Dear John,

As Presidents in the Gamaliel Network, one of your roles is to make decisions on behalf of your affiliate about the National Strategic Priority Areas that this Network Adopts. You have a decision to make now about whether the Gamaliel Network will adopt Environmental Justice as a Priority area. Your vote is important!

The vote will be held during the Council of Presidents' Meeting at the Race and Power Summit, at 4:00p.m. ET on Thursday, December q. If you are not planning to attend, you have the opportunity to cast an absentee ballot between now and then. To vote, go to: https://forms.gle/StD9WMrq77K1op9c8 . It must be submitted no later than 4:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, December 1.

Here is what a "yes" vote means for your affiliate:

At a minimum, you are committing to keep your local membership informed about Gamaliel's national work on Enviornmental Justice. In addition, if Gamaliel engages in a national action around Enviornmental Justice, you will be asked to support that action at least by pushing out national messaging through a press release or social media posts.
A next possible level of participation is making sure you have an assigned leader who participates regularly with the national table that will be created to build out Environmental Justice national work. At this level, your affiliate may wish to cut its own Environmental Justice issue that reflects the needs of your local community.
At a fully engaged level of participation, your affiliate has an active local Environmental Justice campaign and an active role at the national Environmental Justice table with a decision-making role about the direction of the national campaign.

Last week we sent out the recording from the November 14 Environmental Justice Webinar and asked our leaders across the Network to review it and to complete feedback form like the one completed by webinar participants. [Link to Webinar] The feedback we have received so far, overwhelmingly supports the adoption of Environmental Justice as a Gamaliel National Strategic Priority Area. If you have not done so, you may view the webinar and provide feedback, as well. We will share the results of the feedback from prior to the vote on December 1.

The COP Operating Procedures approved on September 19,2020, state the following:

Membership: All Presidents of Gamaliel "member organizations" in good standing, whose signed contract and/or affiliation fees have been submitted to Gamaliel in a timely manner, are members of COP. All statewide presidents are also members. "Member organizations" are those clusters or local Congregation Centered Community Organizations which pay affiliate fees directly to Gamaliel, or in the case of a statewide organization, pay their affiliate fees through the statewide organization. A person who is president of a local affiliate and president of the statewide organization will represent both organizations.
Quorum: A majority of members present at any meeting constitutes a quorum. The Secretary will maintain a roster of members.
Voting: Generally, the COP will operate on a consensus base. When consensus cannot be reached and or voting is required, a majority of members present at an official meeting constitutes a passing vote. If a member represents 2 organizations
(The local and the statewide organization), he/she has 2 votes. If an organization is represented by co-presidents, they share only one vote.
Proxy: A sitting President may appoint a proxy, but only if the proxy has the power of casting votes on behalf of the president of the member organization. A person may only carry one proxy (he/she cannot carry multiple proxy votes).