Submitted by Adrian Garcia The South Central Young Democrats, or SCYD for short, underwent a strategic planing meeting at Temple University Harrisburg where the groundwork for the upcoming year was laid and a review of our first year of operation was had. Opening remarks by President Evan Ashby highlighted that we have grown from 7, to 146 members in one year, with most being from Cumberland and Dauphin Counties.
Sierra Brennan and Antonio Megna facilitated an open discussion with members (included as a supplement) about our opinions on the state and county parties, what we do well, what we do poorly, and what we want to do in the year to come. Some of the key issues we face are a lack of organization between left leaning orgs and that members tend to sign up, but not show up, to campaign activities like door knocking. That’s not to say that there aren’t positives. Many members voiced their opinions on what the party does well from inclusivity, rapid response time in an emergency, to a general sense of empathy for our fellow countrymen.
This was followed by John Werner, encouraging members to share information about the political and non-political organizations they belong to, and how these relationships may have benefits to both SCYD and the organization in question.
Closing remarks by President Evan Ashby asked members to be an unofficial liaison in your other volunteer groups, and to keep both sides of the relationship informed about activities that may benefit the other. During these remarks, Adrian Garcia (the author of this piece) volunteered to run a newsletter that will publish this information.
The Takeaway
After a nearly two and a half hour long meeting where a broad range of topics were discussed, some direction was established. Over the next 10 months, SCYD will consolidate around a few of our agreed upon goals:
- Hosting more events
- Becoming more involved in campaigns
- Being better at organizing and mobilizing our membership
- Collaborate with more organizations
- A renewed Social Media Committee under the leadership of John Zimmerman
- The creation of a newsletter to facilitate the dissemination of information among membership
The Homework
- Get three people in your social circle to join
- Take action on any of the topics discussed in the meeting. Run social media, start a newsletter, work on a website, or anything else that may benefit SCYD.
Opinion
The Democratic Party is really 20 factions in a trench coat, and we’re going to have a hell of a time wrangling all these cats, but I feel it’s possible if enough of us put in the work. Party leadership in most counties is aging, and someone will have to take the helm eventually, so it might as well be us.
I look forward to seeing what SCYD does in the coming year, and I know that I will be involving myself further by starting this very newsletter.