Salem Area Community Action Center Meeting

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You are invited to a planning session for the Salem Community Action Center

 

 

When: Wednesday, April 1st 5:30-7:30 pm (Dinner at 5:30)
Where: SEIU Headquarters 1730 Commercial Street SE

 

 

Why?  As a Salem area union member your participation is necessary to help build our union across sectors and to help build support for issues we care about as union and community members.  We will discuss what a CAC is (Community Action Center) and start planning future activities.

 

 

Please RSVP to Norma Martinez-HoSang: [e-mail at the SEIU site] 

 

 

What is a Community Action Center?

Community Action Centers are a place for members from across the Union to get together and work on community projects that:

 

 

  • Promote quality services and quality jobs,
  • Engage members,
  • Grow our union, and
  • Build our political strength.

 

What do Community Action Centers do?

 

 

Union members have thought of hundreds of ideas for great community actions, but limits on time, money, and resources means that CACs must be focused and practical. The CAC pilot project committee in Newport designed the following criteria to help new CACs get started:

 

 

· Build the union.  Community actions should be designed to move forward the strategic plan of the union.  The first question to ask of any proposed idea is "how does this activity build our union?"  How does your action move forward one of our strategic goals?

 

· Well-defined expectations. People should know what they should be able to accomplish during the action, so that they can feel successful.

 

· Measurable success. Before people leave you'll want to be able to say what the group has accomplished, and the positive impact the action has had on the community and building our union.

 

· Accessible. Pick an action that doesn't require a long drive, a huge commitment and is something that the entire family can participate in.

 

· Hands-on. Keeping volunteers engaged will give people a greater feeling of accomplishment and will make your action more fun.

 

· Educational. People enjoy actions more if they gain a new skill or knowledge about an issue they care about.

 

· Manageable. Most people won't commit an entire day to an action. Keeping it around 2 hours will make your action more appealing and will allow people to plan their schedules accordingly.

 

· Easy. The simpler your expectations are of people, the less likely they are to be intimidated. Be sure to let people know if any training is necessary it will be provided as part of the action.