The Common Ground Network for Life and Choice Manual

very happy to find a fresh and positive new angle on the abortion conflict and will do stories
on your common ground effort.
The Nuts and Bolts of an Ongoing Effort
Logistics
There are basic tasks to be carried out to make an ongoing group work. At a minimum,
meeting place has to be arranged; meeting time and place communicated; notes of meetings
taken and distributed; and a contact/mailing list developed and maintained. Some groups
organize food and/or beverages for meetings. Depending upon any action plans made, tasks can
expand to include arranging events, drafting and issuing press releases, and producing written
materials for the group, such as stationery, a statement of purpose, a banner and/or a brochure.
These tasks are going to be assumed by group members. However, experience teaches
that it is very helpful for the group to have some support from an existing organization that can
provide space, do mailings, have meeting reminder calls made, etc. People have to be creative
about this. What follows are examples of how others have met this challenge.
In several instances a community mediation center has been able to provide some
logistical support (e.g. a meeting place, a mailing address) along with a facilitator, without
charge or with a minimal charge. The Network’s recent association with the National
Association for Community Mediation should encourage this. Elsewhere, meeting space has
been given by an ecumenical organization, an advocacy group, a women’s resource center (not
clinic), and a consulting firm. In one location a friendly professor at a local university arranges
for on-campus meeting space initially and now the campus mediation center is providing that
service. Help is provided by another member of one group who has her own business and makes
the services of her receptionist available to make reminder calls about meetings. The use of e-
mail is extensive in some groups.
It is important that logistical arrangements be comfortable to all participants. Any
serious misgivings about an appearance of bias or identification with one “side” should be taken
seriously.
The burden of these tasks is real and groups need to take care to avoid having a few