• Engage a large, national sample of Coffee Party members in a conversation about their visions for the Coffee Party. Use member comments and feedback to develop a series of member-supported draft statements of the Coffee Party's Core Values, its Purpose, and its strategic Goals --- and present these statements to the Board of the Coffee Party for the Board's consideration.
• Conduct this project via an open, inclusive, collaborative, civil, and democratic process of dialogue, deliberation, and decision making that can be replicated throughout the Coffee Party.

• First, click the checkbox just below the message field, indicating that your "message follows the guidelines." These are the Civility guidelines by which everyone who registers on Shared Purpose agrees to abide.
• Second, select your audience. The dropdown menu just below the Civility checkbox offers two options. You can "send by email to all subscribers." Or you can "post to web only --- do not send by email." If you are replying to a thread, rather than starting a new one, you also will see an option to send your message only as a private email to the person who wrote the message to which you are replying.
• Third, select "Preview" or "Send message now," in the dropdown menu just below the audience selection menu. To preview your message, select "Preview," then click "POST message." Your message will not post --- and the composition interface still will be visible. To send your message, simply scroll down; change the setting to "Send message now"; and click "POST message."

THE POWER OF THE CITIZEN MUST OVERTAKE THE POWER OF MONEY http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/Summit-Jan20-21 The day after the 2010 midterm election is now upon us. In the coming weeks, as we learn more about the avalanche of outside funding that dominated this year's races, we are taking steps to focus the nation on an issue that goes far beyond partisan politics. The fact that the power to legislate can be so easily purchased in Washington is at the heart of the frustrations most Americans share. It is the answer to the question, "Why is our government so unresponsive to the people?" We need to focus our efforts on solving this problem now — not as members of any political party, but as the American people demanding fair representation. To restore government of, for and by the people (not the funders), we must insist on legislative and Constitutional remedies to the reckless Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court, which declared corporations are persons with inalienable rights, allowed to spend unlimited, undisclosed amounts of money to influence our elections and thereby dominate our government. Unfortunately, real leadership on this issue will not come from Washington. It simply can't because any elected leader who seeks to address this problem will face the wrath of institutions who can simply threaten to destroy them. The power of the voter must overtake the power of money. The leadership must come from us, the citizens. We must make them do it. The Coffee Party is urgently calling for a sustained, citizen-led movement to address the problem of money in politics and the harmful effects of the Citizens United decision. Our growing coalition already includes the Backbone Campaign, Fix Congress First, and Move to Amend. Today we are reaching out to many other organizations such as Public Campaign, Free Speech for People and Common Cause. We will:

• Become "Paul Reveres" in our communities, and inform the public about how this problem is crippling our economy and our jeopardizing our future
• Help bring together a broad-based coalition of existing organizations
• Develop strategies to make this THE issue for the 2012 elections, including recruiting candidates and raising funds for a Political Action Committee (PAC)
• Focus our respective memberships on a grassroots campaign to put pressure on the House of Representatives to pass the Fair Elections Now Act during the lame-duck session
• Work with our coalition partners to organize community meetings and regional strategy summits around the United States

• Organize on Shared Purpose
  • Create a discussion group
  • Publicize this initiative to a large SP audience
  • Publicize the issue to a local Santa Barbara audience -- using Shared Purpose and other networks
• Organize nationally
  • Create a database of organizations that want to implement S/B
  • Contact leading activists and become involved with their work, or invite them into our network
  • Support congressional leaders who support S/B
  • Run a national network on SP
  • Outreach to No Labels, an organization advocating for S/B
• Organize locally
  • Organize locally in Santa Barbara
    1. Outreach through SB area contacts in Shared Purpose
    2. Use other electronic networks for SB area, including Interspirit networks and Obama networks
    3. Have meetings here in Santa Barbara
    4. Outreach to groups in other demographics -- such as conservative groups, Tea Party, etc.
  • Organize chapters and groups anywhere in the USA who are interested in this issue
    1. Provide network support
    2. Help coordinate events

• Gatherers to gather instances of misinformation.
• Researchers to research the facts.
• Writers to write up compelling communication pieces reporting the facts.
• Spreaders to help us get our fact checks out there.
• Correctors to demand corrections and accountability to spreaders of misinformation.
• Managers to help manage the volunteers and work flow.

Environmental/Green Energy Issues

1. Create a profile and join this group
2. Use the “My Groups” button in the left column to sign in to the Lobby for the People group. A green box at the top of the page will say, “You have signed in to your group.”
3. Check the “Forum” for current projects and strategy discussions by clicking on the “Forum” button at the top, center.
4. Click on the “Documents” button (also top, center) to upload the letter you plan to send to your Senator or Representative. This will serve as an inspiration and reference for others, and an idea factory for talking points. Or, you can ask for feedback on your letter.
5. The “Documents page” will give you access to collaborative documents, such as tips for effective lobbying visits to Congressional offices. You can create your own versions of these documents if you have experiences to share.

• We can work together
• We become strong when we come together from every demographic, with every different kind of expertise
• We can weave a collaborative community that is much stronger and more illuminated than any single individual can possibly be

1. Identify other active, like-minded groups in the area.
2. Promote, participate, and help with their events and projects that run parallel to causes and goals we support.
3. Create a space online for organizers and people to meet, connect and strategize together.

1. These three websites
   • www.facebook.com/coffeeparty
   • www.coffeepartyusa.com
   • www.sharedpurpose.net
   can serve various functions: they give people the ability to speak their mind in an open, respectful environment, access to greater information because of the link sharing features, organize with people all over the country, collaborate on projects, using private and shared groups to e-mail, create shared documents, and more. Training and help can be provided to anyone who is unsure how to use these assets. It is important to realize these online tools are still developing, like the Coffee Party. We should always be open to innovative and effective ideas that improve social media, ones that give more power to the people and make our online experiences more meaningful.
2. For the long term, creating a method by which communities empower themselves and the individuals within them. This will be like a recipe, with many ingredients and several steps involved. This method or recipe can be applied anywhere, but will be different in each community or instance.

THE POWER OF THE CITIZEN MUST OVERTAKE THE POWER OF MONEY http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/Summit-Jan20-21 The day after the 2010 midterm election is now upon us. In the coming weeks, as we learn more about the avalanche of outside funding that dominated this year's races, we are taking steps to focus the nation on an issue that goes far beyond partisan politics. The fact that the power to legislate can be so easily purchased in Washington is at the heart of the frustrations most Americans share. It is the answer to the question, "Why is our government so unresponsive to the people?" We need to focus our efforts on solving this problem now — not as members of any political party, but as the American people demanding fair representation. To restore government of, for and by the people (not the funders), we must insist on legislative and Constitutional remedies to the reckless Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court, which declared corporations are persons with inalienable rights, allowed to spend unlimited, undisclosed amounts of money to influence our elections and thereby dominate our government. Unfortunately, real leadership on this issue will not come from Washington. It simply can't because any elected leader who seeks to address this problem will face the wrath of institutions who can simply threaten to destroy them. The power of the voter must overtake the power of money. The leadership must come from us, the citizens. We must make them do it. The Coffee Party is urgently calling for a sustained, citizen-led movement to address the problem of money in politics and the harmful effects of the Citizens United decision. Our growing coalition already includes the Backbone Campaign, Fix Congress First, and Move to Amend. Today we are reaching out to many other organizations such as Public Campaign, Free Speech for People and Common Cause. We will:

• Become "Paul Reveres" in our communities, and inform the public about how this problem is crippling our economy and our jeopardizing our future
• Help bring together a broad-based coalition of existing organizations
• Develop strategies to make this THE issue for the 2012 elections, including recruiting candidates and raising funds for a Political Action Committee (PAC)
• Focus our respective memberships on a grassroots campaign to put pressure on the House of Representatives to pass the Fair Elections Now Act during the lame-duck session
• Work with our coalition partners to organize community meetings and regional strategy summits around the United States