In attendance: Jeff, Barbara, Bob, Kara, Struan, Marsha
Welcome and Introductions
Reports
Minutes (Marsha)
- March meeting: That meeting was canceled because of bad weather.
- April meeting: Marsha will post detailed minutes when/if she finds her notes from that meeting.
- The April meeting was attended by Prachi Rao (AIUSA Field Organizer), two first-time attendees, Jeff, Barbara, Bob, Gina, Struan, and Marsha.
- We wrote a total of 42 cards for Amnesty International's annual Nowruz action.
- Some discussion about Struan possibly starting a new AI group in Swarthmore
- Created a Facebook event (rather than a regular post) for this meeting and paid to boost it
- The event reached over 1000 people but yielded only 6 interactions
- Next time Barbara will boost the regular post (and not the event)
There will be an AIUSA membership call on Wednesday, 23 May, at 8 p.m.
- Topic: refugee resettlement
- To participate, dial 646.568.7788 and use the code 748869667
- Last year we got a booth for free (normally $50 for nonprofits)
- Marsha will ask event organizer if we can have a free booth again this year
- For this to work, lots of Group 342 members will need to sign up for a shift at the booth
- Ideas: "pay to argue" (Jeff), book sale (Struan)
- Find them here
- Bob has gone through them, says they are brief and very informative
New Swarthmore AI group
- Was discussed briefly with Prachi at the April meeting
- Since then, e-mail discussion with Jeff and Struan, followed by conference call with Struan, Prachi, and several AIUSA staffers
- Seems to be a lot of pressure from AIUSA for Struan to spearhead new group in Swarthmore, but that is something he cannot take on right now
- Peaceful Protester in Pre-trial Detention (Russian Federation): UA 90/18
- Yet Another Environmental Defender Killed (Colombia): UA 88/18
- Human Rights Activist Unable to Leave Country (Equatorial Guinea): UA 89/18
- Poet Under Illegal House Arrest "Prepared to Die" (China): UA 270/17
- AIUSA Annual Local Group Census 2018
- Questions about contact info, activities, accomplishments, goals
- Marsha to ask members (via Google Group) who wants their name and e-mail address included in census
- Discussion about meeting structure
- How to get first-time visitors to engage and return?
- Struan's suggestion (based on experiences with past AI groups): Do letter writing first, then have some activity (usually planning for an upcoming event)
- Marsha's suggestion (for meetings and tabling): We should come up with a concise, clear description of Amnesty International that we can all use whenever people ask "Who are you and what do you do?"
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