Starting a Green Party Local in San Diego County

1. Organize a meeting: Plan a meeting to bring together Green-minded people in your community. Use this meeting as a forum to identify shared values and to strategize about ways to effect change through the political process. Good meeting places are community coffee houses or community recreation centers where nonprofit groups can meet for free.
   City of San Diego recreation centers
   
2. Advertise meetings: Advertise your meetings in the community. Target people interested in a Green political alternative. Reach out to local and regional environmental, justice, peace and pro-democracy organizations. Leave flyers in cafes, bookstores, offices of environmental and social justice groups. Place ads in local papers; most will print local events for free but require couple of weeks notice.
   Examples: The Reader, UT's FYI, North Park Times, etc.
3. Official Documents:
   The procedure for becoming a local of the GPSD is available at GPSD Bylaws
   • Signatures: You will need at least 5 signatures from the people present at your meeting (i.e., active members) to become a Green Party local in San Diego County. The list of signatures will have to be presented to the County Council of the GPSD (Check the calendar for next meeting).
   • Bylaws: Write up a set of bylaws that define your organization's name, mission, membership, authority, accountability, meeting frequency, affiliations and outline the fundamentals of basic organizational processes such as money management, decision making and volunteer management. Be sure to define which set of Ten Key Values your organization accepts and endorses, since there are many versions. A Process Quality Survey can also be useful. It is helpful to define roles and responsibilities clearly.
     The following could be used as references:
     Council Responsibilities from Santa Cruz Green Party
     Council Duties from Green Party of San Diego County
     
     Bylaws of Some Green Party Organizations
   • Contact the GPSD County Council if you have any questions.
   
   
4. Internal Organization: Appoint or elect the positions for your local, such as volunteer coordinator, fundraising coordinator, etc. Appoint a representative to attend the GPSD County Council meetings.
   
5. Outreach: Begin outreach activities such as tabling, voter registration, petitioning, phone banking, leafleting. See Organizing page for ideas.
   
6. Meetings: Establish a schedule for regular business meetings. Periodically hold Strategic planning meetings to brainstorm ideas, define organizational goals, set priorities and schedules and plan strategies to reach those goals.
   
7. Virtual Presence: Create a website where you can post your upcoming events, news, projects and volunteer opportunities. This page should be linked from the main GPSD website. Contact the webmaster for help or ideas. Also, make sure that your meeting and event info is posted on the meeting page of the main GPSD website, and sent out on the weekly Announcement listserv sdgreens-announce. If you have photos or reports of your events, send them to the webmaster to be posted on the main GPSD website.
   
8. Office: If possible, get an office space for your local. A listserv, a phone number, a fax machine for sending out press releases, and letterhead stationary would be helpful if your group can afford it.
   
9. Activism:
   • Community Actions: Monitor local issues and legislation. Identify legislative initiatives which are in conflict with Green values then
     - Organize letter-writing campaigns to local media and politicians to discourage passage of such legislation. Also write letters thanking politicians for legislation which promotes Green values.
     - Organize protests, rallies or press conferences
     - Issue press releases to local and regional media outlets sufficiently in advance that they can be included for publication. Follow up with telephone calls to ensure that the document was received and to determine whether it will be published.
     - Attend City Council meetings and voice your opinion.
     Of interest: San Diego City Hall
   • Electoral Work: Work with the County Elections Department to identify public offices up for election during the upcoming election cycle. Identify potential candidates who adhere to most or all of the Green values and recruit them for these offices. Identify and hire competent campaign managers to manage the campaigns for these candidates.
   • Educational Outreach: Organize periodic educational forums where authoritative speakers may present their ideas relevant to the Green Party values.
   • Coalition building: Work closely with other progressive organizations in the community. Attend their meetings and give presentations.

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