Green Issues Page

Green Issues Working Group

Just do the work!

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Group Management

Co-coordinators		open
Co-coordinators	Alternates

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Goals/Statement of Purpose

Statement of Purpose

Green Issues Working Group is charged by the state party with the task of making sure the Green Party is aware of and, where possible, initiating action on various issues.

In addition, this group attempts to serve as a sort of "think tank" to examine, and inform upon, varying issues based on how they relate to the Ten Key Values of the Party, and to give Greens (and everyone else) a resource for further study and learning on the issues that face all of us

Goals

The primary goal is to establish, on an issue-by-issue basis, various subgroups (a.k.a. "projects") that will perform and publish research, publish links, write blogs, recommend readings, form "watchdog" or action groups, and other issue-specific activities.

For those issues on which the GPCA has a current position, assure that the party position is fully articulated, current, and well published
For those issues on which GPCA has no current position, or has an ambiguous position, articulate Green thinking on the issue, reconcile this thinking with the Platform and the Ten Key Values, sponsor resolutions, and generally articulate and publish suggested party position(s)
Interface with the General Assenbly, Platform Committee, and all the other committees and working groups to gain better insight into party positions
Sponsor and facilitate active issue-based interaction with Counties, Locals, and the rank-and-file of the party. Establish and maintain, within each of the 58 counties, some person or persons whose responsibility will be to communicate localized issues to GIWG.
Sponsor, facilitate, and encourage active debate of issues
Supply committees, candidates, and rank-and-file with quotes and quoteable material on various issues
Sponsor and facilitate, both for the party and the public-at-large, active services and/or "watchdog" groups that monitor activity on issues - especially within State and Local government
Build coalitions with other organizations and otherwise facilitate Green Party involvement with, especially as the political arm of, broader issue-based "movements"

Green Issues Working Group Structure and Organization

Owing to the fluid nature of working group membership and because there are so many possible issues of significance, GIWG is organized into a very simple system: a small group of persons called the Administrative Core) and a series of projects, each revolving around some specific issue and completely managed by a Project Activator in whatever manner that person or persons choose (see Projects).

Administrative Core

The central administrative core ("CAC") consists of:

Co-Coordinators. To co-ordinate the overall workings of the group and handle adminstrative details such as workplans, budgeting, calling meetings, cheerleading, distributing resources, assisting with blocked projects, and reporting progress (twice yearly) to the General Assembly
Liaisons. Specifically designated person(s) whose role is to provide an interface (and facilitate communications) between GIWG and the other state-level working groups and committees.
Future: County/locals liaison(s): To co-ordinate and facilitate communication between the state-level GIWG and the various counties/locals on Green Issues projects

Note that "people wearing many hats" is expected but not a requirement (or even encouraged).

Projects

The projects section of GIWG is complex and is fully described in the next section(s)

Green Issues Projects

The major aspect of GIWG's organization is the concept of "Project". This allows co-operative efforts in the distributed environment that is our modern Green Party, and to allow counties, locals, and the rank-and-file a better opportunity to "come up with an idea and run with it".

Each GIWG project has (details below):

A Project Goal.
A Project Activator
A Project Conduit Page

Note: The "spirit" of a GIWG project is get some goal accomplished - not to do paperwork, spend hours updating web pages, or create progress reports. Generally speaking, GIWG assumes that a Project Activator has already been working on something long before it becomes a Project in the GIWG sense of the term. GIWG does not "manage" projects or set deadlines: a project moves along as the Project Activator has time or as something is accomplished. GIWG simply asks that the activator answer the occasional email message (i.e. If someone asks you about your efforts, respond to them). In return GIWG publicizes the effort by maintaining the project conduit page so others might see/read and maybe get involved or lend a hand. It really is that simple.

Step-By-Step: Definining A GIWG Project

Note: The Issues page has a very simple "How to get involved" section. This section is a somewhat more in-depth examination of the process.

Go through the following procedure to define a GIWG project

Work out the statement of the project goal. Often, a couple of sentences will suffice. The goal as stated should be actionable (a thing to do) and reasonably attainable (the "to do" can actually be done). The main idea is to "keep the train on the rails" as work progresses.
Decide who the activator (or activators) will be for the project. Make sure to re-read the definition and spirit of the project activator's role. The manner in which GIWG defines the PA role is specifically intended to avoid paperwork and bureaucracy and allow the PA to concentrate on activism. However, that said, there is at least some minor responsibility assumed for the PA named in the Project Conduit page. A completely inactive PA means a completely inactive project.
Write up a paragraph or two stating how the goal will be accomplished and/or any other information. This should be concise but still try to communicate the "how we are going to get to where we want to be". This is optional but it is the first step in project planning and management (after the statement of goal)
Some though should go into "managing information" and efforts on the project. If there is a group of people involved already, then use this step to note who and what each person will be responsible for. Keep in mind the spirit of this step: it means no more than taking a moment to think how people will help, how they will know what they need to know, how progress might be measured, and so forth. This aspect should be kept as simple as is possible - the idea is to complete the goal and not to complete paperwork. Remember the GIWG motto is Just do the work!.
As part of the above step, it is a good idea to locate any recommended readings, web pages, etc that give background information that might be relevant. It is important to remember that generally speaking, when a project is getting off the ground, the PA is the "expert" on the project; others need to have an easy way to catch up.
Create an email message containing the goal, the activator information, the descriptive paragraphs, and anything else that belongs in the (static) Project Conduit Page and send it to the GIWG co-coordinators). The response will generally be to create the conduit page and respond to that email.
Once the project has an entry in the Issues List, take a look at the project page to make sure it says what it should say. Contact the with any changes
At that point, the project is completely in the hands of the PA and anyone who is helping. The GIWG co-co will (periodically) ask about progress and possible budget requests.

Projects/Issues On The State Web Site

The primary medium for displaying and maintaining GIWG projects is the Party Projects page of the state website

This is the Project List, and its collection of individual Project Conduit Pages

Note that GIWG periodically "cleans" the project list to remove inactive or unattended projects.

Concepts & Definitions

Project Activator ("PA")

The PA is assumed, by GIWG, to be one of the principles involved in any given project. This person (or persons), in addition to doing whatever they are doing to further the projects goals, should be willing to respond to requests for informaton about the project. The PA (or PA's) should try and maintain some sense of the status of the project so that new to the work might be better able to get involved. The PA may also request GIWG resources as needed.

Project Conduit Pages

A Project Conduit Page (a.k.a. Project Page a.k.a. Issue Page) page for each project functions simply as a contact point for the project.

At minimum, this page will

State the project goal(s)
Contain the name/contact info for the Project Activator(s)
A section with any web links, notes, or other information

Other than the two requirements about, anything else is optional and, put bluntly, there are no rules.

The purpose of the conduit page (and a core rationale for the GIWG project concept) is simply to allow others to find information and to get involved. With that in mind, other suggested content for a project page is:

A web site link to the Project Working Page for the project.
Recommended introductory readings and/or other "static^*" background information about the project
Details and (possibly) contact information, for additional people or organizations involved in the project

^*The project conduit page is not intended to function as the (dynamic) workspace for the project - doing so would require state party resources and go against the idea of distributed control (a.k.a. grassroots) involvement

Project Goal

The Project Goal is a clear statement of what the project is trying to accomplish. The purpose is to maintain focus as work progresses.

A project goal can be simple or multi-faceted. There are no real rules about the goal of a project - only that a project must have one

Project List

The Project List page is a collection of links to GIWG project conduit pages and tp other working groups' project pages (other working groups may or may not follow the GIWG form).

The project list is maintained by GIWG for the benefit of all "project-oriented" working groups (primarily giwg, grow, and erwg)

The project list is periodically "cleaned" to remove inactive projects - generally these are projects with no Activator or whose activity level has been nil for a year or more

Project "Working Page"

This term refers to internet resources set up, and maintained, by either the project activator or other persons working on the project.

The working page differs from the Project Conduit Page in that this page (site, or other internet resource) is assumed to be under the control of the project personnel whereas the (static) conduit pages are maintained by GIWG.

The reason for this arrangement is to allow project personnel to keep content up to date without the need to work through the state party website apparatus. Grassroots, grassroots, grassroots!

Recommendations for possible content:

In-depth examination(s) of the Project Goal
Planning information (tasks, next steps, etc) to achieve the goal
List of involved persons or organizations - perhaps with notes
Some manner of project diary is handy - updates can show progess, dreams, plans, etc.
A web log - very useful for discussion. There are a number of blogging sites. Green Commons, Green Change, Daily Kos, Blogspot, etc.
An issue-specific email list (perhaps a Yahoo! group?)
Social media information (Twitter account, Facebook, etc)

Listserv Details

The GIWG listserv is here. This list is used to communicate project (management) information to/from the administrative core, the various project activators, and any other interested parties.

Note that the list is not intended for discussion of particular issues - that type of discussion should take place on other channels (see Project Working Page above). Interested parties should always contact a project activator to find project-specific blogs, discussion forums, meetings or other activities.

Workplans

The workplans and budgets for GIWG, filed with Finance Committee every January, can be found under the following links (password is required):

2010
2009

Last updated: 10/04/2011 (BH)