I think there are some clear benefits of becoming a confederate in the CfA network:

1. Funding for CHN members to travel and attend the CfA congress.
2. A big network of people that we can share (and show off, really) our projects to, and gain access to their projects. We mustn't let "first, oldest, and biggest" stand in the way of collaborating around with similar groups around the United States. And we don't have to maintain these relationships, as Chris described that people at CfA (including himself) do the connecting on behalf of individuals within each group.

I think the next steps are for skeptics to outline what a memorandum of understanding must say before they would sign it.

Hi all,

I'll make a few clarifying thing based on Ediger's post before going any further.

We would want to be clear that ChiHackNight is a separate organization that is allying itself with CfA I'll work this into an MOU, but right now our website states 'The Code for America Brigade Network is a national alliance of community organizers, developers, and designers that are putting technology to work in service of our local communities.' One of the subjects at Congress and leading up to Congress will be how to position our branding to better reflect that we're more a confederated org than a traditional chapter model, but that a network-wide conversation led by NAC and not just a Chicago/HQ convo. _

We would push for CfA to become a alliance member, as opposed to the guiding organization.
Right now, groups are either part of the network or they're not. I'm not sure what you mean by guiding org.

We would like to see a governance model that gives voice to all alliance members
Currently, the way that governance works is primarily through the National Advisory Council. It's an elected group of 9 people that meet with CfA staff on a regular basis and help drive the major initiatives of the network. (National Day, Congress, ect). We also have Brigade Action Teams that help take on tasks from the larger network of volunteers. (Days of Action, Knowledge Base, Diversity and Inclusion). Anyone in the network can join a BAT and the idea was that this would help volunteers have input on major initiatives. They work similar to our breakout groups. In practice, we hadn't gotten the results we wanted and so we're still tinkering. Any change to the governing model would run through NAC and if it's a big enough shift - would run through the Brigade network as a whole. Of course, to take part in those discussions CHN would need to be part of the network. The next NAC term ends at Congress with elections following right after.

Seems like we don't have much to lose.

As a thought experiment, if another national or international organization wanted us to sign on to be part of their competing confederation of empanada eaters, would we be prevented by the agreement with CfA?

Edit: I guess what I would like to see is a neat little list of, if we sign up...

1) What do we have to do?
2) What can't we do?
3) What's easier to do?
4) What's harder to do?
5) What's the benefit(s)?
6) What's the harm(s)

I can answer the first two on CfA's side

1) What do we have to do

At this point, we would just need Leadership Committee to designate a point of contact and I would onboard them. Since it's non-monetary it's pretty simple. We were planning on having an MOU process again next year, but this will be a good reason to move it up the list.

The one other thing that Brigade network members are expected is to adhere to a code of conduct. To date, only one Brigade has been severed from the network and that was after a year of trying to enforce a Code of Conduct that respected all attendees. (I'll be happy to tell that story offline)

2) What can't we do?
- Be partisan AS A BRIGADE - there are plenty of people who are active in partisan politics they just can't do it as a representative of their Brigade.

• For Brigades communities that are using our donation/expense platforms, we have some guidelines on what they can spend money on (you can only spend it on brigade activities or travel to brigade events). Since CHN isn't using our donation/expense platform it's not CfA's concern.

Not on CfA’s end

In fact, NIU’s TechBark is also part of Major League Hackers.

Christopher WhitakerCode for America Brigade Manager
@CivicWhitaker

(Sent from mobile)

@joelinwood, I like your list. It reflects what I said last night, but didn't get into my post.

After mulling this over after our lengthy discussion on Tuesday and setting aside the baggage I have regarding the way the Brigade program has been run in the past (before @christopherwhitake's leadership), I am fine with proceeding with this.

My major sticking point: I do not want Chi Hack Night to be referred to as a 'Brigade' but rather a member of the larger network of volunteer civic hacking communities that Code for America helps coordinate.

Here's my rationale:

• The military & hierarchy symbolism of the term 'Brigade' does not at all jive with our community structure or beliefs
• We want to be clear that Chi Hack Night is a separate organization that is allying itself with CfA (@steveediger's first point)
• We plan on pushing for the Brigade network under the leadership of the National Advisory Council (NAC) to be fully independent, as opposed to being overseen by CfA (modified version of @steveediger's second point)
• Chi Hack Night was founded before the Brigade program was established and much of the Brigade program has been influenced by our event.
• Our community and brand are strongly established and we don't gain much (if anything) from the associated CfA branding (though I recognize groups in other cities do)

Other items I'd like to see in the MOU:
- Any and all references CfA and its members make to projects done at Chi Hack Night will be credited to the creators and managers of those projects, with reference that the group is associated with Chi Hack Night (ie, it is not a Chi Hack Night project, or a CfA Brigade project, but a project by the creators themselves as members of this community). This includes CfA network communications, investor & customer pitch decks, public events, etc
- CfA shall not dictate any projects or programs Chi Hack Night will take on outside tasks related maintaining our standing as a member of the community (CHN already does not engage in political campaigns and all projects done by our community members are not owned or controlled by CHN, so we already jive with @christopherwhitake's point on partisan activities)
- CHN reserves the right to leave the network if deemed necessary by our leadership council

Feedback is most welcome.

I'm fine with Hack Night joining or not joining. We discussed that working groups are free to join individually.

I would expect project teams to dictate how their projects are promoted. I'm not comfortable with the MOU dictating that on our behalf.

Kristi, could you elaborate more on your last point?

I agree with Kristi on this one. I recognize that the work the leadership team puts in makes our projects possible. And it is a lot of work. But if for instance, I could get CfA to promote my nursing home project, which isn't exactly thriving at the moment, I'd be completely fine with them claiming it for whatever fundraising purpose they wanted.

On the other hand, if they tried to claim they had a hand in some other people's project, to the detriment of those people or that project, then I'd be pissed.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'd like to see in the MOU that they have to ask permission before they use something in their marketing materials, and the permission has to come from the group that made the thing.

I realize this makes it look like a CfA and not at CHN project, which skips right over the hard work the leadership put in to facilitate the whole thing.

Maybe there's a compromise (that doesn't involve the word "brigade"). I'm sure that if I keep typing my thoughts at the moment I have them, as I'm doing now, in a stream of sans-serif consciousness, eventually I'll type out a solution. Just got to keep typing.

Look how sad my nursing home stats are. LOOK AT IT!

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