Web414 - Milwaukee's Web Community

I'm a very involved volunteer for this organization and wish to extend
an invitation to any local web designers who are drawn to this effort
and willing to see if it's worth their time as a way to volunteer for
the public good (the current website is just a bare-bones placeholder for the grand site we have underway):

NEIGHBORHOOD DEMOCRACY NETWORK, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational
charity,

INVITES YOU TO ATTEND THE FOLLOWING EVENTS:

Volunteer Orientation
Thursday, August 23, 2007
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Milwaukee, WI

~ Presentation: "The History of Deliberative Democracy"
-Dr. William Keith, Professor at UW-Milwaukee, Advisory Board Member
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/Commun/faculty/keith.html
~ Presentation: "What is a Neighborhood Democracy Network?"
-Tom Calloway, Board Member, Co-Founder
~ Discussion and Q & A
~ Summary of project status
~ Available projects and volunteer roles

Workgroup Conference with Break-out Sessions
Saturday, August 25, 2007
10:30 am ? 12:00 pm
Milwaukee, WI

~ Website Design and Development
~ Fundraising
~ Public Outreach/Launch
~ Public Forum and Committee Models
~ Marketing and Public Communication
~ Documentation and Website Content Production
~ Officers (Secretary, Treasurer), the Board of Directors, and Advisory
Board

Dear Civic-Minded Friends,

Next Thursday's Orientation will explore our proposed system to expand citizen-led deliberative democracy, called "Neighborhood Democracy Network", and explain how you can help us make it happen. Please consult http://neighborhood-democracy.org to get the flavor of what we want to try.

I will introduce the few, simple ideas that the Neighborhood Democracy Network system is built upon and describe where we think it fits in with past and present forms of direct democracy, representative democracy, and with cultural practices in democratic societies.

Finally, at the Orientation we'll describe our active projects and unfilled roles and then ask if you would like to sign up for one. Neighborhood Democracy Network is a work-in-progress that needs your help.

Two days later at the Workgroup Conference on Saturday each volunteer will have an initial meeting with their workgroup(s), to organize and plan how to carry on or start the project, and to let the Board know what resources you need to make progress.

We are not asking you to make commitment with a capital C--this is volunteering, after all. We welcome your enthusiasm and whatever amount of time you can contribute, though consistency is always useful (and necessary in some cases).

Please RSVP, whether you can attend one (which?) or both meetings. If you cannot attend either one, you can express your interest, and we will keep you in the loop.

Thanks for considering our organization as a possible place to volunteer your time. For more information call me at 262-271-6196 or reply to me by email via Web414.

Sincerely,

Tom Calloway, Board Member
Neighborhood Democracy Network, Inc.