The membership of DSA-LA recently voted to form an Eastside/San Gabriel Valley branch. The new branch now needs coordinators. These coordinators will serve an abbreviated term before our regular chapter elections this December. The election will be held between Monday, June 8-Sunday, June 14.
Each branch should have 2 Branch Coordinators.
Branch Coordinators will have the responsibility of ensuring that branch meetings occur, executing the branch meeting agenda, facilitating relationship-building among branch members, geography-focused recruitment, facilitating portions of branch meetings, and determining potions of branch meeting agendas.
Denis R.
Briefly describe you experience in DSA-LA.
I have been a member of DSA-LA since early 2017. Unfortunately, due to the distance of most of the meetings and organizing (I live in Azusa), I have not been able to participate as much as I would like. I have attended a few meetings, Medicare For All canvasses and helped DSA-LA in the 2017 May Day March & Rally in DTLA. Recently though, I was proud to be a member of the organizing committee to form the Eastside & SGV Branch of DSA-LA. The Eastside of Los Angeles and the West San Gabriel Valley are well organized by fellow democratic socialists. That is not so much the case in the East San Gabriel Valley where I live. Thus, I am very excited with the possibilities if this new branch.
Why do you think you would make a good Branch Coordinator?
As a board member of a Democratic club, I have had the opportunity of organizing and chairing several club meetings. As chair of the meetings, I coordinated presentations, discussions and membership votes for endorsement of candidates, legislation, projects, resolutions and club donations.
I also organized several community canvasses for the Bernie 2020 campaign, at Citrus College and the Azusa Downtown Gold Line station. The planning of these community canvasses required volunteer outreach, follow contact days prior to the events and making sure volunteers were comfortable and prepared for the community canvasses.
Before the Bernie 2020 campaign officially took root in Los Angeles County, I founded a group of Bernie Sanders supporters in 2019 that came to be collectively known as 'Eastern San Gabriel Valley for Bernie 2020'. On many occasions, I chaired meetings with the folks in this group with the purpose of holding grassroots events for Bernie 2020.
I have also organized Medicare For All community canvasses in the San Gabriel Valley in conjunction with National Nurses United.
I wish to use the skills that I acquired in the organizing discussed above to continue to build the newly-formed Eastside & SGV Branch of DSA-LA.
What would you do to grow branch membership and facilitate increased member-to-member engagement?
I would reach out to all of the members of the Eastside & SGV Branch to find out what issues they thoughts should be addressed in our branch area. I would do my best to make sure all members of the branch felt welcomed to contribute to the discussion and goals of the branch, turning to the DSA-LA Steering Committee for advice where necessary. Lastly, I would also encourage members to bring in friends and family members who were open to the mission of democratic socialism in DSA-LA.
What do you think has worked well with our organization's branch structure?
The conditions for forming the new branch were clearly laid out. The voting process to establish the new branch was transparent. Further, the organizing committee also received much help and encouragement from the Steering Committee and from the Central Branch leadership.
Where do you see room for improvement with our organization's branched structure?
I honestly cannot think of anything at the moment.
Janet H.
Briefly describe your experience in DSA-LA.
I spearheaded the establishment of the Eastside/SGV branch alongside comrades Kat Ulloa, Felix Huang, Denis Recendez, Francisco Cendejas, Andrea Ortega, & Leslie Chan. My individual contribution to this effort included gathering signatures and outreaching to many more for membership recruitment. I led recruitment in the most successful recruitment drive of people of color into DSA-LA to date.
I have been working with the Electoral Politics Committee on DSA delegate candidates, DSA-LA’s Neighborhood Solidarity Network, Mutual Aid Committee, and Immigration Justice Committee.
Why do you think you would make a good Branch Coordinator?
In 2019 I organized numerous phonebanks and events for Bernie Sanders. Then the campaign hired me to be a field organizer. My job was to coordinate volunteers and reach voters in the San Gabriel Valley and Eastside. I mobilized an army of volunteers to canvass hundreds of voters. I walked alongside the volunteers and listened to what residents are concerned about. Our teamwork lead to Bernie winning the area. My supervisors and colleagues say I’m good at getting people involved with causes. They say I’m friendly and persistent. I’m not afraid to talk to potential members whether it’s on the phone or in person. I still talk to the many contacts I made during my time on the campaign. They say they value my opinion.
I’m from the San Gabriel Valley and that’s where I’m raising my children. I know several people there, I know the culture and I know the issues. I also speak fluent Spanish so I can contact the demographics you want to recruit to the organization.
What would you do to grow branch membership and facilitate increased member-to-member engagement?
My experience on the Sanders campaign taught me many things, including the fact that I love organizing, I truly think over found my life calling. I will use the skills and contacts I’ve cultivated to grow the branch and to keep members activated. We need to continue to build on this momentum to finally support the issues that are important to our communities. Drug addiction, affordable housing, poverty, quality of K-12 public schools, racism, access to healthcare, availability of jobs are problems that need material remedies. It would be my job as branch coordinator to empower myself and other locals to organize for a solution.
What do you think has worked well with our organization's branch structure?
The localized branch structure helps the nationwide group connect with various communities. Having a coordinator who is a local will help DSA recognize what issues are a priority for people living in the diverse towns of Los Angeles County. For example, many people in the San Gabriel Valley are working class homeowners with families. They may have different concerns than younger, single people who don’t own property. Distance is also a factor. A member living in the San Gabriel Valley may not have the time or energy to commute to Koreatown for meetings.
Where do you see room for improvement with our organization's branched structure?
Katherine U.
Briefly describe your experience in DSA-LA.
My experience in DSA-LA is fairly new but I've joined several committees and I've been able to build new relationships with folks pretty quickly and easily. I am also part of the Organizing Committee who pushed for the formation of the Eastside + SGV branch. We knew that the creation of a branch within the Eastside of LA and the San Gabriel Valley was not only crucial to DSA-LA's growth but also necessary for its diversification and its need to outreach communities of color.
We saw a huge opportunity for DSA-LA to outreach these folks when Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign because during his candidacy many people living in the Eastside of LA and the San Gabriel Valley supported, embraced and campaigned for the socialist ideas he spoke of.
During the process of forming this new branch I worked alongside other members of the Organizing Committee not only to bring in new members into DSA-LA, but also outreach existing members to sign our petition for the formation of the new branch. We kept these members engaged through our GOTV phase by phonebanking, texting, and emailing them in order to remind them of when and how to vote; and due to all the work we did the Eastside+SGV Branch was finally created on May 26th. 2020.
Why do you think you would make a good Branch Coordinator?
I would make a good branch coordinator because the relationship I have with my community has allowed me to build genuine friendships and relationships that will continue to grow and expand beyond my immediate community as I continue to meet people through DSA. My work experience as a banker at Wells Fargo in Boyle Heights and then as a Field Organizer with the Bernie Sanders campaign in CD 34 have allowed me to work with various groups of people with different personalities, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds and has sharpened my interpersonal skills when it comes to working alongside different groups of people who are working towards a common goal. These positions have also helped me learn the art of multitasking, time management, and networking which are all necessary skills for someone within this leadership role. Finally, as a resident of East LA I really care about the positive and long lasting effects that the Eastside + SGV Branch will have in the lives of many of the working class people of color that live within our communities. I believe that combining an organization such as DSA with the working class folks in our communities will empower and uplift very important voices that are crucial to achieving real change not only in our communities but in our country as a whole. We can be the chapter that sets the example on how outreaching working class folks is essential to our movements growth and necessary for our movements success.
What would you do to grow branch membership and facilitate increased member-to-member engagement?
I believe that in order for the Eastside + SGV branch to grow we need to conduct outreach with communities of color-- specifically the working class whose first language is not English. However, in order to achieve this first step DSA as a whole organization must translate flyers, social media, pamphlets and websites into different languages. Although I know this is something we’re working towards at the moment I can’t stress how important this first step is to gain trust with a diverse community.
The second thing that is crucial to our Eastside +SGV branch growth is building strong relationships within the communities our branch covers. In order to do this I would like to continue growing and fortifying our Eastside + SGV Organizing Committee. At the moment this committee is made up of members from various areas within the Eastside of LA and the San Gabriel Valley; and my goal is for us to continue identifying leaders who have the cultural competence needed to understand the needs and priorities of the communities our branch covers. To that extent, the Eastside + SGV Organizing Committee should be composed of members who already have a strong relationship with local community organizations, clubs or groups or have the willingness to develop a relationship within their communities. Having this committee will enable us to outreach, engage, grow and build new relationships within our communities organically and will help us fortify DSA presence within communities that DSA hasn’t been able to reach before. This leadership should be based on promoting equity within our branch and will allow us to have a strong support system throughout the areas our branch represents. It will also create a space where we can uplift voices of communities that we haven't heard from before which will encourage members to engage in conversations about their community needs, therefore increasing member engagement within our branch.
What do you think has worked well with our organization's branch structure?
I have only recently joined the chapter, mostly as a result of working on the Bernie campaign and working alongside members of DSA. In my short time as a member I attended the branch meetings in May to discuss the efforts of our organizing committee in developing the newest branch of the chapter. My observation is that the branch structure promotes the following: expansion of the chapter into areas where members are self-organizing; it allows a large chapter to be flexible and respond to local conditions without diluting the power we have as being a large chapter; and pushes members to view themselves as agents of change within their neighborhood. As a lifelong resident of East Los Angeles, I recognize that the material conditions of this primarily Latinx neighborhood in unincorporated Los Angeles County are different than those experienced by Angelenos in Koreatown or Los Feliz. DSA-LA has found a way to integrate its membership across the greater LA region through its branch structure and we should continue to expand into other areas of Los Angeles County where our members are organizing.
Where do you see room for improvement with our organization's branched structure?
More needs to be done to clarify the role of the branches within the chapter. It’s important to have a meeting space and a regional hub from which members can organize, but it is unclear what else the branches are supposed to do. As the new branch develops I would like to see an active Eastside/SGV Branch that takes into account the issues particular to the two areas. I would also like to see a leadership structure that builds the capacity of leaders within the chapter.
Osirus P.
Briefly describe your experience in DSA-LA.
I have been a huge advocate for DSA as well as the Justice Democrats on social media and have supported campaigns that DSA has endorsed. I have also campaigned and canvassed for Bernie Sanders. I also join in on most of the webinars that DSA emails out, so I have listened to people DSA talk about the importance of growing our membership and how we can use the Bernie Sanders movement to increase membership because our fight is still not over.
Why do you think you would make a good Branch Coordinator?
I have been told many times that I would make a great candidate to run against Susan Rubio (State Senator of my area and establishment Democrat) because I know how to organize. I have organized people in my community to argue for more internet service providers. My community was having to pay $90 rates for 10mbps internet speed. This is such a high price for such a low speed, and we organized a community event and talked to the management of our mobile homes to advocate for more internet service options. Eventually, because of the communities' efforts, we were able to get another Internet service provider, for a much lower price and a much higher speed. I hate to boast, but this could not have been done without my initial effort to knock on everyone's door and bring light to the situation. I have also led movements in my community college. During the coronavirus pandemic, professors were recklessly assigning homework assignments, and as a student leader, people were asking me to do something about it. I launched an initiative for a Pass/No Pass system and brought it onto the attention of the Student Senate, the Academic Senate, Board of Trustees, and Mt.SAC administration. Throughout all of our online campaigning, I was able to get all of the Student Senate on board with the initiative as well as the Academic Senate. The Board of Trustees denied our request. However, the Pass/ No Pass system was eventually incorporated into our grading system and students now have the relief about their grades impacting their GPA. Again, I hate to boast, but it would not have been done unless I launched a vast social media campaign and built a broad coalition of students and professors.
I also have leadership experience. I am in the Army Reserve and have been the leader of a platoon before. I understand what it takes to be a good leader. One must be kind, considerate, compassionate, passionate, and inspiring. I have embodied all of those qualities throughout my life and I ensure that I would bring that to the table anywhere I go. I can do a lot of the hard work to make sure that things run smoothly, and I never get overwhelmed on a project. I am also a UC Berkeley student, so I am not just some guy running around flapping his lips. I study Political Science and Media Studies, both of which are essential for this position, in my opinion. I have been able to build a large community around me of political nerds because I was the President of the Political Science Club at my community college. I have made friends with video editors, journalists, campaign managers, canvassers, professors, public relations managers, social media managers, and the list goes on. The people that are around me are always willing to help, and many are like-minded people, so I do not see an issue with getting things done.
I am also a journalist myself, so it is easy for me to come up with press releases and to try to get the word out to people. I cover local politics, so I know the candidates that are running in my area, and I know certain incumbents that sit in city council chairs that should not have the position that they have. I am familiar with local politicians, they know me, and I know them because of my journalistic work. I can provide a link to my work if necessary. However, I have a lot of connections in this area and could use that to DSA's advantage.
Finally, the most important reason, I have a close proximity to the pain that people feel. I have lived in poverty my whole life. I was not the greatest student in High School, and I did a lot of things that would be regarded as "not normal," in essence, I was a troubled youth. However, that was because of my environment. This capitalist society has made people at the very top to forget about our issues and the injustices we face. I brought it upon myself to change, which is why I joined the military, not because I believe in fighting unjust wars. I believe in the country that has vehemently ruined every aspect of working-class people gaining their way to a better life, but because I needed the discipline... and I also needed health insurance. Since then, I have committed my life to public service and advocating for people that live like me. I was homeless and had nothing and now I want to give everything to the community that brought me up. It is a sense of duty for me to bring the ideas of Democratic Socialism into the public sphere.
What would you do to grow branch membership and facilitate increased member-to-member engagement?
It is in my deepest opinion that branch membership heavily relies on the local campaigns that are currently being run. Nobody knew what Democratic Socialism was until Bernie Sanders campaigned and advocated for all the things we believe in. With my knowledge on local campaigns I can easily shed light to specific campaigns and find people to work on those campaigns to build a stronger community understanding of what Democratic Socialism really is. To build a movement, we need something to get behind, and it is important that this DSA branch focuses on local campaigns in order to build branch membership. For instance, in this past election for California State Senate race in the 22nd district, it was a Democratic Socialist Mike Eng vs. Establishment Democrat Susan Rubio. Rubio won because too many people were afraid of the policies being brought up by Mike Eng. This is because people were focusing too much on the negative effects of Mike Eng's policies because people are not educated on these ideas. It is important to educate the people on how these policies would work and how it would benefit the greater good of society. However, Mike Eng had so much support, he lost the race by a narrow margin, which means that these policies are popular even when not too many people know about it. That is why it is important for us to take advantage of certain political races that are running very progressive campaigns and build membership off of that. We could easily increase our thousands of member to the tens of thousands, and maybe even hundreds of thousands. In terms of member-to-member engagement, obviously during this coronavirus pandemic it would be a bit difficult to do in-person engagement. However, if we help local progressive campaigns, I believe more people would be engaged to DSA. Because these people will have a sense of belonging, like they are doing something bigger than themselves and will give them the sense of importance in the political process. I also talked about education about progressive policies. I believe we need to hold seminars and webinars educating people on what is important to people locally. For instance, in my case with the Internet Service Providers to my community, people felt the importance of not being taken advantage of, which made them engage with our landlord. Another case, is mobile homes. Many people live in mobile homes in this area and they are being taken advantage of by private equity firms that keep on increasing the rent and impose draconian neighborhood policies. I am sure many people who live in mobile homes do not even know because 2/3 of people who live in mobile homes don't have an education higher than high school. What most people do not know as well is that there is a manufactured home committee in the California Assembly who are supposed to advocate for the mobile home owners, but instead profit from the private equity firms oppressing these people. If more people were educated about that, and especially if DSA were the ones to educate people about that. It would only begin to brew an anger and frustration that would turn into community and membership engagement. If we can build membership engagement off of issues that are occurring locally.
My time as the President of the Political Science Club at my old community college campus was built off of member-to-member engagement and I already have a few ideas for DSA. I believe we can do more than just educate people and help local campaigns. We can also organize debates for local progressive candidates, we can organize town halls, and community events, so that people understand what Democratic Socialism is. Like I said, with my connections with city council members and mayors, I am sure we can get booths for local events (whenever the coronavirus pandemic is over) and increase engagement and new membership. For now we can hold debates through zoom and increase engagement by social media. I also believe, if it is possible, to have a center in a certain location. The GOP has a republican center, and there is not Democratic center, which is why local elections usually tip-off to GOP candidates. If there is a Democratic Socialist Center, the Democrats in the area would most likely be intrigued and join in with us because there is no Democratic center. This could exponentially grow our membership because we would have a legitimate headquarters (even if it is small) to organize and discuss how to grow and attract many people that pass by it.
What do you think has worked well with our organization's branch structure?
The greatest thing that DSA has done is to create a legitimate platform for Democratic Socialists. Unfortunately, because of our single-member district plurality electoral system, our ideas usually have to consolidate to the establishment Democrats. However, DSA has given a platform for people to express their beliefs, and we are changing the Democratic party's stance on a lot of issues. This is because DSA's branch organization, on a national level, has helped build one of the largest grassroots movements that the nation has never seen before. DSA has been able to provide educational assistance to people who want to learn more about the policies that are being proposed by progressives and have done an excellent job at training people on how to grow our membership. DSA has done a great job of informing, but I think it could do a better job at campaigning. Which is something that I would love to help with.
Where do you see room for improvement with our organization's branched structure?
Each branch should focus on their local campaigns, and if there is no one that is progressive enough to support, then we should run our candidate. It seems difficult, but the level of organization that DSA has produced proves that we can make a profound change in our local government. Once we have local officials in office, then those people can climb up the ranks of government and eventually become statewide and nationwide public officials. We should focus on building the next Bernie Sanders within each of our chapters and help that person become a formidable leader.
We should also encourage a lot more YDSA chapters on college campuses with the help of local chapters. Young people started this grassroots movement, and we should continue being helped by the people that are enthusiastic and ready for a change.
I think the branch structure overall has done a great job. Although we could use a bit more members, I think we are headed in the right direction. Once I fully get my boots on the ground, believe me, I will have millions of ideas running through my head.
W. Selassie
Briefly describe your experience in DSA-LA.
Member for a number of years
Why do you think you would make a good Branch Coordinator?
Organizing skills
What would you do to grow branch membership and facilitate increased member-to-member engagement?
Active Social Media Presence
What do you think has worked well with our organization's branch structure?
Not a lot.
Where do you see room for improvement with our organization's branched structure?
Recruiting minorities