Winds of Change

We went to another Not In Our Valley meeting last night and got to know the group a little better. This was easy because there were only 13 or so people there. This was a source of frustration for those of us who showed up. There were about 50 people at the first meeting, a new group of 50 at the second meeting and now this. Much of our discussion was around how to recruit AND KEEP people for our cause. This, of course, led to questions of what our cause is exactly and who we are trying to target.

Despite the one gentleman who seemed to be taking a very adversarial position, we pretty much agreed that we need to focus on gathering information (from the groups that are already working against hate crimes - law enforcement, civil leaders, educators, businesses) and find a way to share that information with the public. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, we want to help the programs that are already in place be more effective and communicative.

At the end of the night, I ended up on the committee that will start brainstorming the activities and programs that will take place. I am thinking that we need a combination of informative speakers (police chief, school administrators, etc) and fun events that get people interacting with their neighbors. We'll see how that goes. There is also a committee that is going to create our mission statement and possibly develop a new name. Since we are being proactive about avoiding hate crimes rather than reactive to ones that have already happened, we would like to have a name with more positive overtones.

I am really excited about where this group is going, and I am thrilled to be a part of the inception. It didn't bother me much that there were only a few people there. It allowed for a very relaxed, informal setting in which to figure out exactly where we are trying to go. Once we have the oars in place, we will start recruiting the rowers. :)