View source for Online technology for youth organizing

==Participants==
* Sergio, Center for Regional Change @ UC Davis
* Josh Levinger, tech strategist & developer
* Dorion, mobile app developer, westimulate.org
* Gina, Unfold
* Ron Collins, Labor Community Strategies Center
* Joevonte, Black Organizing Project
* Yuritzy Gomez, CCISCO

==Introductions== 

'''Sergio:'''
young people have created their own campaigns
but not as much use of technology to amplify their voices
want to change from university perspective to fit community needs

'''Dorion:'''
active in community watch initiatives, lack of access for young people
digital divide still very real our communities
doing training to build mobile apps, job training skills
need to develop talent locally, reinvest in youth
build networks, connections between individuals to counter negative perceptions

'''Ron:'''
access may not entirely be the issue (lots of kids on facebook)
more engagement, mobilize people (online to offline)
how do you talk about "school to prison pipeline" in a way that's engaging, not depressing
want to get bodies out of social media, make it a viable organizing tool
1500 followers on facebook, not one person comes out to an event

==Topics Discussed==

need to engage members, not just as consumers / followers

'''Example:''' mobilization for a public hearing - bus riders union.
rsvps work, but likes don't.
facebook posts about events not sharing well.

is there a good way of learning about your members, following up with them individually?
- [http://crowdbooster.com/ Crowdbooster] works with facebook / twitter

match sms blasts with actions
some cost, but cheaper tools like [http://revolutionmessaging.com/ revolutionmessaging.com]

how to boost engagement?
don't want to always post cats

follow historical practices
ask what the people want, engage their interests, weave your message in
have the folks who are most affected lead the issue

how to deal with personal safety, before technology
armed police, guns in schools
strength in numbers, ensure police are accountable
panthers provided free training, hospitals, food
capitalism is the root problem

do police communicate with kids in schools?
created complaint policy to deal with problem officers
but ended up with kids bringing their own guns

student, parent, officer sit down with principal
talk through altercation, hear their voice
restorative justice

why do some kids become involved in gangs?
dialogue with leaders, find points of intervention

data that police officers in schools decreased violence
need to flip it around, prove that they don't need to be there any more
police don't live in the communities they patrol, lack local sensitivity
restorative justice can lead to bigger drop in violence than just adding more police

do you capture altercations on film?
not sure that's legal...
check out [http://copwatchnyc.org/ copwatch.colorofchange.org]

pure data doesn't always tell the truth
analysis can have a narrative 

matters who is producing the data, who is using it
university label can validate community stories
co-design of tools with communities

need to ensure that tools don't buy into existing (capitalist) structure
apps can be accessible outside of iphone / android
don't exclude low-income communities

myth of widespread penetration of social media
want to organize against the system, should we use their tools to do it?
focus on more peer to peer systems (email, sms, in person organizing)
don't pay facebook to reach their own members

don't want to repeat practices that we know don't win