What we did and what we’re doing

This past weekend more than 70 members of the Together Oklahoma coalition met in three different venues to celebrate our recent successes as advocates, recap the legislative session, and have a conversation about next steps. I think we all learned a lot from each other. I certainly did!

Two of the big takeaways:

1. You are a well informed and passionate bunch with big dreams for Oklahoma. Check out this brainstorm of Oklahoma Issues and Oklahoma dreams created by our members. 
2. We each know many people who aren’t even engaged enough to know that there is a statewide primary election on June 28th. Each of us who is able has a responsibility to do something more than just say, “I’m Voting in the Oklahoma Primary and bringing my friends!” We need to actively inform and assist our communities to get out the vote.

Next steps for the Together Oklahoma Chapters

1. We are establishing teams of chapter leaders who will:
   1. Communicate with your chapter leadership team at least once a week.
   2. Utilize research-based analysis to form opinions on public policies.
   3. Engage TOK online by doing one of these things each week:
      • posting in Slack,
      • tweeting about TOK,
      • sharing TOK Facebook posts,
      • or posting in TOK Facebook group.
   4. Help host a chapter event at least once a month.
   5. Support TOK chapter members in maintaining principles of TOK Chapters
   6. Give feedback to the TOK leadership teams and staff about what is working and what is not working.
   7. Designate at least one person from your leadership team to be the liaison to TOK staff to communicate what you are doing.
2. We are making sure we know who we have in what areas of the state via this brief survey of active Together Oklahoma members. (We’ll be contacting people who recieve these emails but who haven’t taken the survey)
3. We are planning efforts to get out the vote on June 28th and start the planning process for local chapter events in July.

To be effective at crafting a better state budget next year, we have to get active and organized now. The groundwork for advocacy that we set up today will be far more influential than anything we try to do at the last minute during a hectic legislative session. There will be a lot going on in Together Oklahoma in the months to come, and I hope you’ll find the best ways for you and your community to become more engaged.  Together Oklahoma can be a great tool for making sure our future is so much better!