[Imc-outreach] community discussion- everyone invited! [again]

[Colleen Cook]

Since it didn't work out the first time around...


Hello everyone,

In recent weeks, the UCIMC’s climate working group has been discussing 
different ideas to improve communication and unity within the UCIMC and our 
community. Many people have commented that they would like to see more 
dialogue and discussion at the IMC about issues affecting our community. It 
seems rare for people to sit down and talk with each other in person at the 
IMC, without a scheduled working group or an event with a keynote speaker. 
So I wanted to suggest a subject, and invite those of you that might be 
interested to join me tomorrow at the IMC to discuss age 
discrimination/legal conflicts/protection without the confines of a meeting!

For those of you that may have read the notes from the mediation group, you 
might have noticed a difficult issue that we have been trying to address. It 
is in relation to the role of minors as advocates or mediators when dealing 
with conflict policy. Since the notes from the meeting were sent out, one of 
our teen IMC members wrote the group with her concerns about it being 
discriminatory towards youth. After reading her email, I realized that this 
is really a larger issue than just this policy, and was wondering if anyone 
was interested in meeting outside of a working group to discuss age 
discrimination in our society and how it affects community groups. I know 
that this is an issue that is very relevant in many environments, and I 
would be interested to sit down with others to discuss their views, 
experiences, and concerns. The goal of this informal meeting is not 
necessarily to have any direct bearing on the IMC’s policy, but rather to 
educate, share, and learn with others for our own benefit. In hopes of 
creating positive discussion at the IMC, I would like to invite interested 
parties to come by IN PERSON [no long list-serve emails] to the IMC at 5pm 
on Tuesday [March 15th]. I think it can only benefit our organization and 
community to foster communication and to challenge and question our own 
beliefs from time to time. I hope to see you then.

Thanks for your time.
Colleen