This is my first post to this list but I've been learning a lot over the
last few months of being on this list.
My name is David Boehnke and among other things I'm an organizer for EXCO, a
free all volunteer run experimental college based on the principle
that *everyone
can teach or take classes and all classes are free*. Classes can be on any
subject, in any language, and are taught all over the Twin Cities.
A specific project that we are working on is creating a community-run EXCO
organizing group in Cedar Riverside, building upon our experiences
co-creating the Academia Comunitaria, a Latin@ led EXCO organizing group.
Basically this group would get the community together once a season over
food to talk about what people see as opportunities and challenges for them
and their communities, to learn about EXCO and how we are a participatory
project that only works if people step up to make it happen, and most
importantly to talk about what people want to learn and can teach and create
a set of free community based classes. From there we work to create those
classes, publicize them, and then the next season invite class participants,
their contacts, etc, to another reflection dinner to do it all over again.
This organizing group is envisioned as creating community controlled
infrastructure to build upon strengths and provide another and expanded
venue to bring people together, support the work of existing organizations,
and projects for building community power and capacity in Cedar Riverside.
That said, this can't happen without the leadership, wisdom, and
participation of community members to build, shape, organize, and develop a
concrete vision for the purpose this collaborative will serve. A number of
roles - organizers, facilitators, advisers, connectors, and so on - make up
the general framework, and people can participate at any level they can or
would like to.
I am writing this to invite your advice and feedback on this project, and
with the hope that you might be willing to sit down and chat with me or
another EXCO volunteer organizer sometime soon, to give us your advice, to
ask the hard questions that must be asked of any organization that seeks to
do work with you, or in your community, and to explore possibilities for
collaboration.
I also want to invite you to the first community meeting for this EXCO Cedar
Riverside Collaborative which is taking place on Monday March 29th from
6-7:30pm at the Brian Coyle Center.
Get in touch! You can reach me, David at 651-315-4222, <email obscured>,
or contact Erin Dyke <<email obscured>>, 815-302-2481
All the best and keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
David (Boehnke)
651-315-4222
EXCO Volunteer Organizer
www.EXCOtc.org