Cheers from the Twin Cities chapter! It’s been 6 months since our initial group met with Chris in June, and three months since we kicked off our first public meeting in September. We’re all looking forward to a new year!
As we move forward, it’s good to take stock of where we’ve been. In the beginning, there were just six of us. We began meeting in cafés, inviting friends, and having conversations: not only about SFTP’s history, but what we wanted for our future. This is a process that hasn’t stopped. As our group grew, and continued to lurch toward action, we finally convened ourselves for a four-hour retreat where we laid out our mission statement for the TC Chapter and planned our big public kickoff–where over 30 people attended!
Since then, we’ve been working to develop organizational norms, processes, and governance, all while bringing in more input from our growing membership. Some informal working groups were formed, though coordination has proven a little tricky thus far. As many people who have gotten involved thus far have multiple affiliations and are involved with other like-minded actions, it’s been an open matter of discussion among the organizers about how to best strike a balance between convening (our own events), participating (as an organization in others’ events), and more simply connecting (our members to different organizations and actions that align with interests). As with our many questions before, we’ll undoubtedly converge as a group towards a norm over time.
Here’s a list of some of our highlights thus far:
- LOTS of workplace lunches, where we share in each other’s joys and struggles
- Semi-regular book club meetings around the SFTP book chapters
- Tabling at Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice summit organized by the People’s Climate movement
- Leading Discussion at the Twin Cities Social Justice Education Fair (a branch of the IWW)
- Drafting and Circulating a letter in support of Dr. Blasey-Ford signed by over 450 scientists and allies
- Allying with efforts to build an environmental justice movement at the University of Minnesota
- Collaborating with the Kitty Anderson Youth Science Center (a justice-focused youth science group) at the Science Museum of Minnesota
- Hosting Sheila and Frank Rosenthal from Indiana, long time SftP members, during a Minnesota trip
- Supporting efforts by the Agroecology and Rural Economics Research Corp
Things we’re looking forward to:
- Involvement in resisting Line 3 construction with other activist groups and water protectors
- Continuing to build solidarity and connections with intersectional organizers in the Twin Cities
- Developing our norms and structure around governance
- Setting up our website!
If you know anyone in the Twin Cities or Greater Minnesota, tell them to like our page on Facebook, sign up on our mailing list and share it with anyone they may know! We look forward to getting more involved nationally and getting to know many more of you all very soon. Until then, we leave you…