The following proposal reached consensus at the General Assembly of Occupy Boston on January 1, 2012:

Mutual Aid Amendment Proposal

• This proposal will supersede the previous Mutual Aid proposal of $5,000 that was consented to by the Occupy Boston General Assembly on December 20th, 2011.
• The purpose of the aid provided by this proposal is to provide transitional assistance to Occupy Boston activists who were most physically affected by the eviction of the Dewey Square encampment and the support network it provided. This will help members transition away from life in the encampment and also help them be more productive activists.The aid provided by this proposal is temporary. It will end January 29 or when the allocated funds of $4400 are exhausted, whichever comes first.
• Assistance proposed will include and be limited to: T-Passes, Food, Cell phones assistance, Occupant Hosting assistance
• To ensure that recipients of mutual aid are active members of Occupy Boston and the Dewey Square encampment, individuals must have signatures of two sponsors from the working groups in which the individual is an active member in order to receive assistance.
• All requests for aid must be made in writing and submitted to assigned members of the Mutual Aid Working Group (MAWG) at General Assemblies or MAWG meetings. Mutual Aid Working Group Members will review requests and then request the approved amount of money from the Financial Aid Working Group (FAWG). Aid will then be dispersed by MAWG at the following General Assembly. Other forms of aid will be dispersed via working groups, as described below.
• As this proposal is meant to provide transitional assistance, aid from this proposal will be available until January 29th, four weeks from now.
• Funds donated with the Mutual Aid WePay Button will be used to offset the $4,400 taken out of the General Fund, up to $4,400. Nearly $700 has been spent from the previous Mutual Aid proposal; this amount will be subtracted from the final week that this presented proposal is active.
• We ask the Media Working Group to help promote Occupy Boston Mutual Aid to help generate donations to it.
• Income checks are not required. We ask that those seeking aid are in need of assistance and remember that others are seeking funds as well.
• For members seeking individual support from their working groups, requests must be put in writing to the working group, and MAWG will collect written requests at General Assemblies in order to provide accountability and oversight. Continue reading “GA Refines Mutual Aid Proposal” »

The General Assembly of Occupy Boston consented to the following proposal January 1, 2012:

On December 13, 2011, Occupy Boston’s General Assembly consented to a proposal to pay for travel for Boston occupiers who chose to travel to other encampments, including Providence, or Washington, DC.

To date, Occupy Boston has spent $3,325 on this proposal.

In addition, a 12/20 Mutual Aid proposal, amended on 1/1/12, suggests spending up to $4400 by January 29.

Since the eviction, Occupy Boston has earned $1840 in donations.

I propose to freeze the travel proposal, immediately, and render it no longer viable, and no longer pay anyone for travel, excepting two return tickets to be bought by 1/2/12 for two occupiers traveling to Washington, DC for an approved reason.

The following proposal was passed by the General Assembly on December 27, 2011:

Signs WG Proposal for First Night: To allocate funds for materials for banners and other materials for First Night. We propose the ability to draw up to $250 for the purchase of these materials to be able to supply other Working Groups with banners and related materials for use on First Night for the purpose of engaging and educating the 99%, including a banner to be hung from The Community Church on Boylston Street.

Costs include:

Fabric $150

Paint and other supplies $50

Taxes and overages $50

The following proposal was passed at the General Assembly the evening of December 20, 2011:

 Mutual Aid Working Group Proposal

The Mutual Aid Working Group proposes that we, as the OB family, set aside 5K from the general fund for members of the OB family who are facing hard times with limited-to-no income. The use of the funds would include but not be limited to the following:

1- $25 a week for an individual to house each houseless OB family member if the host accepts

2- T passes

3- Winter gear not provided by logistics

4- Emergency housing funds if OB individuals can’t provide accommodations

5- Undergarments

6- “Non-essential” bills like cell phones or utilities

In order to be fair and transparent, an individual must have 2 OB sponsors to verify that they are indeed OB activists and in need. Individuals will be asked to fill out a request form with info from these sponsors (form will be attached).

The need for Autonomy is key. This proposal will go to those OB members with income, to be fair as even people with jobs and homes face tough choices. Knowing that some will not want to identify themselves openly, confidentiality will be protected. We ask that individuals self-identify and assess their own level of need, i.e., there will be no income checks.

We propose to identify 3 members from FAWG as the main people to disburse funds at GA who will keep copies of these forms and keep a running tally of funds disbursed.

We propose that a weekly allotment of $200 go toward the advance purchase of weekly T passes to be distributed at GA to anyone who needs them.

Some charities have suffered in this economy and this is how to help our brothers and sisters within the Occupy Movement, and where many may not meet the criteria from outside agencies. To augment these funds there will the creation of a We Pay button.

This is a temporary proposal meant to support occupiers in need until such time as we can acquire permanent housing for our movement and members.

We will revisit this proposal on a month-to-month basis for possible revision based on how well it is working.

The Mutual Aid Working Group would also like to advertise the following resource for finding services for the homeless:

http://www.bphc.org/programs/esc/homelessnessserviceproviders/Pages/Home.aspx

The following proposal passed during Occupy Boston’s General Assembly of December 26, 2011:

All proposals must be fully written or typed and presented to the stack monitor before they will be put on the agenda for the night’s GA. The facilitation WG will make available proposal forms, pens, and a wireless printer/copier at every GA. In the case of emergencies, exceptions will be made. Facilitation will, to the best of their ability, help any proposers in overcoming any barriers, language, technological, or otherwise.