri_Martinez Yes Yes
@englishpete08 Yes Yes
1 Like

2026 Targets

  • 50 dues paying members by 2026-12-31
  • 25 members with regular activity
  • 10 tenant associations formed
    • Q1-2: 5 TA of some kind
    • Q3-4; 4 TA of some kind; 1 sustainable building
  • Monthly regular social activities
  • Voices launched in Q2

Organizing Assumptions

  • Public political culture prioritizes spectacle; we should focus on measurable outcomes
  • Online social media should be limited to distribution; engagement and recruitment should be direct or one-on-one
  • Growth will come from people with material stakes organizing through fights building trust

Theory of Change (Loop)

  1. Identify a concrete problem in housing, work, or a broader problem that we can address from our geographic area
  2. Build relationships and identify leaders (if any)
  3. Win tangible improvements
  4. Convert participants into dues-paying members
  5. Develop members into organizers with skills and responsibilities
  6. Repeat across buildings and worksites, targeting greater concentrations of capital over time

Strategic Bets for 2026

  • Tenant Union: core power-building engine for 2026 with proactive targeting and increased broad outreach
  • Workplace organizing: start developing a path for this to become our second pillar as capacity grows
  • KYR: Follow through with priorities from last quarter. Connect to tenant and labor organizing.
  • Infrastructure: Clean up membership and data; more SOPs and training; increased outreach and outside communication.

KYR / Immigration Defense Focus Campaign

Objective: Delivery practical KYR education that builds trust, converts participants into members, volunteers, and (when relevant) tenant/workplace organizers. Connect it to our labor and tenant organizing so

Deliverables (February-March)

  • “If Your Loved One Is Detained” local guide
  • Add Family Preparedness resources to website
  • Promote resources online / flyers
  • Work with Solidarity Committee + others to host first monthly teach-in/workshop

General Rules

  • No rapid-response system that needs 24/7 staffing
  • No physical interference with ICE operations (no blocking vehicles, no touching agents, no escalation tactics)

Connecting with other work

  • Immigration fear is high-salience; people who are not usually activated by tenant or labor issues may still be activated around ICE
  • Use KYR as the first ask and then offer up tenant/workplace support from that relationship
  • Avoid just doing omni-cause leftism: “We help you with X. We also do Y. Interested?” Instead, offer resources when people are actually directly impacted.

Workshop format (draft)

  • Core modules stay consistent: door, workplace, and public encounters.
  • Add-on depending on audience: organizing your building, organizing with your coworkers, or organizing a neighborhood
  • Maybe separate?: Teach others - train community members to host/translate/relay same information

Outreach ideas

  • Flyers at bus stops, laundromats, corner stores, clinics, small business stacks
  • Tabling: swap meets/flea markets, farmers markets, school pickup/dropoff, community festivals
  • Institutional: churches/faith institutions (Catholic Spanish mass, evangelical/Pentecostal, gurdwaras, mosques); schools (PTA, ESL/adult ed)
  • Community spaces: soccer leagues
  • Relational: “bring a neighbor” asks; WhatsApp-forwardable content
  • Employer-side KYR: offer small employers “protect your workers and your business” workplace preparedness trainings
  • Media: Local radio; Spanish-language and Punjabi-language community radio interviews/segments

Tracking

  • workshops, attendance, teach-others count, volunteer shifts → tenant/workplace lead conversions

Socials & Outreach

Objective: Build belonging that survives between fights and creates low-barrier entry into organizing.

Potential Program

  • Game night (monthly, February start)
  • Movie night (monthly, March start)
  • Accessible hikes (three in summer)

Conversion to Membership

  • Track who visits; after second visit, frame membership as a way to sustain a dues-funded organization
  • Be up front about how these events are for everyone’s enjoyment but also to keep everyone aware of WCU activity and opportunities for labor/tenant organizing

Norms

  • Ground conversation in material conditions, not party identity
  • Red lines focus on harm

Tracking

  • new vs returning attendance, second-visit conversion rate, referrals, transitions to field work, renewal

Political Education

Objective: Develop members who can explain issues in material terms, code-switch, and teach others.

Monthly Forums

  • Monthly political forums (“kitchen table” format): short presentation, moderated discussion, clear takeaways. Don’t need to be actionable; goal is growth.

Cadre track

  • Capital Vol. 1 reading group
  • Socialism 101 reading group