Scene 1: Green Light Project Meeting: Brainstorming Session

Backstory:

After the first week and a half in MGV, our group still had not been introduced to many of the Green Light Project leaders and members. As a result we decided it would be necessary to plan a meeting and invite all the GLP leaders. The meeting would also help us better understand how they view the help centre project. The meeting was set to take place on Thursday, 1 November.

Plan

The purpose of this meeting was to familiarize ourselves with the rest of the Green Light Project leaders and to get their opinion on how the organisation was fairing, how they saw the organisation growing, and the opportunities they felt could be utilized from the establishment of a help centre where they may operate. We also wanted the leaders to brainstorm places they felt could be investigated as possible venues for the help centre and other organisations present in the community that may want to get involved with the project as well.

In order to do this, we drafted an agenda for the meeting as shown below:

  • Introduction
  • Brainstorm Session
    • Community Organizations
    • Venue Options
  • Current Initiatives of the Green Light Project
  • Future Initiatives of the Green Light Project
    • Short Term
    • Long Term (with venue)
  • Call for involvement in our project.

We felt that these topics would guide the meeting and help us get the information we needed, while allowing us to start bonding with the rest of the Green Light Project leaders.

Cast of Characters: Naiela Baatjies, Sheila Galant, Ronell Trout, Basil Tommy, Jennifer Stacy

Key “Take-Away” Observations:

  • The leaders of the Green light Project are dedicated to driving the development of the community.
  • A strategic plan for the Green Light Project will need to be drawn up to accommodate and plan for the implementation of the long-term plans of the different committees of the Green Light Project.
  • There is a variety of venue options, which puts us in a strong position for proposal writing.
  • Deliberating on possible venues by giving advantages and disadvantages was a good way of getting all members of the Green Light Project to realise the kind of commitment and work that will have to go into acquiring a venue.

Action and Observation

We met with the leaders of the Green light Project to brainstorm possible venues and uses for the help centre. The meeting was held in the community Methodist church hall. All but three of the committee leaders were able to attend. There was a lot of fruitful discussion on the Green Light Project’s current status and how they felt the organisation could move forward.

Concerning venue options for the help centre, we brainstormed a list of three possible venues and elaborated on the advantages and disadvantages of each of the options that were discussed. Through this discussion we were able to gather information on the specifications for the help centre such as space needs, location, costs, and security needs.

The last part of our discussion covered what opportunities the Green Light Project leaders felt the help centre will open. This discussion gave us an idea of some of the long-term goals of the organisation as seen by the leaders.

Reflections and Learning

This meeting allowed us to meet other members of the Green Light Project who were as passionate about helping the community as Ronell and Shelia. Through this meeting we were enlightened on what the different committees viewed was important for them to function more efficiently in the future. This shed some light onto the essential things to consider for the functioning of the help centre.

This meeting also showed us the wide range of options for the venue as well as some of the difficulties involved in each of the possible venues. Informing us on which were the more feasible venue options, it allowed us to begin thinking about strategies that we might need to implement in order to acquire the desired venue.

Finally, the input from the community leaders during the meeting helped us see where the Green Light Project was looking to go in furthering the development of MGV.

Moving Forward

The information obtained from this meeting going forward will be used in drawing up plans concerning which venues to further investigate. It also gave us information needed to be able to start drafting a strategic plan for the Green Light Project.

We intend to continue building up support by planning a meeting with the other organizations in the community. It is out hopes through these meetings we can obtain some more input into the development of the help centre.

 

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