Direct Democracy Teach-in!

Tales and tools from the �Direct Democracy Pilot cohort

​

Brigade Congress Presentation Instructions

Thank you for speaking at Brigade Congress! Here are a few suggestions to help make your session run smoothly:

1. This session will be held over Zoom Webinar.
2. If this is a panel, please share this template with your fellow panelists.
3. Check your internet connection, sound, microphone and background before the session. You may want to prepare your Zoom background ahead of time.
4. Keep text on slides limited - it can be difficult to read slides with a lot of text when streaming

​

Code for America Code of Conduct

Code for America is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of staff, presenters, and participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for the Code for America Summit. Anyone in violation of these policies may expelled from Code for America network activities, events, and digital forums, at the discretion of the event organizer or forum administrator.

https://www.codeforamerica.org/code-of-conduct/

​

Overview

​

What will we be doing?

​

• What’s the direct democracy pilot? Why is it important?
• The link between direct democratic organizing and fighting burnout
• Tools and materials
• Case study in Sacramento and Fresno!
• Breakouts: Learning some stuff!

One thing I really appreciate about this framework that Sierra has gifted to us, is that it acknowledges right from the outset that it's pretty unlikely your 100% is going to be exactly same as some else's. And it invites you to find the space where you can collaborate with one another, where your interests are the same.

�It takes away some of the shame, or the guilt, or whatever emotions we may have around the areas where we don't necessarily align.

It kind of acknowledges that there are maybe other people, or other relationships, or other spaces, where we can get those things met.

​

Let's find the spaces where we can work together.

I really appreciate [everyone asking for 100% of what they want], because it helps make [situations] a little less personal when we don’t agree on everything. That is natural.

​

Meredith Horowski, February 2022

Kill your idealism.

Keep your ideals.�Soften your shoulders.�Rest. Connect.

Remember: Group cooperation in this world is a miracle.

“Thick participation, �at scale, �means devolving control.”

Ethan Zuckerman

Distributing work requires

building collective power

The Direct Democracy Pilot

What: Cohort participated in 2 meetings a month between March & August 2022.

A monthly public workshop to learn about skills and models needed to organize a directly democratic organization.

And a monthly cohort-only meeting to work on nuts & bolts to introduce in their brigades. And time thinking about what this could look like in the network.

Who: Code for Sacramento/Fresno, Code for Chicago, Open Oakland

The Direct Democracy Pilot

Why: Your back cannot be the permanent foundation of your brigade!

The longer you do it, the less you will want to.

The cohort members are starting to redistribute� the weight their groups are carrying.

The approach also has the potential to make �powerful cultural and political shifts in the network. �(Moving from idealism to explicit ideals will take time)

​

=

The Direct Democracy Pilot

Most volunteers doing thick participation in brigades already �work in largely non-hierarchical ways.��But hierarchical responsibility is built into our roles �like “captain” and “core team”. The very existence of �these make most volunteers not feel responsible for� those parts of brigades.

Collective responsibility saves lives! �(Yes, yours!)

=

The Direct Democracy Pilot

How: As a facilitator, I blend 3 important elements

• Basic organizing practices
• Direct democracy models
• Cooperative Communication skills

=

“Anarchist civics”�

The Direct Democracy Pilot

How: As a facilitator, I blend 3 important elements

• Basic organizing practices
• Direct democracy models
• Cooperative Communication skills

=

“Grassroots civics”�

The Direct Democracy Pilot

“Grassroots civics”

+

This cohort being willing to show up, grapple with these ideas, and work on fitting them into their brigades, for 6 months

=

The beginning of some slow & steady change

We made a bunch of resources!

Workshop recordings, decks and materials! (Links to the last workshop. Scroll down on the page for all prior sessions. The intro session that happened at 2021 brigade congress is linked at the bottom of the page for the first session.)

Core Concepts!

Chicago’s Toolbox!

Pilot guide!

​

​

Fresno & Sacramento stories

Intro and anecdote

Fist-to-Five Voting

• Description:
• Taking votes from brigade members ranging from 0 to 5, either on video, in chat or Slack
• Votes may be taken either by consensus or majority
• Attendees opposing the motion can voice their opinion
• Desired Outcomes:
• Give all members a voice in brigade decisions
• Provide transparency and consistency in brigade decision making
• Implementation:
• Take votes during brigade meetings, office hours and via Slack
• All members to voice their opinions regarding brigade initiatives

​

Open Communication

• Description:
• Brigade members practice honest, direct communication with each other
• Building on what we learned from Cooperative Communication, may including asking for and committing to 100% effort
• Desired Outcomes:
• Provide clarity and transparency in brigade communication
• Minimize surprises and miscommunication
• Implementation:
• Brigade members practice open communication during meetings, office hours, Slack
• Brigade members communicate limitations which may impact their level of engagement
• For example, needing to take downtime from brigade meetings

​

Power Dynamics

• Description:
• Brigade members practice awareness of power dynamics
• Newer vs. more experienced volunteers
• Desired Outcomes:
• Minimize any imbalance or abuse of power dynamics
• Allow volunteers to take on or refrain from tasks as they so choose
• Implementation:
• Brigade implement onboarding practices to welcome volunteers of all experience levels
• Seek to understanding needs and skill sets of all new volunteers
• Develop mutual understanding of expectations between new volunteer and brigade

Empowering New Volunteers

• Description:
• Empower newer volunteers to take on more responsibility
• Allow newer volunteers to have more influence within brigade
• Desired Outcomes:
• Empower newer volunteers (thereby improving power dynamic)
• Minimize burn-out for volunteers with more experience
• Facilitate brigade succession planning
• Implementation:
• Brigade has been empowering newer volunteers with contributing to projects and participating in brigade decision making (e.g. new initiatives)
• Some volunteers transition into core team member roles

Expressing Appreciation

• Description:
• Volunteer asks another volunteer to express their appreciation
• Appreciation is typically centered around a particular action or contribution
• Desired Outcomes:
• Allow volunteers to express their gratitude for the contributions by other volunteers
• Develop better relationships and strong communication between volunteers
• Implementation:
• Brigade members have expressed appreciation for each other during brigade meetings
• Brigade considering to add appreciation practice to brigade meeting agenda

Breakout time

Small groups will have the chance to try out a few of the tools we have really liked.

• Fist to Five (quick!)
• Asking for 100% (will take a minute)
• Appreciations Practice (finish with this one)

This deck: bit.ly/dem-stl�Go to slides 24-28

If we have time, reconvene for discussion and Q&A. But experience is most important!

Movie Night

Fist to Five

Breakout scenario: Someone in the group proposes watching The Addams Family for the group’s weekly movie night, because it’s almost Halloween.

Use fist to five for a vibe check, then negotiate, �then use vist to five for a majority vote.

Fist to five: low-cost nuance

Breakout: Asking for 100%

Have you ever had this experience? You want to go to dinner with a friend. You want Thai food but you know they won’t want that, so instead, you suggest Italian. They respond, saying they don’t want Italian, and they want to go get hotdogs. You get frustrated because you started from a compromise and “lost” already. Instead, imagine what might be possible if both sides could hear what they really want first! That’s asking for 100%. Then you can negotiate to agreement. �(Remember Meredith’s quote from the beginning!)

Let’s try a scenario: �Person A is the most experienced coder in the brigade, but on this product, they want to focus on user interviews instead- and they are afraid it would be a difficult ask. The others in the group include less experienced coder who usually does project management, as well as people with other skills who want a fun and efficient experience.

Take roles and talk through how this could go if nobody openly asks for their 100%, then see if you can try again, but with explicit 100%’s. Experiment and see what happens!

Invitation: Appreciations practice

“I have an appreciation for you. Are you willing to hear it?”

​

Appreciations are units of power.

Even small ones are bigger than you think.

​

Use the format! �It’s ok if it’s challenging or a little awkward!

Discussion �and Q&A