More than 60 VTU members attended the latest general meeting on Saturday, April 27 at the Carnegie Community Centre, where we also celebrated the VTU's 2nd anniversary with cake!

Everyone split up into discussion groups on various topics designed to get thinking about what we're doing well, what we can improve, and how we can get there. Members identified these action items as priorities for the VTU in the coming year:

Decolonization

• Educate our members on decolonization
• Connect to local nations
• Support the resurgence of Indigenous languages
• Indigenous land governance - (how does this intersect with VTU’s work?)

Chapter Building

• Provide VTU resources on tenant issues to chapters
• Chapters hold regular meeting times in their neighborhoods
• Train and mentor new organizers
• Hold small fundraisers (pub nights, art sales, etc)
• Map the chapters on the website, so people know if there’s a chapter in their neighborhood

Fundraising

• Hold a dues drive, reaching out to members who can afford to contribute
• Find donors who can contribute regularly, so the VTU has a predictable budget
• Organize a fundraising event once a year (potential models include People’s Prom and the bowling night held in Toronto that raises 80k/year to work on migrant-worker issues
• Hold small, chapter-based fundraisers
• Have a dedicated fundraiser to connect with organizations and individuals (professors, businesses, unions, community groups, etc)

Language access

• Dedicate a % of fundraising or budget to language access
• Provide multi-lingual trainings
• Write a statement of principles on language access which can then be employed in future meetings
• Make language access a part of all conversations rather than its own silo

Solidarity

• Compile a list of all allied organizations, identifying common issues
• Show up for each other (not just rallies, but meetings also)
• Communicate the struggles of other groups to our networks (newsletter, beyond social media)
• Hold renters clinics for allied groups

Communication

• Do outreach offline to reach tenants without internet
• Have a centralized calendar of everything going on
• Provide organizing resources
• Have contact emails for working groups listed on the website

Volunteer and member engagement

• Hold a new members breakout group
• New members meet 30 minutes before the meeting
• Hold regular, in-person volunteer “onboarding” meetings
• Buddy system to link volunteers
• Table more everywhere
• Have a public-facing contact (website) for each working group
• Handbook for new members (links to organizing resources
• Volunteer coordinators