Organizing in Washington, DC

[David]

Hi,

Are there any people in the Washington DC area that want to get
involved? If there are, I was thinking that a good place to start
might be working with this initiative for getting corporate money out
of local DC politics:

http://dcpublictrust.org/wordpress1/

I'm still trying to find out more information about the initiative.

Also, there are a couple of us on the Get Money Out Meetup group:
http://www.meetup.com/United-Republic/Washington-DC/

Does anyone know why Meetup Communities don't show up in typical
Meetup searches? We're really cut off from a large group of potential
collaborators.

Cheers,

-David

[Sheppard]

David,

I noticed the same issue with Meetup. Meetups are categorized by
the type or affiliated organization.

On another note about getting money out of Local DC politics, I was
at the One City Summit on Feb 11th. I would check out the results
from it because the DC residents who attended had indicated an
interest in getting money out of politics. This was only one reason,
but it was still in the conversations. For example, one of the
biggest challenges to become One City, as indicated by the people, was
"Corruption and perceived corruption within city government undermines
public trust".

Good luck

[David]

Sheppard -

Each of us in our own area could start our own meetup group for the
main site, but that would be a bit costly (over $140 to $240 a year,
depending on your plan). I know some organizations will pay the fees,
I wonder if United Republic would be willing to do this?

Good to hear about your positive experience at the One City
conference, I'll definitely keep the group updated about how things go
here.

Cheers,

-David

[Joseph Mornin]

Hi David, and all,

You can create meetups at no charge here:
http://www.meetup.com/United-Republic

Best,
J.

--
Joseph Mornin

Online Director
United Re:public--formerly Democracy Fund
http://www.unitedrepublic.org/

[Melody Ball]

Just created one for our next meeting with this link.  However, when I go to my general account page, and do a search for United Republic in Oklahoma City, nothing comes up.  I notice that the things that DO come up are called "groups", and the United Republic Meetup is called a "community".  Is this why?  What is the difference in status on Meetup for a community vs. a group?  If it won't show up in a search, it's not going to help us get folks in.

I want to be able to put in keywords, like I can in a Meetup group, such as "move to amend", "united republic", "get money out", "rootstrikers", "Citizens United", "constitutional amendment", "free speech for people", etc.  (Hope  you don't mind, but as a grassroots, volunteer organization, we need all the help/resources we can find, and intend to use them all.)  That helps anybody remotely interested in the topic to be able to find us.  I seem to remember that a Meetup group can input up to 15 keywords.

I like the linking to Facebook, although it seems a bit clunky, in that I can only invite one of my friends at a time--but hey, much better than no linking at all!

Thank you so much, United Republic, for providing this resource--now we just gotta get these kinks worked out.  :)

Melody Ball
Oklahoma City

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[Joseph Mornin]

Hi Melody,

Thanks for your sending these questions. Hopefully I can clarify a bit:

(1) We've created a meetup community, which allows us to build a list of
groups around the country that are focused on fighting corruption.
"Groups" are individual, local groups of organizers. Many other
organizations sponsor meetup communities around their issues; you can
read more here: http://www.meetup.com/everywhere/

(2) I'm not sure why our meetups don't appear in the general meetup.com
search results. I'll look into this. For the most part, meetup
organizers arrive via our website or via our partner organizations.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to keep this thread going on the
Google Group if you have any other questions.

Best,
J.

--
Joseph Mornin

Online Director
United Re:public--formerly Democracy Fund
http://www.unitedrepublic.org/

> http://www.meetup.com/United-__Republic

> <http://www.meetup.com/United-Republic>
>
> Best,
> J.
>
> --
> Joseph Mornin
>
> Online Director
> United Re:public--formerly Democracy Fund
> http://www.unitedrepublic.org/
>
> On 2/25/12 7:28 PM, David wrote:
>
> Sheppard -
>
> Each of us in our own area could start our own meetup group
for the
> main site, but that would be a bit costly (over $140 to $240
a year,
> depending on your plan). I know some organizations will pay the
> fees,
> I wonder if United Republic would be willing to do this?
>
> Good to hear about your positive experience at the One City
> conference, I'll definitely keep the group updated about how
> things go
> here.
>
> Cheers,
>
> -David
>
>
>

> On Feb 22, 11:28 am, Sheppard<alostsheph...@gmail.__com

> <mailto:alostsheph...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> David,
>
> I noticed the same issue with Meetup. Meetups are
> categorized by
> the type or affiliated organization.
>
> On another note about getting money out of Local DC
> politics, I was
> at the One City Summit on Feb 11th. I would check out the
> results
> from it because the DC residents who attended had
indicated an
> interest in getting money out of politics. This was only
> one reason,
> but it was still in the conversations. For example, one
of the
> biggest challenges to become One City, as indicated by the
> people, was
> "Corruption and perceived corruption within city government
> undermines
> public trust".
>
> Good luck
> On Feb 6, 7:12 pm, David<dslow...@gmail.com

> <mailto:dslow...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Hi,
>
>
> Are there any people in the Washington DC area that want
> to get
> involved? If there are, I was thinking that a good place
> to start
> might be working with this initiative for getting
> corporate money out
> of local DC politics:
>
>

> http://dcpublictrust.org/__wordpress1/

> <http://dcpublictrust.org/wordpress1/>
>
>
> I'm still trying to find out more information about the
> initiative.
>
>
> Also, there are a couple of us on the Get Money Out
> Meetup
>

group:http://www.meetup.com/__United-Republic/Washington-DC/

> <http://www.meetup.com/United-Republic/Washington-DC/>
>
>
> Does anyone know why Meetup Communities don't show up in
> typical
> Meetup searches? We're really cut off from a large group
> of potential
> collaborators.
>
>
> Cheers,
>
>
> -David
>
>
>
> --
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> united-republic-volunteers@__googlegroups.com
> <mailto:united-republ...@googlegroups.com>.

> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to

> united-republic-volu...@googlegroups.com
> <mailto:united-republic-volunteers%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>.

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> http://groups.google.com/__group/united-republic-__volunteers?hl=en
> <http://groups.google.com/group/united-republic-volunteers?hl=en>.

>
>
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[David Lowell]

It seems that groups in Meetup Everywhere (Meetup Communities) don't
show up on the main site. You can't search for them, or be recommended
them when you are looking at other groups. They're mainly for
organizations that already have members, but want a place to organize:

http://www.meetup.com/boards/thread/20180862/0#66250852

As Melody pointed out, this cuts us off from a lot of potential
members. If the groups on the main site, we are open to anyone using
Meetup that's sympathetic. They way it is now, we'd have to go out and
find all those individuals ourselves. If Meetup isn't planning on
merging the two sites anytime soon, we should consider starting groups
at the main site.

Cheers,

-David

[Melody Ball]

So:  I think I understand how it works now.  If someone comes to United Republic's website, and they want to see who's doing things w/United Republic in Oklahoma City, the group/community I just set up would show up for them when they look for it, right?  On the link or search page that connects UR's site with Meetup? 

BUT--if they just go to Meetup.com, and look for a group titled United Republic in the keywords search, in the Oklahoma City area (the way most people use Meetups), that community will not show up.  So random people looking on Meetup won't find it; only people looking from UR's site.

Joseph, you didn't address my comments/question about my local group utilizing resources from as many organizations as we can find, to grow and support us locally, as we work to get the money out of politics.  (I know, there's a new group every other day--I just saw Ben and Jerry's "Get the Dough Out"--but as a volunteer group with a VERY big job, we need all the resources we can get!)  Our group started as an affiliate of Move to Amend; we want to foster that relationship, and include everybody who's thinking along the lines of amending the Constitution, regarding the issue of corporate money in politics.  I want to do this openly, with no trivial worries about "turf" or "credit".  I feel we don't have time for such distractions, and I'm asking for the blessing of United Republic as we forge ahead with such issues as figuring out how to best use a resource such as Meetup.  It may be a moot point, if the Meetup communities from the UR site are not able to be searched from the Meetup.com site.  But if the functions of Communities and Groups are ever merged, so that they CAN be found on a search of Meetup.com, then using the 15 keywords Meetup gives a group would be a powerful way to help people of like mind to find their local group.

On a fun note:  our group is starting a book club, called "Actual Citizens United".  We're having our first meeting on 3/6, starting with "Greedy Bastards".  Next is "Republic Lost", then "Corporations Are Not People". 

Melody

[Joseph Mornin]

Hi Melody,

That's correct--and we're working with the Meetup folks to make sure
others on the site can find our groups.

Your point about collaborating with other groups is spot on. That's a
top priority for us--we're interested in winning the fight, not fighting
a turf war with our friends--and we welcome any ideas on how to do it
better.

Best,
J.

--
Joseph Mornin

Online Director
United Re:public--formerly Democracy Fund
http://www.unitedrepublic.org/

> meetup.com <http://meetup.com>

> <mailto:jmo...@unitedrepublic.org

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