Assignment 4

1. Flow was minimal with general subject matter suggested. Tone and content were at our discretion with occasional feedback from Duke to let us know if the material was appropriate. No problems arose in regard to information flow and authority. Continued and more frequent feedback from the organization would have been preferred.

2. Blog continuation is yet to be determined. If PEPP is interested in keeping the blog active, I will accommodate whatever needs they have. PEPP is an organization that I would gladly volunteer time too in keeping the blog active and updated. If PEPP prefers a new direction then I will gladly support this transition and help with any needs they might have.

Time Log - 11/30/06

.5 hours for the carlson post (spent another hour or so looking for present information on carlson which wasn't found). 1 hour for feet to the fire. Also spent some time working on government spending which has yet to be posted. Haven't talked to Duke about direction and possible continuation of the blog.

I also want to reaffirm Chad's issues as my own. Our audiences may be different but the lack of feedback across the blog's is disheartening. Generating readership and comments is the biggest challenge to the authors of the organizational blog's. No one solution is going to solve the issue and it is unlikely that any effort to contact possible readers would change much. The audience needs to be broadened to include a larger demographic, not just the constituency of the organization. My plans are to discuss the existence of the blog with PEPP and then decide whether or not I will continue any work on it. If PEPP feels that it's still a worthwhile effort, I will continue to post issues they deem relevant.

Direction and Intent

My recent post of HAVA was intended to give people an idea how vulnerable our election system is. It was also one of the two topics Duke and I discussed upon meeting.

Voting is the purest form of expression within a democracy, and if it is compromised then you could just as well abandon democracy. If people cannot count on legitimate elections then there is no reason to vote in the first place. The most basic way people change our system is with a vote.

If more poor people in America voted, the political landscape would be quite different. Repeatedly electing the rich into office will not help the poor. How can someone who has never lived in poverty ever have the right perspective to solve the issues that plague the impoverished? Sure there are a few that can empathize(and maybe a few who lived it), but if people that have experienced poverty aren't included in the decision making process, then the poor will stay poor. HAVA and the act of voting are very relevant to PEPP because of this reason.

A large part of PEPP's goal is to get these groups involved in the process. It can only make our system healthier.

Future posts will include the whereabouts of Joel Carlson whom I recently discovered is working as a lobbyist. The post will discuss the history of Joel and how it involves PEPP. Duke had asked me to look into this subject and asked if I could possibly locate Mr. Carlson. I have located him, and identified the organization that employs him. I am currently researching this organization and its function. A new post is in the works and will be up soon.

A likely follow up will be a post on government spending. How much and where its spent with some comparisons.

Time Log - 10/27/06

Forgot to post this last week.
Time spent on HAVA post. Approximately 2.5 hours

Time Log - 10/08/06

If i was to include all the time i spent thinking about this it would be more than a few hours. Indecision time. Time spent creating blog is approxiately 1.5 hours.

Org Blog birth

You can view the blog here. PEPP: Promoting Democracy.

Time Log - 10/01/06

Approximately 1.5 hours spent on assignment 3. This includes a 2nd meeting with duke schemp which lasted 45 minutes. 45 minutes spent on assignment 3.

Assignment 3

1. What is the target audience for your organizational blog? How does that audience contribute to fulfilling the organization’s mission? What does the organization want of the target audience?

Existing members and organizations aswell as new and potential members. Becoming active in local politics, contacting local and state representatives. To be involved in the decision making process.

2. Has the organization targeted this audience in the past? If so, how? To what extent were these previous efforts successful? Was the medium of communication appropriate for the target audience (e.g., deaf persons are not likely to listen to the radio)? What problems did previous efforts encounter?

Yes, going out into the community, meeting with people face to face. previous efforts were made sucessfull by making people and organizations aware of the issues. Medium was mainly face to face and successfull. Some meetings did not attract enough attendants.

3. Given your understanding of the organization and your target audience, what possible things can you imagine writing about for the organizational blog? What issues or difficulties in communicating with and motivating the target audience do you anticipate?

Human service issues such as welfare, foodstamps, assitance(medical/rental). Also the effects of current and past political climates and the effects on organizations such as PEPP. Most people feel they cannot have an effect on local politcs so they seldom try. Work, kids, and other issues make it difficult for some to volunteer time. Technology(computers/internet) is not as common in lower income households.

4. In preparing and publishing the organizational blog, you are a representative of the organization. To whom in the organization do you report? Who in the organization approves your postings before they are published? It is crucial that you reach a clear understanding of these issues and procedures with organizational leaders.

Duke Schemp. Content is at our discresion.

5. Does the organization have a website? What is the address of that website, if they have one? What is (or will be) the address of the organization’s blog that you create(d) for them? Is it (or will it be) on their website or separate and linked to from their website? Which page(s) on their website links to the organization’s blog? Does their website support FTP access? If you chose to have your organization’s blog separate, was it because of organizational reasons (such as that they wanted it to be distinctly separate from their current website) or technological reasons (such as lack of FTP access or server-side scripting support) or some other reason? Which reasons?

www.pepp.org. Blog address is undecided. It will be linked from the main pepp page. Website supports FTP. Ease was the main reason for using blogger.com.

Time Log - 09/20/06

Approximately 1.5 hours. Mondays meeting with Duke lasted .5 hours and time spent on the blog was 1 hour.

Assignment 2

1. Describe the organization with which you are working.

Orignally PEPP was formed in 1986 by a small group of women who organized to challenge and later defeat legislation that when introduced would have cut public assistance by 30%. The success in defeating the legislation built confidence among the group who then decided to create the organization.

2. What is the mission of the organization?

To strategically challenge the power dynamics of systems and institutions by organizing powerfull people and resources through intentional relationships.

3. What programs or activities does the organization undertake to fulfill its mission?

Community organization training, civic engagement, board development, and specific programs such as "waking the sleeping giant", "bennet park cooperative", and "tenant action network".

4. Who benefits from the activities of the organiziation?

The community as a whole aswell as the people they directly work with. Generally these are lower income individuals and families.

5. What groups of people help the organization accomplish its mission?

Churches, Individuals, and other NP organizations. Currently 100 members.

6. What is the community that the organization serves?

Human service issues are its primary focus.

7. What is the organizations role in the community?

To create new leaders, and give people the tools to get involved.

8. How dependent is this community to the organizion.

In my opinion the organization is critical in changing the social and economic picture in the FM area. I would think that empowering these people would be the better option compared to more social programs.