Announcing our National Harassment and Grievance Officer

In response to delegates’ democratic decision at the last convention, and in our quest to build a strong DSA where all members can organize and thrive, we have hired a National Harassment and Grievance Officer (NHGO). Members must trust that if they come forward with concerns, they will be taken seriously. Chapter leaders must feel confident that they have national support in both taking preventative measures to stop harassment before it starts, and in learning to address concerns appropriately when they are raised.

Paula Brantner is an attorney who has advocated for workers through Legal Aid at Work, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), and Working America. She has a long-time association with Workplace Fairness, where she has spent 15+ years thinking about how organizations can shift their culture, not just their policies, to be harassment free.

Paula has also appeared as an expert in many media publications, particularly around #MeToo in recent months. She has extensive project management experience and through her work with the NELA is familiar with the challenges of working with numerous local chapters of a national organization. Finally, to tackle this task, she has assembled a team with experience in sexual harassment prevention training, sexual assault response and investigation training and complaint investigation and adjudication.

Paula is charged with developing national infrastructure to train and support local HGOs and policies as well as investigate existing grievances. She will work with staff and the national political leadership, especially the Grievance Committee.

National Electoral Committee –

The deadline for chapters to request a national endorsement of a candidate is July 25. Click here to go to the national electoral website and apply for an endorsement.

Medicare for All –

August 11 and 12 will be our second national weekend of action. Visit https://medicareforall.dsausa.org/ for updates and to make sure your chapter is signed up!

Democratic Socialist Labor Commission –

The DSLC Steering Committee welcomes participation by other members of the DSA Labor community to our new subcommittees: Education, Leadership Development, Salting & Organizing the Unorganized, Labor Mapping, and Communications. Email [email protected] to join.

National Anti-racist Working Group, Immigrants’ Rights Committee –

The Immigrants’ Rights Committee (IRC) has launched a national Abolish ICE campaign and week of action leading into June 30th Families Belong Together protests. We also endorsed the July 2 Mijente action in San Diego. Visit http://www.dsausa.org/antiracism for more information.

National Climate and Environmental Justice Working Group –

The steering committee of the Climate and Environmental Justice Working Group has published a statement pledging to mobilize in solidarity with immigrants and calling for the abolition of ICE. Click here to read the statement and sign the pledge in solidarity.

Monthly Dues Sharing –

We will soon begin disbursing 20% of monthly dues to chapters with bank accounts on a quarterly basis, retroactive to January 1, 2018. Chapter Treasurers were invited to calls the week of June 25 to discuss the logistics and can reach out to [email protected] if they missed the calls.

Member Re-engagement and Dues Renewal Drive –

The Dues Drive Handbook is helpful for renewing your expired members as monthly members! Check it out here.

Share Your Amazing Chapter Work –

You can submit media (videos, audio, articles, etc.) about all your great chapter and organizing committee work. We’ll use national social media and promotional materials to amplify if!

Mailing Addresses –

If you or a fellow member needs to update their mailing address, name, or phone number, please have them fill in the mailing address change form: https://act.dsausa.org/survey/mailingaddr/. They MUST enter the same email address that they use for DSA email.

Click here to see our General FAQ page.

Click here to see our Chapter and Organizing Committee FAQ page.