On 26 September 2017, at our first official ICC Monthly Meeting we discussed the future direction of ICC. The discussion centered on two main topics: first, whether ICC should be a Movement or an Organization, and second, the need for more people to lead and participate in initiatives. After defining a political movement as a social group that operates together to obtain a political goal, on a local, regional, national, or international scope and a political organization as an organization that involves itself in the political process, including political parties, non-governmental organizations, advocacy groups and special interest groups. After spirited discussion, a vote was held on the Movement v Organization question, and the vote (with leadership abstaining) was 19 Organization, 1 Movement, 1 abstention, and 1 not voting.
Next order of business we discussed was the need for volunteers for ICC. Without volunteers, ICC cannot be effective. It takes a dedicated team to keep all the moving parts in place. One person volunteered to undertake millennial outreach but we we still have open positions related to events and outreach that were brought up that evening. We had four offers to write for the website blog.
To move forward into 2018, we need people who will step up and help with the heavy lifting. The seven members of the Leadership Team each put in between 10 and 20 hours a week, in addition to their everyday lives (jobs, families, etc.) and we need HELP to do what needs to be done. Our mission is an important one: Indivisible Chester County makes our voices known to our elected representatives, supports candidates with progressive positions, and takes part in non-violent exercise of our First Amendment rights. We need to elect candidates and judges that represent our values on the national, state and local levels of government. We need to change gerrymandering so our votes will actually count and so our representatives can truly represent us.
Our current plans are to focus on getting out the vote for 7 November by encouraging voter plans, canvassing, trying to recruit block captains, promoting our candidate forums (October 10 and November 28) and working to defeat the constitutional amendment that will be on the ballot.
Speaking of candidates, we asked candidates running in Chester County to submit what they would like the voters to know about them and have put their submissions on the ICC website’s 2017 Election Info page and it is public (no sign in/log in necessary). There is also a Voter Guide that has important information on absentee voting and what to do at your polling place if there is a problem. There are also Chester County sample ballots.
The leadership team’s hands are full for now. Our daily action items will continue to be posted on FB, our website and twitter. We wish we could organize events to help the American citizens of Puerto Rico and to address other political issues that we should be aware of, but we just don’t have the manpower Here is a charity site that is directly helping Puerto Ricans in need.
We would like ICC to be a vibrant group, which can hold events and rallies, publish a bi-weekly newsletter, keep a calendar of ICC and other local events, coordinate with other groups, and be the go-to place for political information in Chester County. We Need Volunteers! So please, check out the list below and if you can help, let us know! Otherwise, we will need to reevaluate how ICC functions in 2018. There are 7 of us and 2600 of you. We sincerely appreciate that so many of you have given your time and talents throughout this year. No one has to do everything if everyone does something. Please consider whether you can do just a bit more.
Volunteer Positions
- GOTV – Anyone who can volunteer to canvass or call to help get out the vote for Progressive or Democrat Candidates. Let us know and we will set you in the right directions. Also check our events for opportunities. Our country needs you!
- Editor – Someone who is willing to approve blogs by our members. They need to be fact checked, well written, current and aligned with ICC missions and objectives. &bloggers – writers who are willing to write on current topics that apply to our goals and missions.
- Events Person(s) – Person(s) to do rallies, protest, sit ins, etc (external events) and Person(s) to do members meetings and events (internal events)
- Instagram and Snapchat accounts – Person(s) who can generate graphics and photos and to be in charge of posting on Instagram and Snapchat.
- WordPress – someone familiar with WP programming including themes, plugins, and CSS. We use BuddyPress as well and would like to steer some of our discussions out of FB and onto the Website.
If you are interested or have something you would like to suggest please contact us at members@indivisiblechesco.org