[Communications] A & O team and purpose on the CCGA Website

Fri Oct 15 11:46:38 CDT 2021

Hello all,

Please allow me to put a big pause on this. I think we've hit a seminal
moment of change.   We have likely made this A & O team greater than CCGA
itself, and making CCGA better is good. The paragraph to introduce A & O
reads better than The CCGA Organization "Who We Are" which is supposed to
say what CCGA is all about on our website. In looking at the website (which
needs serious work to bring CCGA into the 21st century), I think we have
hit upon how we want to revise our "Who We Are" which currently doesn't say
what we should be saying and DOING in CCGA.  With incorporation of much of
the first paragraph from May & Amy's paragraphs to our website's
explanation of who we are, we will have all of CCGA teams and potentially
subscribers working together without making the A & O more ambitious than
all of CCGA. Then the A & O team will be more in parallel with our other
teams

My take away if you'll allow me for a moment, is that May's paragraph is
best suited to a committee.  I personally don't have a problem with
repeating community. Some things bear repeating and the flow isn't bad.
You may still come up with another term. -- maybe just say our gardens

Advocacy and Outreach is centered on community with the focus and belief
that community gardens are important community building vehicles.  What we
see is often shaped by perspective and narrowed by custom and convention.
Advocacy and Outreach is committed to the vision that everyone has a role
to play and can contribute to the community as a whole, and we support and
encourage the participation of every individual.  When a problem or issue
is identified, outreach is the natural next step;  through advocacy, we
have the potential to engage in other areas as well

The bullet points are same as edited by Amy

·          develop and secure resources to create healthier, greener
communities

·          increase access to safe water, healthy soil, and compost for
gardeners

·          provide a platform to share and address issues that arise in
community gardens

·          build awareness about and address city-wide policy issues that
affect community gardens

·          work to increase equity and lessen division in community
gardening

Here is what "Who We Are" can look like

Our city is home to hundreds of community gardens, and the Chicago
Community Gardeners Association has created a network of those gardeners
that is truly gardener-designed and gardener-led, to ensure the
sustainability and vibrancy of Chicago gardens for years to come. CCGA is
composed of working groups that meet regularly *to support community
gardens as a vehicle for building sustainable communities and enriching the
natural ecosystem in Chicago and beyond. We are committed to creating a
space where each voice and perspective is appreciated and heard. We support
and encourage the participation of every individual.* *While Chicago's
neighborhood gardens are our immediate focus, we have the potential to
engage with other areas through our teams of Communication, Education,
Resources and Distribution, and Advocacy and Outreach because many issues
affect our larger shared environment. *CCGA helps to find solutions to
common challenges such as leadership transitions, access to safe water and
land, and community organizing.

I still think we need a Development Committee

Lorraine

On Fri, Oct 15, 2021 at 10:48 AM Julie Samuels <jsamuels1966 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Yes, the next step is to list everything that can be done or provided to
> accomplish the "actions".  This is what we should list and then provide to
> our "leaders" to see if they agree and/or will want to add the items they
> think should be there. For example if we agree that we want and need to *collaborate
> *- how will we do that & why,  to who or what and when
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 6:41 PM Julie Samuels <jsamuels1966 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Thank you Mamie, I agree with your suggestions...because the "ing"
>> implies "action" and that's what we want all of us and everyone else to
>> take on.
>>
>> Julie
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 3:14 PM Mamie Gray via Communications <
>> communications at chicagocommunitygardens.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello all, Four suggestions for *consideration*: 1) each bullet point
>>> verb ending consistently in “ing;” 2) instead of getting resources, sharing
>>> resources; 3) providing the platform to providing platforms; and 4) being a
>>> cohesive voice. Mamie
>>>
>>> On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 12:23 PM Lorraine Kells via Communications <
>>> communications at chicagocommunitygardens.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hello,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Amy & I met with Julie to draft a new paragraph to put up on the
>>>> website.  I took notes and here is a rough draft of what we came up with.
>>>> Please look at the website "Current Projects" section to make this
>>>> paragraph and the  draft work together as well as what we have in the
>>>> Newsletter.  Let's give this a once over and then send it to the entire
>>>> committee for review or send yo all now?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Advocacy and Outreach is centered on community with a focus on
>>>> community gardens.  What we see is often shaped by perspective, custom and
>>>> convention.  Advocacy and Outreach is committed to a way of seeing that
>>>> every individual has a part to play. When a problem or issue is identified,
>>>> outreach is the next step. Our Chicago neighborhoods are our immediate
>>>> focus, but we have the possibility of reaching out to all growing spaces
>>>> through advocacy.
>>>>
>>>> The things we are talking about are:
>>>>
>>>> ·         getting resources to create healthier, greener communities
>>>>
>>>> ·         increase access to water, healthy soil, and compost for
>>>> gardeners
>>>>
>>>> ·         providing the platform for issues that arise in community
>>>> gardening
>>>>
>>>> ·         increase awareness and address city wide policy issues that
>>>> affect community gardens
>>>>
>>>> ·         bringing a cohesive voice to lessen division and widen
>>>> inequity in community gardening
>>>>
>>>> ·         establish beneficial connections between people and/or
>>>> organizations
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thanks
>>>>
>>>> Lorraine
>>>> --
>>>> Communications mailing list
>>>> Communications at chicagocommunitygardens.org
>>>>
>>>> http://chicagocommunitygardens.org/mailman/listinfo/communications_chicagocommunitygardens.org
>>>>
>>> --
>>> Communications mailing list
>>> Communications at chicagocommunitygardens.org
>>>
>>> http://chicagocommunitygardens.org/mailman/listinfo/communications_chicagocommunitygardens.org
>>>
>>
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