By Diana Wear and Chris Broglio 

This month, the Membership Committee Co-chairs, collaborated with the Office Staff to address a number of needs we’ve been wrestling with in our post-election period as well as since the pandemic and acquiring our new office space at 12929 San Pablo Avenue.  We’ve devised plans to provide orientations for new members, ways for our community to have round table discussions and offer continuing education for RPA members.

Nearly twenty new members have joined RPA in the past couple of months.  Rather than send new people to the website to read on their own, we have created a program to streamline their entry into our organization and welcome them personally. Since the office is staffed a few days a week, we will invite new members to come in during those hours (Wednesdays and Thursdays, 3-5 pm, and Fridays, 11-2 pm). They can meet with an RPA volunteer who will formally greet them, find out what skill sets they want to bring to RPA or learn here, and then direct them to activities that suit their progressive appetites. We have developed a small tool kit that describes our action teams, and we’ll encourage newcomers to find opportunities to serve. If new members cannot come into the office during those hours, we will accommodate them accordingly through phone calls to the office.

The office space, too, will find new functionality. It was an essential space during the election season and a number of our members volunteered many hours to set it up and make it a terrific community working space. We are grateful for their hard work and how forward-thinking they were to create this pleasing space. The office is somewhat limited though and with our current public health mandates, we’re aware that we can’t open it up for large gatherings on a regular basis.  So, we’ve come up with an interim project that we hope will draw people in and still serve our membership. Our program looks like this: on the second Saturday of each month, from 11 am until 1 pm, we’re going to open the office for group activities. We’ll need to limit participation to 20 people (wearing masks and assuming folks will test negative for Covid before arriving. We will ask that participants RSVP or just show up and only be admitted if there is room). It would be great if these sessions could be hybrid on Zoom, but we’ll need someone to step up and volunteer those technical skills in order for that to happen. Our initial aim is to sponsor in-person gatherings.

Mark your 2023 calendars for: 

• - February 11 
• - March 11 
• - April 8 
• - May 13
• - June 10
• - July 8 
• - August 12 
• - September 9 
• - October 14
• - November 11

The sessions will run the gamut, focusing on a number of topics: 

•      - RPA electeds will be invited to share their visions for improving our city.
•      - Mayor Eduardo, City Councilmembers Claudia, Doria, and Melvin will be welcome to brainstorm with us on ways to address issues in their districts and the city at large.
•      - Action Team leaders will be encouraged to bring news about what they’re up to and to inspire and recruit new members.
•      - Some Saturdays we’ll just gather around the table and discuss issues we think need attention.
•      - We’ll have trainings on canvassing and other information-gathering undertakings.
•      - And more! 

Join us around the RPA table at 12929 San Pablo Avenue, on the second Saturday of each month from 11 am until 1 pm. We welcome RPA members’ voices and ideas.