Steering Committee

Previous Steering Committee Meetings:

Steering Committe Meeting 9/21/2017

Hello NGC Dems Steering Committee et al,

We had a very productive meeting last Thursday, and were able to create a plan and an initial calendar which we will adjust and refine in the future weeks and months.

We identified things we’d like the NGC Dems to do over the next months, time-frames of when we would do them, and some ideas about how we could do them.

Attached are the minutes, notes from the flip charts we used to capture our ideas, the proposed calendar, and a few more details about our first two general meetings.

To execute the plan we’re going to need a lot of people to step up and help – share the work. Please think about how you will be able to help as you review our notes.

Here is an excerpt from the Flip Chart Notes that the summarizes decisions we made before creating the plan:

General Meetings will continue to be held late on Sunday afternoons and include childcare and food
General Meetings will be held roughly every other month
We will plan to “Do Visibility” once a month (3rd week?)
We will create a plan for writing LTEs every month
We will hold events that include speakers on topics/issues of concern
We will hold events that include films/videos
We will refresh, reconstitute, and revitalize our Issue Groups
We will significantly increase the number of people who help prepare for general meetings and special events

I hope that many of you will attend the October 1st general meeting where we will share our plans more broadly, and kick-off the Visibility and LTE (Letters to the Editor) activities.

I will also be announcing a change to our Issue initiative. Because the Issue Groups are not really functioning as groups, we will try a new format without “groups” per se. Instead we will ask people to identify the Issues of interest to them so that they can be advised of action opportunities and informative articles related to those issues. That way we can forward the right info to the people who want it.

Thank you.

Susan Moore, Chair, NGCD

There are 4 attachments that can be viewed below, here are the coresponding downloadable copies:

Attachment 1:

NORTHERN GRAFTON COUNTY DEMOCRATS STEERING COMMITTEE

PLANNING MEETING

September 21, 2017

This meeting was held at Woodsville Savings Bank, Franconia at 3:30 pm. Present were: Deb Bassett, Denys Draper, Doug Evelyn, Sue Ford, Beth Harwood, Susan Moore, Don Perlee, Betsey and Chuck Phillips, Katherine Terrie, and Claire Von Karls.

In the absence of the Treasurer there was no Treasurer’s Report and the meeting concentrated on planning issues.

Susan Moore set the goal of blocking out a calendar of events for the next twelve months, with specific dates where possible. The three attached documents resulted from the meeting:

Flip Chart Notes on What We Want to Do and When
Proposed Calendar for October 2017 through September 2018
Details of October – December 2017 Meeting Plans.

The meeting adjourned at 4:50.

Respectfully submitted by Douglas Evelyn, Secretary.

Attachment 2:

What do we want to do?

Our list of ideas –

Large Group Issue Mtgs
- Keep these on Sundays, late afternoon, with pizza/food
- Potluck with speaker once or twice a year?
JFK Dinner
Videos – Chuck has ideas
Bedrock Dems Fundraiser
Old Home Day (including marching in the parade)
Voting Rights Strategy Session – once voter reg info available
Handout about how to register – for students, others
Collaborate with PAD to encourage and assist college students to register and vote
Haverhill Fair
Lupine Festival?
Autumn Festival in Sugar Hill
Jason Kander – Let America Vote -Event speaker on Voter Suppression
Activities to engage Left Leaning Undeclared voters
Speakers/Videos/Testifying/Attending Hearings on big issues in the NH Leg (new bills)
- Transgender
- Age of Marriage
- Presidential/VP candidate Tax Returns
- various voter suppression bills
Messaging re: Democratic Stances
- FB Messaging
- Website
  - Tim Josephson (Grafton County person Sue F knows) has expertise that he will share
LTEs – Schedule of who will write letters
- strategy session and “teaming” to write them
- include concerns about availability of local reps to discuss NH Leg issues
Visibility Program
Prepare reading lists on key topics and add this to the website

*******

When do we want to do these things?

Some general decisions:

General Meetings will continue to be held late on Sunday afternoons and include childcare and food
General Meetings will be held roughly every other month
We will plan to “Do Visibility” once a month (3rd week?)
We will create a plan for writing LTEs every month
We will hold events that include speakers on topics/issues of concern
We will hold events that include films/videos
We will refresh, reconstitute, and revitalize our Issue Groups
We will significantly increase the number of people who help prepare for general meetings and special events

Proposed Calendar

(a WIP that will be adjusted and refined throughout the year)

See separate document Proposed Calendar Oct 2017 to Sep 2018

(Proposed calendar does not include the Sexy Activities, etc.)

*****

Sexy Events – Some of these are not in the calendar yet, but could be added into the Calendar in the Spring of 2018.

Movie Nights

Some Suggestions –

The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

Al Gore’s 2nd movie – An Inconvenient Sequel

NP Activites

Granite State Power Link might sponsor a presentation

We couldn’t sponsor, but could help set it up

Visibility

Hold signs about what Dems support

Inclusive, welcoming signs

Betsey saw one with 12 good messages. She hasn’t found them separately online, but she thinks we could make some.

LTEs

At the first general meeting

Establish groups/individuals [who will commit] to write letters [and commit to when they will write]

Topics – based on what’s happening [in the month they signed up for]

Can get bullet points for a topic from the NHDP Communications people

Mailings

To voters – (Need to spend more time on this. I’ve learned that PAD is creating some postcards.)

Selected Bibliography – Books and Political Articles

Create on Website

Beth offered to do some research on this.

Attachment 3:

NGCD Proposed Calendar

(a WIP that will be adjusted and refined throughout the year)

2017

October

10/1/2017 NGCD General Meeting – Franconia Community Church

Share info about Calendar

Recruit people to help with future meetings and events

Update Issue Group lists to include all those interested in each topic

Recruit people to write Letters to the Editor

Explain the general Visibility Plan

NGCD Website – Introduce and demonstrate

Describe Voter Outreach Activities

Wk of 10/15/2017 – Visibility,
10/24/2017 Plymouth Area Democrats (PAD)/Northern Grafton County Democrats (NGCD) Summit Meeting – Plymouth Regional Senior Center
10/28/2017 North Country Convention – Speakers and Workshops for Democrats from Coos, Carroll, and Northern Grafton counties – Town & Country Inn & Resort, Gorham
10/2 to 10/31 – Letters to the Editor

November

Wk of 11/12/2017 – Visibility
11/1 to 11/30 – Letters to the Editor

December

12/3/2017 – NGCD General Meeting – place tbd

Review the bills that are being introduced into the NH Leg in 2018 and plan what action we will take related to these.

Proposed Speaker – Rep Steve Shurtleff, NH House Minority Leader

2018

January

Wk of 1/14/2018 – Visibility
1/28/2018 – NGCD General Meeting – place tbd

Topics – Voter Registration, Running for Office

1/2 to 1/31 – Letters to the Editor

February

Wk of 2/19/2018 – Visibility
2/1 to 2/28 – Letters to the Editor

March

Wk of 3/14/2018 – Visibility
3/18/2018 – NGCD General Meeting – place, topics tbd

3/1 to 3/31 – Letters to the Editor

April

Wk of 4/15/2018 – Visibility
4/1 to 4/30 – Letters to the Editor

May

Wk of 5/13/2018 – Visibility
5/1 to 5/28 – Letters to the Editor

June

NHDP Convention?

Wk of 6/17/2018 – Visibility
6/11/2018 – NGCD General Meeting – place, tbd

Candidate Information

Voter Issues – Voter Registration

6/1 to 6/30 – Letters to the Editor
6/15 to 7/1 – NGCD Bedrock Democrats’ Fundraiser

July

7/1/2018 Old Home Day – Franconia – Tent and Parade
Wk of 7/15/2018 – Visibility
7/1 to 7/31 – Letters to the Editor
7/25 – 7/29 Haverhill Fair

August

Wk of 8/20/2018 – Visibility
8/1 to 8/31 – Letters to the Editor

September

9/11/2018 – NH State Primary
9/23/2017 – NGCD Hosts JFK Dinner
Wk of 9/16/2018 – Visibility
9/1 to 9/30 – Letters to the Editor
9/1 to 9/30 – GOTV activities – voter registration – mailings?

Attachment 4:

2017

October

10/1/2017 – NGCD General Meeting – Franconia Community Church

Share info about Calendar

Recruit people to help with future meetings, activities and events

We need people to step up – Betsey P

Update/Redefine “Issue Groups” and update topics

Redefine as individuals who will receive action notices and info articles

Ask people to sign up for current issues or other topics

Recruit people to write Letters to the editor

Share information about how to do that

Get monthly commitments for letter writing

Need coordinator(s), identify the issue(s) for each month, etc.

Explain the general Visibility Plan

Stand at major intersections in our towns with signs to show what we stand for

Meet with people willing to participate in Visibility to decide where and when to do this

Discuss the signs and sign content

Need coordinator(s) for this activity

NGCD Website

Introduce and demonstrate – Deb B

What’s on it

How to use it

Voter Outreach Activities

Remind attendees that the goal of NGCD is to elect Democrats

To do this every voter who shares our values needs to vote in 2018

We need to talk to – get our message to –

Younger Democrats (50 and under)

Democrats who didn’t vote in 2014

Potential Democrats – high school seniors, college students

Undeclared voters who share our values

Each NGC town’s Democratic Town Committee has voter information for that town.

We need you to help make contact with these voters, share information about who we are, what we do, what we stand for, and invite them to participate in our events and activities.

We need people to run for office. It’s time to start thinking about that.

December

12/3/2017 NGCD General Meeting – place tbd

Review the bills that are being introduced into the NH Leg in 2018 and plan what action we will take related to these.

Review how to use the General Court website and the NHDP website to get information about the bills

Proposed Speaker – Rep Steve Shurtleff, NH House Minority Leader