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Sample Work Plan and Timeline for Getting Your City to
Sign onto the Bring the National Guard Home Resolution in one Week
Goals:
- Be part of the tidal wave of support in CA and around the country calling for the National Guard to be brought home
- Get National News Coverage regarding the Project and CodePINK
- Expand organizing capacity against the war and for CodePINK in your city
- Explore and discover who are allies are in city governments and how we can use those alliances
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Make alliances with National Guard Families
Objectives:
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Form a City Core Group of at least 3 people in your city to work on the CNG campaign and active in Code Pink
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Form a City Working Coalition of at least 10 people from various progressive/anti-war organizations to support our National Guard and oppose the war
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Determine where each person on the targeted city councils stands in terms of the war and the issue of bringing our National Guard home.
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Get you city council to pass the resolution to Bring our National Guard Home
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Get 1000 signatures on the petitions to Bring our National Guard Home
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Invite 5 families of National Guard members who support the campaign to join the City Working Coalition's military liaison sub-committee
Plan for City Core Group:
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Identify at least 3 CodePINK women and/or allies & find out if they're interested in working on this campaign
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Choose meeting time & location.
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Email general meeting time & location announcement to CodePINK list for your area. (email mzsam@bayareacodepink.org if you need the email sent out to your area)
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At the meeting, divide up the following tasks:
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Make a list of names and contact info of city council members, by looking in the blue pages of the phonebook or through the internet.
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Brainstorm the potential supporters on the council. Identify the best member to connect: call city council member(s) and attempt to speak to them. If you reach staff only, let them know what you are calling about and feel them out. Get the attached resolution to their office. For more help, use the Sample Rap to talk to your city council person. If they are leaning toward going forward but do not immediately go forward with the resolution, make an appointment to speak with them as soon as possible. See Tips for contacting Politicians for more help.
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Follow-up with your original contact in a few days and call several others or check in with the original person to see what kind of results they have gotten from contacting their colleagues. Request that the resolution be put on the agenda of the NEXT council meeting. Ask what kind of help they need.
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Choose one person to be the liaison to the Regional Working Group
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Decide if you want to go forward & develop a City Working Coalition & who will be responsible for what
Plan for City Working Coalition:
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Make a list of names of people & organizations in your city who might be interested in this campaign
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Pick a date & time for a meeting.
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Call each person and convene a meeting to kick off the campaign. Depending on your city this could be a public meeting of 30-50 people or it could be a meeting of 3-8 people.
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By the end of the meeting, attempt to get at least 2 people signed up for each of the following areas of responsibilities:
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resolution adoption by City Council;
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gathering signatures on petitions
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outreach to the broader community;
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getting your legislators to introduce/support legislation
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building coalitions w/like-minded groups including national guard members, Iraq veterans, military families, united for peace & justice, peace groups, religious/spiritual groups.
Plan for Petitions:
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Identify local events (such as peace events, concerts, city events) and locations (such as grocery stores) for tabling or just standing at the entrance w/petitions on clip boards
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Have all members take petitions around to friends and events
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Organize shifts at events and locations with pairs of people to collect signatures
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Be prepared to both send copies of petitions to CodePINK office, 1248 Solano Ave, Albany 94706, and to present them at city council
Plan for Coalition Building:
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Identify organizations that may support the campaign, including (but not limited to) peace, social justice and veterans organizations, unions, political organizations and community organizations
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Approach these organizations by email, mail or phone asking for endorsement (including financial) and participation in the coalition. See sample endorsement letter. Try to make a personal contact with someone in the organization. Ask to make a presentation at their next meeting about the National Guard Campaign.
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Begin an Endorsers list that will go with any materials. (It can be a separate page in a packet of materials or go on the bottom of flyers in a small font.) This is important both to let folks see the breadth of the campaign and to give recognition to the endorsers.
Plan for allying with National Guard Families:
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Contact other local peace and veterans organizations to make contacts with families.
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Keep abreast of the news for family members who speak out, have gone to Crawford or testified before Congress.
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Contact Gold Star Families for Peace, http://www.gsfp.org, and Iraq Veterans against the War, http://www.ivaw.net, to see if they know anyone in your area.
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Ask local police and fire departments about families that may have members in Iraq through the National Guard
Would you like your CodePink event posted here?
Submit your request to: Jan Cox Golovich at mrsjcg@yahoo.com
CLICK HERE for a list of the Bay Area CodePINK Previous Actions.
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