Oregon Direct Action

Wow.  Tonight’s call with Adrien, Hannah, and Shane was absolutely stellar.  Right at the beginning, Adrien volunteered to keep track of the amount of time we spent on each section of the agenda.  By having those specific start times on our Google Doc, everyone could keep track of how long they should be talking.  Going through the agenda quickly at the very beginning to determine how much time to spend on each section also proved tremendously useful.

While she was able to connect with us, Hannah spoke a bit about the funding opportunity we’ve discovered with the Clinton Global Initiative.  Students can receive up to $10,000 USD and universities up to $250,000.  The program funds projects in four areas (energy & climate change, global health, human rights & peace, and poverty alleviation), three of which we think we can meet.  Our angle of attack will be to reconvene on Tuesday evening to discuss how we pitch our goals and split up the questions.  The entire proposal will be due on the 28th of July.

Because of work schedules all over the place, we most likely won’t be able to get together a beach retreat until the beginning of August.  Shane will check his calendar to see if this can happen over the 10th and 11th.

Also notable on tonight’s agenda is our continuing push to outreach to the community, and ideally “crowdsource” various components of project(s).  Adrien now has a number of fresh leads to contact over the next week, more specifically professors who either teach or are interested in our topic areas: sustainability, development, poverty, and innovation.  We look forward to drawing from as many minds as we can as this project progresses.  Shane, on the other hand, has started sketching out a community portal he and I will continue to work on in the next few weeks.  Our goal with this little project is to create a way for people to participate with the project to the degree that they want to, one take on Chris Anderson’s “Long Tail.”

Shane also talked briefly about the research he has begun coordinating on the ODA Wiki (I didn’t link directly to the research page because the URI might change).  It sounds like he has made an excellent start on the series of questions Jason of Green Empowerment proposed last week.  I know we all look forward to a blog post on what Shane has come across shortly (hint hint, nudge nudge. Wink).

Lastly, we’re still looking to fill two positions, Tech and Communications, as we try to round out the launch team.  For the Tech position, we’re looking for a super motivated and knowledgeable chap (or lass) to lead web/tech systems management as we progress onwards to being an Open Source Organization.  This person would ideally: know Wordpress inside and out, have familiarity with other CMSes, have skill with digital media, and be an all-around geeky person.  For Communications, we’re looking for a PR-esque student interested in social and environmental justice who wants to help put a smiley face on ODA.  If any friends or colleagues fit this description, please do send them our way!

Agenda/Minutes - ODA - 20 July 2008 [Google Docs]

 

 ODA - 20 July 2008: Clinton Global Initiative, summer retreat, and what we've researched [61:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (9)