PCD Meeting Notes - February 26, 2019
Attendees: Kiara, Kendall, Oracle, Nicole, Diedre, Kellie, Deb, Jimmie, Kari, Sheila, Jason, Judy, Mellen, John, Martin, Lindy, Jenna
Meeting Start: In gathering by Kari
Roles:
1. How We Roll
Proposal put together by John, Judy, Martin
Discussion:
John: Living document, any time there are changes we can take up as a group and edit it
Deb: I love it
Sheila: Missing item to introduce that we’ll experiment or practice 1 item and see if it’s working well
Lindy: Doesn’t think we need “pls arrive early each time” , Sounds like someone from how we roll will start meeting and call for volunteers.
Attendees: Kiara, Kendall, Oracle, Nicole, Diedre, Kellie, Deb, Jimmie, Kari, Sheila, Jason, Judy, Mellen, John, Martin, Lindy, Jenna
Roles:
- Vibe Keeper: Kiara
- Time Keeper: Jason
- Facilitator: Lindy
- How we roll
- Capacity planning
- Racial equity
- In gathering for starting meetings
- PCD survey proposal
- Spring retreat
- Evaluation
Refer to "Topics tabled for another time" @ the bottom
1. How We Roll
Proposal put together by John, Judy, Martin
Educational moment on how PCD Steering Committee is incorporating elements of consensus process. Will include a suggested process for the future
Discussion:
John: Living document, any time there are changes we can take up as a group and edit it
Deb: I love it
Sheila: Missing item to introduce that we’ll experiment or practice 1 item and see if it’s working well
Lindy: Doesn’t think we need “pls arrive early each time” , Sounds like someone from how we roll will start meeting and call for volunteers.
Kendall: Can we give feedback directly to how we roll group.
Jason: 4a, add the part about where we update what we’re going to try
Martin: Call for volunteers: wanted to add another volunteer item
Jason: 4a, add the part about where we update what we’re going to try
Martin: Call for volunteers: wanted to add another volunteer item
Conclusion:
This is a living document that will be read each time before meeting starts and will try to be concise. We will provide feedback after meeting and before. To be continued..
2. Capacity Planning
Proposal for "How to start thinking about capacity" put together as an output from January meeting by Oracle, Jenna, Kendall, Jason, & Deirdre
Discussion:
Jason: We talked about capacity, had agreement that there was potential problem.
Conversation is really about Container , how it feels the vibe, in addition to sheer numbers
Data proves attendee count is growing.
Ideas for options to resolve:
- Move to diff place
- Another dance
- Actually determine what is the max capacity
Idea to help determine: Get10-15 regulars at PCD dance, feel out what your max number would be. Personal, not necessarily for organization
Deb: Didn’t feel that this proposal was a good way to help us discuss capacity
Jason: Feels that this help guide it, needs a subcommittee of course and is a very long detailed alignment
Nicole: Wondering if we are going to require more effort for greeter to count.
Jason: Yes
John: Confirming that the data will be collected and stored
Jason: Wanted to propose that PCD establish reliable mechanism for counting attendance (to be handled by Wiz, capacity committee will add numbers)
Kari: Idea: Since greeter leaves 15 min before 11, they sometimes count closing circle and add 20 people after.
John: Divide money by total and divide by $8 to get number of people
Lindy: First meeting this has been brought up, following formal consensus process, we can flesh out concerns
Kiara: Capacity is important and she’s grateful for work we’re doing
Jason: Observation notebook will be valuable Could we do a proposal to setup that notebook and tap people to do it?
Deb: Wanted to do a workshop type activity to discuss capacity
Martin: There is some concern about capacity and there could be a way for individuals to provide feedback on it.
Oracle/Lindy: Confirming this subgroup was helping to explain how to talk and think about capacity
Proposal:
Continue to collect tally data to the best of our ability during Thursday and Sunday dance, (Wiz to help facilitate, how to be determined)
Approved!
Proposal:
Can we encourage Wiz to help and get feedback from 20 people each dance?
Approved!
Nicole: Would like to have specific meeting to only discuss capacity.
Jason: If we do nothing, problem may resolve itself with less people attending who think it's too crowded.
Conclusion:
Approved proposals:
- Wiz to help get feedback on how capacity is feeling
- Continue to collect and tally data about attendees. This isn't and will never be perfect, that's fine. Wiz to help.
Continued discussion is required .. potentially start new committee to focus on this topic!
3. Racial Equity
Kellie sent in an initial draft proposal/document with status and update provided:
Discussion:
Kellie gave background and update:
What happened? Feedback for DJ on forum
Feedback was on a song played which seemed like a slave song and that felt inappropriate to the individual submitting the feedback
Brought to DJs and this led to many emails with misunderstanding
Which led to a need to talk about race
There was a meeting and subcommittee called to talk about how we might move racial equity forward in community. This was cleared with Board of Directors before meeting occurred.
Main update: There’s a call among the DJs and the board to talk about how we move and find a proposal to bring to PCD to bring more racial equity to the community as a whole
Deb: Wanted to be transparent and something came up in DJ setting and will address there as well as Meraki. There is need to tune in race and situations where people feel marginalized
If Safety is in our mission statement, we need to help that process
Deb: what is racial equity?
Deb / Kellie : Not sure, going to workshops soon!
Deb: read from proposal
The focus group proposes that we continue to meet as a separate committee. Our objective is to submit a concrete and detailed proposal to bring training or facilitation to PCD leadership and the larger community as a way to become more actively aware of any existing or potential racial biases within the organization. To become effective in creating a shared language of social constructs around race, and sustaining a safe and inclusive space for all community members who in the dominant culture may feel marginalized ( by race ,gender, sexual orientation etc.)
Diedre: There are many ways to do this, but they are taking some workshops and are motivated externally and by PCD as well
John: Concern about getting approval from Meraki that this can be a committee to move forward, instead of something rogue
Martin: Was confused how this was spurred, who was this group? Did something happen on dance floor. Would like to take the work racial out, this is about human equity. Can come up in any lyrics. What about “we want equity”
Kiara: Is this a correct summary? I the way we do things, since something came up, as a community we are trying to figure out how to handle these situations in the future.
Deb: It went further than song lyrics, we are very white and not aware of how white we are. We encourage play and community and in our whiteness we can’t recognize how a person of color could have challenge in our space. Recognizes safety for all people is important. We are looking at race specifically.
Kellie: At this moment we don’t feel comfortable taking any words out until we have more information ourselves.
Deb, Diedre, and Kellie are going to a workshop.
Jason: Recognizes workshop is going to help frame language and familiarization with entering into a conversion. Workshop is being done it out of self interest but it’s going to really help us too. No cost to PCD, this is an initial investigation to prep for next time. Are we an equitable organization? Are there blindspots? We don’t yet know!
Sheila: Feels similar to consent committee. Recalls there was an old document on how we offer educational materials . Wondering how we’re providing education as it relates to our PCD mission. Important to think about.
Mellen: This is a national movement in companies and professions. There wasn’t a calling and term of “white privilege” nationally now. Aha moment - not about dance or people, it’s about country and racial issues and inclusion issues. Years ago we didn’t have this push from people of color and white community. There is where we are in reality not just here but all across country.
Diedre: We are committed among DJ group and here for transparency to suggest some things here, they want to do it as DJs.
Kiara: If it’s going to be a committee, should be open to whoever wants to join.
Martin: Has lots of confidence, sees this will be brought to coherence. Is comfortable not being part of committee.
Kellie: Wants to keep in DJs and board, closed group since it originated there and feels closed
Lindy: agrees with Kiara that all subcommittees need to be open to anyone that wants to join. Are you trying to solve specific issue/incident? Or trying to make a PCD thing?
Nicole: DJs can explore this on their own and then come back to Meraki later and open up to others
Deb: want to wait until clarity to open up
Does everyone feel and have clarity on this topic?
Yes!
Conclusion:
Everyone @ meeting has clarity. DJs will continue to have a conversation and share updates
4. In Gathering to Start Meetings
Martin's proposal
Discussion:
Martin: It seems that we’ve already decided we want an in gathering moment at beginning
This allows us to be more present and has been beneficial in the past
Jason: Would this be part of how we roll?
Martin: Yes, it would be one of the items of standard
Jason: Since we’re morphing and adding , make sure the timing is brief since we do eat up a lot of time.
Martin: We’d want time limit for in gathering.
(Over calling it invocation so we don’t have any religious undertones/qualms )
John: Opening or in gathering?
Lindy: Feels we need more time to flesh out than 5-10 minutes remaining for our meeting.
Deb: Feels confused because in gathering can take 1-2 minutes.
Martin: Would like to propose, new position, ingather/opening coordinator who is similar to greeter, responsible for scheduling before next meeting, right at beginning someone is going to do it.
Time limit of 3 minutes, shouldn’t be too short because we should have a moment together
Enjoyed exercise a few meetings ago
Want to have it as a thing of quality & consistency
Oracle: Doesn’t feel proposal is well formed and would like to flesh out further
Kari: Considers in gathering and closing very sacred, here with love and intention to come here for purpose and feels space needs to be cleared for that.
Sheila: Doesn’t agree we need to assign beforehand
John: Feels there is more structure than we need around this topic
Conclusion:
Martin will talk with Oracle to put together proposal, Kari will also be part of committee . If anyone else wants to join, they’ll meet to discuss. Can be put onto agenda for next meeting.
5. PCD Survey Proposal
Deb's proposal
Time didn't permit us to discuss this very much.
Recommend folks re-read proposal before next meeting and come prepared to discuss
Conclusion:
Tabled for the future, we can discuss next time
6. Spring Retreat
From Kari
Update:
The PCD Retreat Committee met on Jan 27th to discuss details and to welcome three new members: Amanda Cote, Tasha Salvo and Nicole Gallagher. Yay! We feel we are well-grounded in decision-making and will be in contact with Ferry Beach regarding some questions and concerns. The registration form will be sent out soon, so there will be announcements at closing circles.
Proposal and Conclusion:
Money needed for extra space was approved. Committee is authorized to reserve space
7. Evaluation
Nicole: Big team of timing If everyone had read proposals there would have been fewer questions. Felt there were questions that didn’t need to happen, feels there could be time saved with reading them in advance . Felt a bit stressed because we could have move things faster
Jason: A bit frustrated by inefficiency. Some big things got a bit squished. Allot the time and stick to it / respect it or we lose a lot.
Kiara: Feeling amazed at people in room and how much work we’re doing in the creation of this experience together. Worked hard to try and not get frustrated about time. Compassion for process and growing. Hope that will be more streamlined
Deb: Felt frustration off and on. Feels we don’t understand what a proposal is and when it’s appropriate vs not . Feels like this is taking a larger presence than how we run dance. Appreciates this process and learning even at times challenging!
Martin: Gratified there is clarity around what we are doing and juxtaposed with equity meeting. It was incorrect assumption that things can happen without Meraki. Need to stay mindful when and why a committee is formed.
Mellen: Grateful for Lindy running a more complex meeting. Thinks some of process is taking up a lot of time. Not convinced we need moving forward.
Oracle: Don’t forget how much better or work is going. Scope is an issue, what is Meraki vs. micromanagemnt. We need to get better at proposals.
Kendall: Almost 2 month since last meeting, either meeting more urgency than next time or one geared to ward process and one towards business.
Lindy: feels we need to give us a little break, a lot to take on for process
John: Feels time constraints are really hurting flow i.e time for evaluation.
Judy: Active more recently in the last year, but went early 5 years ago. Thinks it’s good to keep in mind we spent a lot of time talking about capacity, it’s grown a lot. The kinds of issues we have physically come into play with group of people that are here. Maybe meetings have to change. Maybe we can’t just let anyone bring things into agenda. There may be prioritizing needed. Recognize we are changing. Oracle has been so dedicated to bring something in to us to help this changing.
Kari: Proud we started on time, felt enormous amount of respect and care in this room for the evening.
Topics tabled for another time
- Wiz report out about process for insuring committee has presence at Sunday dance (Lindy)
- Wiz report on welcoming newcomers: Wiz member
- Poster Board project (Jason)
- Share out of legal update (Mellen)
- Lighting output from WIZ and DJ committee (follow-up from Kiara's proposal)
