Greensboro HIVE

The Organizing Committee (OC) meets once a week to manage the operation of The HIVE, review space reservation requests, and handle any business that arises during the operation of the space. All decisions are made by consensus. The OC is open to anyone who wants to come and get involved.

Present: Chelsea, Kathryn, Jonathan, Liz, Isabell, Kymber

Drop-in hours
Drop-in hours appear to be going well. Jonathan will make a flyer for the neighborhood to announce drop-in hours. He’ll also talk to Addie’s about holding a key that volunteers could borrow to open up. We talked about the need for some kind of manual for volunteers; Isabell suggested that in addition to the manual we have a logbook so volunteers could report incidents and information that came in during their shift, and also a volunteer sign-in sheet so we know who was here at what times. Isabell said that and she and Brenda would start drafting a volunteer manual and logbook during their Wednesday shift.

Kids’ summer activities
Liz said that it would be nice to have more things than the computers to offer kids during drop-in hours, and wondered if we could build on the good work already being done by the Art’s Cool and BikeMe!, and the soon-to-begin reading club.

Kymber said that she is in the process of being certified to teach children’s yoga (her certification will cover ages 2 to teenager) and would like to offer some free yoga sessions starting in late July. She is thinking about mornings and perhaps evenings.

Isabell suggested talking to Molly Stouten, who just received a grant from F4DC to plan and create a community mural. Molly wants to involve neighborhood kids in the process, and might be interested in doing some things at the HIVE.

Events

• Friday, June 20, 4:30: A public speaking training for people who want to speak out at a June 23 school board special meeting on African-American males in the school system. The training will be offered by the Speaking Center at UNC-G; they have suggested that they make themselves available for other trainings on persuasive speaking, given on an ad hoc basis as things come up in the community. The series would be called “Speaking for a Change.” The training this week will be held on Friday, June 20 at 4:30, the same time as the food giveaway, but we agreed that we could use the bookshelves as a room divider and accommodate both activities.
• Saturday, June 28, 9:30 to 1:30: Raise the Wage sign painting party to prepare for the Fourth of July parade. In addition, the Raise the Wage coordinating committee meets the first and third Friday of the month, 11:30-1:00.
• Jonathan is working on establishing a weekly family-oriented movie night on Wednesdays at 8:00 in the parking lot (we will need to figure out how to temporarily disable the motion sensor light—even better, it would be nice if we could figure out how to turn off the parking lot street light). Jonathan has sent out an email asking for movie suggestions; to send in your suggestions email Jonathan at zafamos@gmail.com.

BikeMe!
The BikeMe! Collective has been stretched thin on volunteers lately and has had occasional trouble couple of weeks opening up at the posted times. The coordinating committee brainstormed ways the HIVE could help out. Kathryn will check with Sue and Kyla to see if they would be interested in providing the Wednesday and Sunday drop-in hours volunteers with a list of people who are authorized by BikeMe! to open up the shed. The Wednesday and Sunday volunteers (Isabell, Brenda and Kathryn at this point) could be given access to the HIVE’s copy of the shed key, and give it to whichever person on the BikeMe! list shows up first. In addition, Isabell offered to brainstorm with Sue on Wednesday to see if there are other ways the HIVE could help.

Library
The library project is close to completion. When it is set up drop-in volunteers will be asked to help with explaining the procedure, and re-shelving books.

The Organizing Committee (OC) meets once a week to manage the operation of The HIVE, review space reservation requests, and handle any business that arises during the operation of the space. All decisions are made by consensus. The OC is open to anyone who wants to come and get involved.

Present: Fred, Kathryn, Fahiym, DJ Hardy, Liz

Events
Kathryn and Larkin had approved a number of events that came in during the week. The group agreed that this was the right procedure: the events coordinators should feel free to respond positively to anything that is clearly consistent with the HIVE Vision Statement and fits the schedule. The Organizing Committee would like to hear about upcoming events every week, and will help with assigning point people and working out other details.

Kathryn has discovered a glitch with Google Calendar—events appear as an hour later than they are posted as being. She’s working with Dave to correct it.

Upcoming events:
• June 10, 6:00 to 7:30 pm (ongoing every Tuesday), Marxist study group. Point Person: Fahiym.
• June 12, 8:00 pm, 1968: Year of Revolutionary Hope discussion. Point Person: DJ
• June 14, 11-1:00, Information session for job applicants. Point Person: F4DC
• June 16, 6-8:00 Meeting to discuss the feasibility of establishing workers’ collectives in Greensboro. Point Person: Kathryn
• July 19, (time?) Community Organizing 101 with Cynthia Brown. Point Person: F4DC
• July 26, (time?) Raise the Wage discussion. Point Person: Fahiym
• August 9, 11- 6:00, Circus of Poetry. Point Person: Fahiym
• August 15, 8:00 pm to 1:00 am, African Culture Night. Point Person: We still need one.

Kitchen
The kitchen construction is on schedule; this Sunday we hung a cabinet, started finishing the counter cabinets, and put up lighting in the pantry. In addition, we now have two new electric stoves, donated by someone who found out about the HIVE through the BikeMe! Collective. We hope to have the kitchen certified so it can be used by people who want to prepare food to sell; DJ will look into certification requirements.

Current kitchen wish list:
• Electrical wiring, 8 gauge and 12 gauge
• Scraps of ¾ inch plywood, 14” by 26” or larger

Drop-in hours
The drop-in hours are off to a good start. We discussed ways to share the responsibility of responding to and scheduling volunteers so it doesn’t all fall on Elizabeth and agreed that that should be an ongoing discussion.

We agreed that we will ask people to listen to the computer through headphones, or find some other way to control the sound so it doesn’t interfere with other things in the room.

The Organizing Committee (OC) meets once a week to manage the operation of The HIVE, review space reservation requests, and handle any business that arises during the operation of the space. All decisions are made by consensus. The OC is open to anyone who wants to come and get involved.

Doorbell

• People have been banging on window next door.
• Partners may want to have individual doorbells.
• Fred has found wireless doorbells on eBay for $4.49, and done circuit diagram stuff to “dumb down” (remove wireless component).
• Whole cost: $10/office ($60 total)
• Fred is looking to ask partners for feedback/o.k. Jonathan will ask. Ricky to connect with partners.
• Related to larger issue: When is space open? When is it closed? Need for clearer signage about nature of space, open hours, partners, etc.

Volunteer Open Hours

• Supposed to start a week from Monday- June 2nd.
• Decided that current volunteers will work hours temporarily until other are found.
• Looking for more volunteers. Duties include info sheet, tidying up, relating information about HIVE to querying individuals. Closing volunteer should take out trash.

Key

• To avoid lots of keys floating around, maybe Addie would agree to collaborate and hold a key for volunteers? Elizabeth will ask Addie.
• Maybe another key at Florida house?
• Also related to larger issue: Who has keys/ authority to use space? It’s fuzzy now, but because this is a community space, important to work towards being open every day.

Events

• Larkin will notify “Rock Show” about availability of Square One space, International Social Organization about rescheduling.

Multicultural Festival

• Will be Power Point, art work from after school photo project at middle school, HIVE table.
• Food Not Bombs will have low-key set up so as not to compete with local vendors. Will set-up in the kitchen with literature.
• Kammaleathahh will see about setting up massage chair.
• Will set up bulletin board with HIVE material.
• Jonathan will make flyers by Saturday.

Partners

• F4DC is going to get a copier.
• Susan is working on a contact list.

Kitchen
Moving right along. Work day will be scheduled to lay out/set tiles.

Free food give aways.
Have taken on a life of their own and are a bit overwhelming in level of success. A few things need some organization:

• A way to provide outreach information for people for whom this is a first contact.
• A way to make it equitable.

Library

• Gigi figured out essentially self-running library system.
• Volunteers will help with check-out/ shelving process.
• Zach will bring shelves.

The Organizing Committee (OC) meets once a week to manage the operation of The HIVE, review space reservation requests, and handle any business that arises during the operation of the space. All decisions are made by consensus. The OC is open to anyone who wants to come and get involved.

Present: Kathryn, Fahiym, Susan, Elizabeth, Ivan, Ricky, Jonathan, Fred, Liz, Clement

Glenwood Neighborhood Multicultural Festival
Grove Street will be blocked off for the festival, which will be held from 11:00 to 5:00, Saturday, May 31. Everyone is encouraged to come!

• We decided against holding a Really Really Free Market during the festival. Kathryn will contact the organizers of past RRFMs to see if they are interested in holding one on the day after the festival (Sunday, June 1).
• We wondered if BikeMe! would be interested in holding its open hours on Saturday during the festival instead of on Sunday that weekend.
• Jonathan and possibly Ricky will go to the festival planning meeting on Monday and will ask if we can set up a table outside the HIVE, and will find out how the GGNA would like to use the HIVE space; Jonathan also said he would make sure we have brochures in time for the festival. Partners are encouraged to put brochures on the table as well.
• We will ask Gigi if she would be willing to put together a display about the HIVE for the bulletin board inside the front door.
• We will need volunteers to sit at a table and to give tours of the HIVE. We will set that up at next weeks meeting after we know more from the GGNA.

Open Hours & Volunteers

• Regular drop-in hours will begin Monday, June 2; the exact hours are still to be determined.
• We discussed making a clear distinction between open hours and non-open hours so that the HIVE is only open to the public when someone is accountable for the way the space is used. Two concerns prompted the discussion: the burden placed on partners when no one has been designated to manage the space; and the unexplained disappearance of some supplies and equipment.
• Once we have open hours in place we will ask partners to keep the front door locked during non-open hours. Fred volunteered to build a panel of individual doorbells for partners.
• The current volunteers will meet next Sunday at 3:00 to come up with a draft of volunteer protocols and to solidify the drop-in schedule.

Kitchen

• Doors to the pantry and the partners’ hallway have been hung and more work has been done on the framing for the counters. We will be holding workdays every Sunday from now until the kitchen is done (the kitchen is scheduled to be done the end of June).
• We will put a utility sink in the hallway between the bathrooms.
• The kitchen project is finished with the linoleum tiles; the leftovers will be stored in the conference room temporarily, but everyone should be thinking about how best to use them.
• Current kitchen project needs:
  • 2×4s any length
  • Ceramic tile for counters and backsplash (any size, color and quantity)
  • Three-canister pole lamps
  • Free-standing utility sink

Finances
Susan reported that we currently have $400 in the checking account; we’re doing fine.

Events
Kathryn reported that there are no new events this week.

Odds and ends

• Some of the Art’s Cool supplies have disappeared; Jona will be storing her art supplies in the HIVE office from now on. Donations of more art supplies would be very welcome.
• The big copier in the office will be moved to the side of the road.
• NCOSH has taken over the former Word & World office; Ricky reported that NCOSH has been given the lease and welcome packet.
• We agreed that we would like to return the conference room to general use; we need to keep thinking about storage solutions.
• Susan will work on a HIVE contact list for partners; we also need a partner contact list for the Organizing Committee, and a contact list of HIVE activities that could be posted for the public.
• Jonathan will pick up phone messages and answer HIVE emails

The Organizing Committee (OC) meets once a week to manage the operation of The HIVE, review space reservation requests, and handle any business that arises during the operation of the space. All decisions are made by consensus. The OC is open to anyone who wants to come and get involved.

Present: Linsey, Jonathan, Ricky, Fahiym, Susan, Liz, Kammaleahthah, Larkin, Henry, Pankaj, Fred

Opened the meeting with a brief discussion on the need for “in-reach”, for attention toward our relationships with one another. Moved on to business..

Events and event procedure

• Linsey, Larkin and Catherine met, went through events this past week:

• Bike Me! show on calendar for Thur, 5/15
• Out-of-town band turned down
• Larkin and Catherine are ready to take over for Linsey this summer. Hooray and thanks to L. and C. and we’ll miss Linsey while she’s in Portland.
• We’re needing more detailed descriptions of the events on the online calendar so when people visit it they’ll have more info. Larkin will see to this.
• Point people for events need to be assertive and hand the clean-up check list (on clipboard on HIVE office wall) to users of the space to make sure space is being put back. This expectation also needs to go out in the “approval” email sent to groups.
• A reiteration that partners also need to submit a reservation form for use of the meeting space.

Partners

• NCOSH should be moving into the HIVE by June 1st. Ricky and Jonathan will handle the lease with them and will also make sure all of the partner lease files are up to date.
• Jonathan will call Sue regarding a couple of BikeMe! issues: keys, cleaning bathrooms after their work days/events.
• Ricky got an email from Them 5 and they’re hoping to start being around and getting involved more now that their big festival is over.

Storage Space/Conference Room

• Consensus is that we definitely need the conference room for storage right now during the kitchen project; the long-term hope/goal is to return it to a conference room and figure out storage by utilizing the space outside the bathrooms and the HIVE office for storage. Other possible ideas for storage: another shed in back, seeing if Joanna has some space to spare next door since we share a door.

Kitchen workdays

• Will be moved to Sunday dates so that there’s no conflict with Kammaleahthah’s appointments on Saturdays.

Air conditioning

• When the AC is needed, we’re asking partners to set the thermostat at 75.
• Whoever is last out of the building, we’re asking them to move it up to 80.

Volunteers

• Susan will be in contact with Elizabeth.

Glenwood Multicultural Fair, Saturday, May 31

• Someone (Jonathan? Liz?) will check with Mark about having the drum machine at the HIVE for the fair.
• Susan will check with the neighborhood association to see if they have specific needs for using the HIVE during the festival.

Keys, power, ownership, close-up procedure, safety

• A good discussion that I’m afraid I can’t begin to summarize and that will be on-going.

The Organizing Committee (OC) meets once a week to manage the operation of The HIVE, review space reservation requests, and handle any business that arises during the operation of the space. All decisions are made by consensus. The OC is open to anyone who wants to come and get involved.

Present: Liz, Lyle, Linsay, Jonathan, Fred, Fayhim

Go round of things going right
Liz: “Free Food Friday’s” are “going gangbuster.” Lots of new people. All the food is being taken. Opportunity for outreach.

Lyle: The bike project is gaining lots of community interest. Local folks are really interested in getting involved.

Linsay: Inspired by diversity of events, diversity of communities making use of the space. Amazed by how far we’ve come. Interested in starting health awareness days.

Jonathan: Neighborhood folks, especially kids, seem to be taking a sense of ownership over the space.

Fred: Learning how to work with a group of volunteers. They managed to get the trench dug through the concrete (for kitchen). It’s all set and ready to get the plumbing installed. They also got the white boards up. Much of the work was done by volunteers from the homeless community. Folks are really taking ownership over the space.

Fayhim: Feels like the word is starting to spread about the place.

Events
None submitted this week. Kammaleathahh’s event was taken care of last week (Network of Spiritual Progressives).

Fred has broken down major work for the kitchen that needs to get done. It’s the last page in the document on the table in the main room and on the board by the HIVE office. We need to keep these work days in mind when scheduling events. When we book an event we should mark it out on the chart.

Kitchen Project

• They’ve got a good schedule. Are still collecting lots of stuff. Habitat for Humanity is donating tile. The drain is in.
• Tons of work got done. The trench is dug.
• There is a pancake breakfast at 10am on Saturdays in the neighborhood. After that meal could be a good time for workdays.
• The rear room needs to get cleared out this week. If there’s anything back there that you want, take it! That stuff is going to the trash by Sunday.
• There will be a Tuesday work day to haul this stuff away.

Partners

• Invite partners to open house to open offices.
• Let them know about the kitchen work schedule, provide scheduling input.
• Is there a phone list for all partners and organizing committee members?
• Talk about keys at partner meeting.

Bike Me!

• Aiming for grand opening May 4th.
• They want to get a list serve going. They wonder about hosting the list through the HIVE server. DAVE!!!! will you think about this possibility?

Volunteer open house: the 26th

• Got the new flyers from Elizabeth! We’ll start putting them up.
• What do we need to get done before the meeting:
  • The library should be up by then.
  • The kitchen needs to get cleaned.
  • We could make a display: pictures, timeline.
• Ricky needs to invite all the partners to be here for the open house on the 26th.
• We’ll spend time talking about the open house next week.
• Liz will make the email release, press release

Keys
We need to talk about this next Sunday. Its kind of a big question.

The Organizing Committee (OC) meets once a week to manage the operation of The HIVE, review space reservation requests, and handle any business that arises during the operation of the space. All decisions are made by consensus. The OC is open to anyone who wants to come and get involved.

Present: Liz, Eun Sung, Molly, Jonathan, Alice, Erica, Dave, Fahim

Events