Welcome to the Summer of Solutions 2009 Planning Team

[Timothy DenHerder-Thomas]

Greetings everyone!

Note on who'd receiving this: If you are in the To or CC categories, you filled out the Summer of Solutions Local Planning Team application - everything in this email applies to you - those CC'd are those I already know are involved in coordinating roles for 2009. If you are Bcc'd, you're not yet a part of the planning team but we've either talked about setting up a local program, you're working to identify a local team, or you're involved in another summer 2009 program that we might want to connect somehow: we're not going to follow-up with you on the steps detailed in this email unless you notify us ASAP that you want in, but we thought we should provide an update on our process.

For all of you who have signed up as local planners; welcome to the Summer of Solutions 2009!

The attached document acts as an initial orientation to where we're at and where we're going. It discusses our organizing structure, our current scope of support, and proposed next steps. Some of the simple next steps (like setting up a conference call for us to touch base and plan next steps) are coming up later this week and this document also goes a long was towards clarifying what will happen over the next couple of months, so please read it as soon as you can! Some sneak peaks from inside:

• With those of us on this email who have applied, we are now at our initial goal of 10 programs, and more possibilities are emerging! Find out where they are and who is leading them (if you filled out an application, you can also view everyone who did so at:       http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=poLR65krVwZNtHLskPP1Kfg&hl=en)
• We're dividing organizing into Local Planning Teams (running stuff locally) and a Coordination Team doing stuff centrally. Local Planning team work between now and November is limited to minor, but time-sensitive activities like providing feedback on visioning, messaging, and budgeting and starting to get ideas/ details in line for more intensive roll-out in November. We're intentionally trying to make local roles minor during the election cycle since folks are busy, but we do need participation in feedback in order to make central organizing work.
• The Coordination Team is open if you want to participate! Most of you mentioned some interest in central organizing roles, but we need to get a clear sense of who wants to translate that into helping organize during what we're calling Phase 2 (now through early November). Please reply ASAP if you want to be part of coordination in this period!

So please check out the attached Orientation document, reply if you want to be part of the Phase 2 Coordination Team, and get ready for the next steps coming up over the next week or so.

Once again, welcome, everyone! This is getting exciting!

Timothy Den Herder-Thomas
Summer of Solutions 2009

PS. If anyone else in Summer of Solutions 2008 wants in on the planning process at this stage, we need to know ASAP.