PLANNING A LOCAL CHAPTER MEETING

Each leader will have their own way of gathering their chapter.

• Some may establish a steering committee and invite others in their city to help them. Many hands make light work, in person and in the cloud!
• Consider using video conferencing for your steering group to save time. You could use SKYPE – free for ten people. (Google: “Get Skype” and follow the instructions.)
• Establish the date, time and place.
• Please post your meetings on the Just Elders Google Calendar. You do this from Google on your own computer or smart phone. This puts your meeting on our website calendar. You have received separate emails about this.  Create a google account if you do not have one already. Ask google to help you do what you do not know.
• Send an invitation to the people in your Just Elders Group (email to small groups to avoid being tagged as spam). If a local Just Elder Chapter becomes larger it could have its own MailChimp. Google “Free MailChimp”
• Follow the invitation with a phone call.
• Please remember to document your meeting with pictures and video using your smart phone or other cameras.
• Remember to post pictures of our meeting on your Facebook page.
• If you use Twitter, a picture can be Tweeted. You can include a picture on your blog report.
• Appoint a chapter member to manage Facebook and Twitter posts and blogs for your chapter.
• Document what was done to gather the group, the group meeting process, and the outcome and next steps.
• Report your documentation with a blog post. It will be visible to members only.There is now a blog category for “Chapter Meetings.”  Sharing helps us learn as we go.
• Remember to post the dates for your Chapter’s next step on the Just Elders Calendar.

This is the first step. Other steps will follow.. Anything you do to help builds our potential.

Please help us create a national brand for Just Elders by following these conventions:

• “Just Elders – Chicago (your city name).”
• If multiple chapters are being organized, please add a second geographic location, i.e. “Just Elders -Chicago/Pilsen” “Just Elders – Chicago/Southside,” etc.
• If are organizing a cloud chapter and is non-geographical, please identify it by the function, i.e. “Just Elders – Mass Incarceration,” “Just Elders – Organizing Library.”

Careful branding will make us powerful. We want all aspects of our work to be found when someone searches for “Just Elders” on google or another search engine.

Thoughts about how to run this meeting

Why you were invited to this gathering. 

• The convener(s) provide history of Just Elders.
• provide some context; Millions are getting organized, i.e. Resistance Movement/ Women’s march. We want to be among them.
• Give your personal testimony – Why did you say, “I’m in!”  (5 minutes – no more)

Exploration

• What are you thinking and feeling about our communities, our state and our country?
• What has you frustrated and anxious to do something?
• “speak your mind” (30 to 40-minute open discussion.)

Vision and Mission

We believe that we have an opportunity to create a movement of dynamic and wise elders can bring values and experience necessary to break through the greed and divisiveness impacting our country and communities.  Meetings like this help us clarify what such a movement could become.

This is our proposed “vision” and “statement of mission”. We will model how to live and act for justice. (15 min)

How does this movement become a reality? 

What we have learned from our retreat is that a Just Elders’ gathering should be enjoyable.  Fifty-plus is a time to enjoy. We hope that when Just Elders meet there is laughter in the room. Local Chapters can have a little food and drink. It should be an exciting time of catching up and sharing what we are doing and what we hope to do.

You become part of it in the following ways:

Because we are committed to organizing with social media, please prepare by

• Creating a list of friends, family and co-conspirators who you believe may be interested in Just Elders.
• Like the just Elders Facebook page. If you don’t have a Facebook profile, please get one.
• Follow Just Elders on Twitter. If you don’t have a Twitter account please get one.

Become a Just Elder by paying your $60.00 annual membership dues at https://justelders.org/iump-subscription-plan/

Membership has privileges. Our members can:

• Vote as we shape Just Elders for the future
• Join the conversation by commenting on posts of fellow Elders
• Express your own views by using your blogging privileges at www.justelders.org
• and begin to blog on our website.

Participate in our Listening Campaign

When you have time record the concerns for your family, city, state, and nation that surfaced your Just Elders Chapter meeting at our ongoing listening campaign. We believe that our vision of what we can be will be deepened and clarified by what we post here.

Participate in the next Local Chapter Events

• We expect that each local chapter will be different and will focus on local issues that concern them.
• Share with all of us what you are engaged in and invite us to join you.
• If you live in a large city consider organizing a similar event yourself in your area and invite 20 of your closest family, friends and co-conspirators

The following will be helpful for such a meeting; copies of the vision and mission statements, registration forms, name tags, wine, munchies, glasses, napkins, large pad of paper, markers, pens and a positive attitude.

If you would like help coordinating these meetings, contact Dennis, Greg or Mary.

If you need help you may find the answer you are looking for at Member Help Page maintained by our media team.

Are you willing to go on this exploratory path with us?  Will you become a member? If we, who are experienced, knowledgeable and justice driven, cannot figure this out, it cannot be done! (15 minutes) We encourage you to meet, share, act together and in a few short months, we will be in deeper relationship with one another, we will have shared some experiences and we will have shaped what we want to do together.