20250325 STAND Newsletter – FOIA pods deployed
Dear STAND Community,
STAND reached an important milestone last week. Our organization is built on three central missions:
Support those injured by unjust, cruel, and frequently illegal government action through community building, hospitality, and small group-based therapy.
Communicate vital information to those in need of it and demand the truth from those seeking to hide it.
Protest unjust government policy through targeted and disciplined community action
In our first meeting on March 4th, our Support team invited us into conversation with each other to begin to experience the power and relief that can come from a truly inclusive and supportive community environment. On March 22nd, our Communications team built on that momentum to welcome more than 60 people into our space to begin to train people in the use of Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) and Open Records (OR) requests in gathering critical information from federal and state governments. These requests are an important tool in the STAND arsenal that will help us to take action in targeting specific policies in a meaningful way. As a result of that meeting, more than 20 people within STAND Communications have been divided into action pods, and are in the process of developing strategies to use these tools to help defend CDC and other federal employees from illegal termination procedures. They will also leverage them to begin pushing back on policies and practices that have resulted in the cruel treatment and detention of immigrants in our local community.
With the launch of the Communication Team action pods, STAND has matured from an organization capable of supporting and building up its own members, to one that can use that base to begin to project its voice out into the world. Our message will be clear: All life is intrinsically, unassailably, irrevocably valuable.
With Support and Communications now online and functioning, can you guess what’s next? Come join us at our next event to find out how our Protest arm will begin to make itself heard.
Next STAND Event – Saturday April 12th
You won’t have to wait long! Our next event is coming up in a little less than 3 weeks. We’ve learned some lessons from our first two meetings. The first is that 3 hours is too long. Our next meeting will be held from 3:30pm-5:30pm on the 12th, with cookies, coffee, and light refreshments available beginning at 3pm. Childcare will be available, please just let us know so we can prepare at stand(at)ndumc(dot)org. We will also dive right into our general meeting this time around so we should have more time for small group discussions and support.
Getting Involved
As STAND continues to grow, we will need your help to continue to push our collective vision out into the world. Please consider lending us a hand; here are a few needs that we have in the short term:
Event setup/organization/cleanup – We are rapidly developing a leadership team specifically focused on organizing our events and making sure that everything runs smoothly. Those folks need volunteers to help us set up the event, welcome people in, direct traffic, and make sure that we leave the space the way we found it. Please let us know if you’re willing to lend a hand at our next meeting!
Web development – As our organization grows, we need to continue to establish our online presence. If you have any skills as a web developer and would be willing to help us build something that helps us serve and connect our community,we would love to hear from you.
Fundraising – Right now, we are fully volunteer run. That means time is donated, space is donated, and food is donated. We will continue to rely on that generosity in the short term, but for our movement to make the impact we all hope for, we will have to find ways to raise funds. If you have expertise in this space, please reach out.
Final thoughts
As I was walking around on Saturday during the small groups, I heard someone say an amazing thing. I heard them say that they did not know that a space like the one we are creating, as inclusive as we intend it to be, could exist. That they would feel compelled to say that is a testament to your efforts. I said it in our first meeting, but our diversity is not a weakness, it is our greatest strength. But taking advantage of that strength in diversity is not always easy or straightforward – it takes work. It requires people from different backgrounds and creeds to trust each other and work together. It requires helping people find their voices and their confidence to contribute their unique gifts in a space that may not feel comfortable at first.
I am humbled by your willingness to move past that discomfort, and continue to build each other up. We are building something great, and I’m honored to be building it with you. And if you believe in this effort like I do, please help us spread the word.
STANDing with you,
Matt
