First Year Prioritizing PDF Version

Five-Year Strategic Plan for the Young Democratic Socialists, USA

This is a long-term plan based on discussions at the summer conference of 2009. It also incorporates language from a resolution, “Building Bridges and Locals,” passed at the conference. The Coordinating Committee (CC), YDS’s volunteer leadership, is empowered to implement this plan. The Coordinating Committee is obligated to present a progress report at each summer conference and winter conference explaining in detail the efforts, successes, and failures with regards to implementation of this plan. The CC is entitled to propose revisions to this plan during summer conferences. All revisions must be adopted by the body of the summer conference unless extenuating circumstances require immediate action. All activities of the CC not explicitly listed in this document must directly or indirectly help achieve the goals set out here.

Unanimously passed August 2, 2009 by the YDS Convention

Long Term Goal: By 2014, have 13 strong chapters and 50 total chapters.

Intermediate Goal: By 2011, have 8 strong chapters and 26 total chapters.

Steps to achieve this goal:

Chapter outreach

• Have individual chapter reach out to schools around them
• Have winter conference outside of NYC
• Prioritize diverse national organizations for outreach
• Target specific schools for membership
• Easy access to DSA contacts from the national office
• Forward local contacts to national office
• Hold three regional conferences per year
• Regional activist listserves or forum websites
• Chapters do quarterly check-ins with national office and regional leaders

Visibility/branding in a socialist way

• Compilation CD
• YouTube videos of workshops and individual speakers, etc.
• Pod casts
• Incorporate celebrities like Cornel West, Barbara Ehrenreich, Fabricio Rodriguez, Michael Eric Dyson, Corey Walker, Frances Fox Piven, Bill Fletcher Jr., Joseph Schwartz alongside rank-and-file members (not limited to this list) in “Rad Radicals” for said outreach (such promotion should be used as a tool, but not be a top priority, and real members must be the true face of our organization)
• More schwag featuring our logo, chapter t-shirts, national t-shirts, buttons, patches, stickers (stickerguy.com) and bumper stickers, sold on the website
• Attend conferences and national protests of other major leftist/liberal organizations including, but not limited to:
  • United Students Against Sweatshops
  • Student Labor Action Project • Students for a Democratic Society
  • Campus Progress
  • Feminist Majority Foundation
  • Choice USA
  • Student Farmworker Alliance
  • Jobs With Justice
  • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
  • MEChA
  • School of the Americas Protest
  • United States Student Association
  • Left Forum
  • Take Back America
  • Bash Back
• Syndicate Editorials to College and Local Newspapers
• Redesign Web Site
• Wear our YDS Gear at protests and conferences
• Develop Chapter Web Sites with a standard template include regular chapter updates
• Promote Red Letter and include regular chapter updates
• Promote TheActivist.org
• Rad Radicals: profiles of members and non-member friends (see above)
• Feed our articles to Common Dreams, Znet, Portside, Campus Progress, etc.
• Workshops at conferences on how to write press releases

Long Term Goal: All Chapters do internal socialist education once a month after five years

Intermediate Goal: All chapters should do internal socialist education once a semester after two years

• Make bullet pointed pamphlets regarding various topics including but not limited to myths/facts of socialism. Issues such as the environment, feminism, anti-racism, class, labor, civil liberties and imperialism/war, prisons, immigration, rise of neoliberalism, queer rights, personal stories of YDSers, why the fist and rose, local chapters create local history piece, history of socialists and their successes nationally and internationally, guide about do-it-yourself, and a piece on rhetoric and how the rightwing uses it
• A welcome packet for all new members containing three or four pieces of literature with discussion questions that all chapters use each fall
• National cadre will have a much more extensive education through a better reader. Send out reader to every chapter with follow-up – each chapter will report back with an evaluation re how used
• Chapters should also start reading groups that incorporate not only the extensive reader, but also primary texts (also David Harvey Youtube videos about Capitalism)
• Workshop on elevator pitch at conferences
• Workshop to delve more deeply into readings at conferences. • Workshops on public speaking at conferences
• Organize YDS delegations to writing trainings and/or develop resource list

Long Term Goal: summer conferences have 50% women, summer conferences have 50% people of color

Intermediate Goal: Coordinating Committee be 50% people of color after two years

• Develop readers in feminism, queer rights, and antiracism, and track chapter use (including the already created immigration reader). These readers can be incorporated in internal education
• Chapters track if they’re doing solidarity work with diverse groups on campus
• Workshops on being allies at all conferences
• Incorporate history of joint work with and by socialists that are women and people of color into our reader
• Speakers at conferences should be majority women and people of color
• Major anti-racism plenary at every conference
• Prioritize travel scholarships for conferences for women, people of color, working class people, and people who want to start chapters, though ultimately at the organizer’s discretion
• Reiterate to chapters that they should attempt to make conference delegations half women and half people of color

Long Term Goal: 30 YDS alumni in Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) locals in five years and five DSA locals founded by YDS alumni

Intermediate Goal: 10 YDS alumni in DSA chapter in two years and two DSA chapters founded by YDS alumni in two years

• National office gives the DSA local development committee as well as the National Organizing Committee Facilitator new contacts every single month
• The YDS NOCF must join the DSA local developing committee (of NPCers)
• YDS chapters should do DSA campaigns like renegotiate NAFTA and promote and use the Economic Justice Agenda pamphlet
• Chapter leaders should send contact lists to the national youth organizer regularly to extend the connections between the base and the national office
• Quarterly calls on programming actions between YDSers and DSAers
• College graduates must seek and be provided with local DSA groups. If there’s no DSA group they should start one
• Chapter leaders should provide a list of graduating seniors to the national office in the spring.
• Mention DSA more in YDS literature
• Chapters should have membership drives and should share that information with DSA with national
• Encourage YDS members to attend DSA meetings during school breaks and get involved with DSA committees
• Each YDS chapter should have a DSA liaison
• A list of DSA members that do campus speaking tours
• Adopt the resolution at the DSA convention

Long Term Goals: Double the national organizers travel fund and travel subsidies or stipends for regional organizing tours by members. 75% Increase the dues paying membership – 600 dues paying members.

Intermediate Goal: 400 dues paying members in two years, 2011

• Increase membership sign-up (see chapter goals 75% dues paying members in each chapter)
• Emphasize credit cards in membership sign up
• Consider developing a welcome packet with schwag or other small benefit for members, or other discounts on t-shirts
• Online store and local swag
• Each chapter do one fundraising event or membership drive per year for the national office (fundraising to go to travel scholarships or organizer travel budget)
• Pursue grants
• Each chapter extract funding from school (ex. Get large honorariums for speakers and then donate them to the national office
• Clearer YDS budget from national office
• More and stable funding