The co-op currently meet every Tuesday. Minutes are taken each meeting, with a summary of those minutes posted below.
24/11/2020
As only four members of the coop were present a few agenda items were carried over for next week.
- Culture Recovery Fund: Staff provided a brief update and the coop spoke briefly about how the money could be used to make the space more environmentally friendly.
- Staff Survey: Coop member David gave an update on the staff survey and other steps to ensure staff welfare remains a priority.
- Whiteness: The coop further explored the areas to address around whiteness and spoke of organisations we could speak to to offer guidance.
17/11/2020
- Whiteness: The coop reviewed the pledges and spoke about the need to re-establish the community outreach working group, learn more about Salford and the groups/organisations we could work with and spoke about a new history board.
- Demographics Survey: Partisan currently holds very little demographic data on its members and user groups. Coop volunteer Shaun has put together a questionnaire which the coop reviewed.
- Culture Recovery Fund: The coop reviewed what the money has to be spent on and what we would like to purchase/fund through the grant. The coop is taking steps to ensure that the fund is spent appropriately and that the collective can feed into where the money is spent. As staff wages are covered by the CRF Partisan staff are no longer on furlough.
- Plans for New Space at Islington Mill: The coop spoke about potential for the new space, mostly concerning the layout of the new offices and how the space could be used to serve the community.
10/11/2020
- Whiteness: The pledges we made linked to the setup of Partisan’s BIPOC fund will be reviewed by the collective and we’ll decide on next steps. The BIPOC group will meet with Sophie to discuss how funds can be used effectively and for what type of event/action.
- ACE Funding / How to spend it: Due to ongoing changes to Government guidelines and the new lockdown we will be able to re-allocate spendings according to our needs. We can access more money from the new furlough scheme instead of spending grant funds on staff wages. The newly freed money can go towards accessibility, but also towards other assets for space and community. The collective is invited to share their ideas. What would you like to see in the space? Partisan’s Community Outreach Team are creating a survey initiated by Spark & Co. to research what Partisan’s BPOC community and new neighbors in Salford need the most.
- Redistribution of Staff Hours: Partisan’s Finance Coordinator Dandy has done a fantastic job in the past months and has gone above and beyond. Now that we are in a more stable and settled situation with a good safety net they have requested a reduction of work hours. The coop is looking into what Partisan needs the most and is planning to redistribute staff funds to new roles and existing roles to reflect their working hours better
- Move to Islington Mill: Partisan is about to sign the lease for the new space after thorough consultation with a solicitor. Manchester Disabled People’s Action Group will be commissioned for an accessibility audit in December to make the new space fit for purpose.
- Goodbye to Partisan’s Volunteer Coordinator Kati: Kati has done a wonderful job in mobilising and organising all things related to Partisan’s membership. All the best to her in her new job!
20/10/2020
- Moving out update: There were discussions around potentially picking up keys for new space at IM to put things in before Nov 1st. Further detailed discussions about the practicalities of a disability audit and costings/info on a fixed or movable ramp are being sought.
- Whiteness: Lots of work has been done on the launch event, discussion around pledges being up for review as they were written prior to us moving, coop members will review and pledges are to be reposted on relevant slack channel
- Rachaels 6 month plan: Rachael will produce a document with relevant info around culture, mission, aims and values extracted from the successful ACE funding bid and present to the collective for review. She will be creating a Christmas channel this week so keep an eye out!
- Coop accountability, health and general temperature check: discussions around progress of accountability scrutiny, needs further work and to be reprioritised. More focus on how to recruit and retain new coop members as well as creating a sustainable handover method from coop and staff members who leave, to ensure our institutional memory remains clear.
- ACE funding: There will be further discussions on how Partisan intends to spend the ACE funding we were awarded, discussions will be presented to the collective for their input.