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Contacts in your locale:
Use EINO (contact webmaster). We will spend the time to investigate the
best contacts in your state, providing background information about other groups
and expertise, talents, interests of individuals (as much as possible). We
will also add you to our list of activists for your state (secure off-line list,
not used for any other purpose). We will also contact allied organizations
working on UHC issues in your state, checking for additional contacts and
advising you about limitations and constraints in working with those groups with
respect to your main interest in state non-incremental UHC work.
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Informal meetings:
To the extent possible meet informally (perhaps following telephone and email
conversations) with other interested individuals resulting from developed
contacts. Advertise the informal "coffee", or "lunch
meeting" with a few strategically placed posters, or notice in a community
or college newspaper, to try and get even a few more people to meeting. At
first meeting, primarily meet the individuals find out about their interests,
talents and background, especially, but not exclusively, as relevant to working
towards UHC. Get a rough idea from each person how committed they are to
working towards this issue. Ask them to assume a friendly efficient local
organization begins working, how many hours per month do they think they could
put in total (reading, meetings, related conversations and working on an initial
public event).
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Planning an initial event:
Planning an initial event is one of the best ways to get started locally.
It can bring the new organization attention and recognition, bring in additional
activists and supporters, inform the public in your immediate area, let local
media know that your organization (or organizing group) exists and offer the
possibility to raise initial funds. It will give your group a concrete
goal - a first task to complete together. It is likely that a great
speaker and slide show are already available to travel to your area. There
may be no or only minor expense involved. Project EINO will help locate a
speaker and slide show. We will try and match your group's interest and
strategy as much as possible.
If your young organization needs assistance in planning the event, in assessing how
many different tasks need to be completed for good publicity and to execute the event we will
help you with that too. The event can be scaled according to the available resources
and volunteer time available during the earliest stage of group development.
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Develop your group mission and
strategy:
We strongly suggest discussing specific ideas of group mission and strategy with
the core group of working volunteers early on. Even while you are
operating on a very informal basis it can save you great difficulty to write
down a few central shared beliefs about where you want to see your state go in
the next several years and how you think you might be able to help influence it
in that direction. It is a certainty that soon there will be a diversity
of opinion about how to proceed and present yourself to the public.
Diversity in position can be a great advantage in appealing to a large number of
people in your state, but it can also spell doom if your young organization gets
torn between conflicting irreconcilable positions.
There are a lot of
suggestions at www.EverybodyInNobodyOut.org
about principles and positions - but there is much more still if you will visit
some of the state organizations we link to from the homepage map. See what
your group finds most appealing from the various organizations. If
possible make plans to visit with someone organizing in a neighboring or nearby
state (several of you).
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Regular meetings,
website:
Regular meetings (even if only monthly) are an important step towards becoming a
more formalized group. At least people will know you plan to be around
into the future and they begin to get the sense that they can get involved or
come to a meeting and get involved. Once you have a place to meet
(community space, or even a coffee shop at an off-hour) you can also qualify for
free website at www.EverybodyInNobodyOut.org
. Your meeting schedule will be announced, along with any work and
statements of group purpose. The 100% free website generic design can be
viewed HERE and will have the address www.EverybodyInNobodyOut.org/State
. Alternatively, your group can create your own unique address, register
that and still have your website designed and hosted 100% free at EINO (cost of
registration currently $15/year). We will help you get your name
registered if you want.
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Other suggestions:
There are many other ways to get started, largely depending on your local
circumstances and resources. Your first contacts might themselves have
organizing experience and some excellent ideas for getting started. You
might find some good suggestions at some of the state sites (see events they are
putting on), or when you arrange to visit some of the folks organizing in a
neighboring state. At Project EINO we would like to help you in whatever
way we can, but we are glad if you come up with your own original course of
action.
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