The name of this organization is Cleveland Jewish Voice for Peace. Hereby referred to as “JVP Cleveland”, ”Cleveland JVP”, or “the pod”.
To advance the goals of JVP National by acting strategically and with local partners to contribute to the Palestinian struggle for freedom.
JVP Cleveland is a chartered sub-organization of JVP National (the “National Organization”), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. This document represents the Pod’s collective agreements and is NOT legally binding. We are subject to the governance of JVP National, its legally binding policies and its staff. Should a discrepancy or disagreement arise between stipulations outlined in this document or other policies of the Pod and rules issued by the National Organization, we will defer to the national rules and bylaws.
Any dues-paying member of Jewish Voice for Peace within the jurisdiction determined by the National Organization (roughly, Northeast Ohio) may be considered a member of JVP Cleveland if they wish to participate in our local organizing work.
The pod or its executive board may waive the dues requirement on a case-by-case basis.
All members shall have full voting privileges and may hold any office.
General member meetings will be held every other month. The Steering Committee must also schedule general member meetings, at most once per calendar month, if at least four members petition the Steering Committee to do so.
Meetings may be held online, in person, or a combination. Agendas must always be made available to members in advance of the meeting, and members will have the opportunity to amend the agenda before the meeting begins.
Decisions made at general member meetings take precedence over decisions made by individual pod members. At a general member meeting, the general membership may vote to approve, review or reject the actions of its officers or members, or direct its officers or members to take specific action, regardless of the number of people who attend.
The general member meeting is the highest decision making body. Decisions may also be made by the individual spokes or by the steering committee.
Meetings will be held according to the agenda, moderated by a meeting chair to be assigned by the steering committee. All participants are expected to behave in a respectful and orderly manner. The rules of order may be decided at the discretion of the meeting chair, and will be presented to the pod as part of the agenda. The meeting chair will make a good faith effort to ensure that all voices are heard as part of the decision making process while bringing the group to consensus in a timely manner.
A motion passes at a general member meeting if 50% + 1 of members in attendance affirmatively vote for it. There should be a consistent method of voting, to be decided on by general membership after trying multiple options.
All decision-making processes should be transparent and auditable by any member:
Cleveland JVP will elect a five-member executive board (also called “Steering Committee”). Any member of this board is also allowed to serve as a Spoke Leader if so designated according to the Spoke’s process for choosing a leader.
The executive board is empowered to lead the pod between regular meetings, subject to any direction received from the pod. They may appoint agents or special positions to carry out their responsibilities. They may authorize expenditures of up to 20% of pod funds without authorization from a general member meeting.
The executive board will serve a term of one year, or until successors are elected. Vacancies can be filled by a special election, which must be called with a month’s notice. Elections may be held using voting software.
Any member of the executive board can be removed from office at a general membership meeting. This motion must be added to the meeting agenda before the meeting begins, and voted on by 50% + 1 of membership present. Any member of the executive board may resign in writing. Any vacancy would trigger a special election as defined above.
Work in JVP can be driven by committees, called “spokes”. A spoke can be created by any member with approval from the Membership or Executive Board. The Executive Board should encourage member initiative and lean towards acceptance of new spokes. A committee chairperson or “spoke leader” can be designated by the spoke at any spoke meeting. The spoke should communicate its needs and decisions in a way that is visible to all members.
A spoke has the power to take action required to fulfill its purpose, limited by the Executive Board’s discretion to share access to official platforms and member data.
A spoke can be dissolved by the initiative of the spoke, a 2/3rds vote of the Executive Board, or a decision of the regular meeting.
In order to amend the bylaws, the amendment must be submitted in writing and discussed at a general member meeting. It must then be voted on at the following general member meeting. The time between the two meetings may be used for additional discussion and commentary. If a bylaw amendment has been discussed at a meeting, the Steering Committee must schedule another general member meeting at least one month in the future to hold a vote on the amendment.