Our Meetings
What We Do
Authentic Citizens Collective will involve regular meetings of a variety of different sorts, and in a variety of locations. These meetings shall be entirely in-person. No remote participation shall be involved. (If you don’t live near a meeting location, you can reach out to us to learn how to start an ACC chapter of your own!) Participants can come to learn, grow, network, and take action. The goal is to create a community of like-minded individuals who support one another, and the causes they believe in. Here is a sample of the sorts of meetings we might have:
Introductions
New participants can say a little about themselves, why they joined, where they come from, and what they care about.
Education
Problems do not come from nowhere. Meetings might involve learning the relevant history of some particular issue. When appropriate, guest speakers who are experts in the area in question shall be invited to speak.
Planning
Being authentic means (among other things) not acting because you feel pressured by others. Members can and should participate to the degree that they feel comfortable. Whether you come to meetings just to listen, learn, speak, ask questions, or take action is up to you. That said, for those who wish to do so, meetings will sometimes involve strategic planning to take collective actions aimed at building community. Examples of actions might include collecting donations for a food pantry, volunteering at shelters for the unhoused, attending city council meetings, taking action to get out the vote for a local, state, or federal election, canvassing to spread awareness about a particular issue, and more.
Reflection
After we act, we discuss how things went, what we thought was helpful, what was not helpful, how to improve, and so on.
Group Logistics
Part of being in the group shall involve keeping it going. This shall be achieved (you guessed it) collectively. Thus, portions of meetings shall involve discussing how to expand it, keep it going, scheduling future meetings, etc.