Conference Move Announcement and Summer Update!
Conference 2020: Des Moines!
We're happy to announce that after much work, organizing, and collaboration between the GRCA Board, the incomparably talented, thoughtful, and organized Mel Hsu, the folks at Girls Rock!Des Moines, we will be moving conference for 2020 to Des Moines, Iowa in the United States!
We are saying a tearful goodbye to Philadelphia, and the love, support, strength, and brilliance of that community that has been our home for the past years. We'll always have the fingerpool, and the movement we've grown from within that space. Thank you thank you thank you, Philly, we <3 you.
We're so grateful for Sara and Jen at GR!DSM for their support and collaboration in finding a site for the 2020 conference. We're also filled with gratitude and love for the organizations that submitted proposals to host conference this upcoming year. Dreaming together and imagining what the conference could be and can become has been an exciting process, and we cannot wait to see what our growing community builds together in the future.
We have so much love for you all!!!!
SAVE THE DATE:
Conference will be held April 23-26, 2020 at Camp Sunnyside in Des Moines.
Summer Update
The Membership Committee has prepared the notes from the Annual Membership Meeting. They can be read here! The Meeting occurs at Conference every year and is a time and space for the Board, Committees and Member Organizations to share what has happened over the last year. Per our bylaws, the Board is required to share information for membership approval or denial via vote, such as a financial report, new or returning nominees for the Nominations Committee, the Caucus Advisory Council, and the Board. It's also a time in which leadership organizations and members can present guiding documents or proposals, such as last 2018's Points of Unity. Every member organization has one Member Representative who may vote, either by attending the meeting or remotely from home.
At this year's meeting, member representatives elected the first-ever GRCA Caucus Advisory Council, and they want to hear from you!
The newly formed GRCA Caucus Advisory Council (CAC) invites you to participate in a membership survey as a way to capture your questions and thoughts about leadership, power and marginalization in your camps or organizing work. You can fill out the survey here!
The CAC will also be launching a series of Reddit-style "Ask Us Anything" (AUA) sessions via Facebook Live throughout the year, and we want your input! The CAC is a leadership group made up of various GRCA caucus group members. Current caucus groups include: People of Color, Trans + Gender Expansive, Poor + Working Class, People w/ Disabilities, English is not our First Language, Parents, and Youth. The group's goals are to strengthen year-round organizing, help plan Movement Day and to support and hold the GRCA Board accountable to all of the voices within our movement. We hope that holding regular AUA sessions can help us collectively solve problems, share concerns and spread revolutionary joy.
This survey is ANONYMOUS, and is a space to pose questions or raise issues related to leadership, power and marginalization as they manifest at your camps or in your organizing work. We will present and collectively discuss survey responses during the AUA.
Get Involved!!
We are always excited to bring folks that want to share their skills and help us do the work of the GRCA better, together. If you're interested in learning more about joining a committee, let us know!
Currently we are seeking:
RESOURCES: We are working on an ongoing project to revamp the GRCAA Toolkit, with an aim to launch this coming winter! We are actively collecting any resources that camps and programs may want to share about workshops, organizing, structuring, program development, fundraising, classroom management, youth education, participatory education, and more! If you want to share some of your amazing resources, email communications@girlsrockcampalliance.org!
GRANT WRITING SUPPORT: We are in need of support in fund development. If you are an amazing grant writer and want to support us with your talents to help us fund our movement, please email research@girlsrockcampalliance.org.
Resources
Check out this amazing Back to School Backpack from our friends and partners at the Music Impact Network. The Music Impact Network has a mailing list and a lot of valuable resources for music programming, and we strongly encourage y'all to check them out and join their mailing list!!!
Here's an awesome article from Canada about bringing feminism into classrooms, for those of y'all that teach or hold programs throughout the school year!