Spokes Updates
- 2025-09-11 Spokescouncil Meeting Update
- 2025-10-11 Spokescouncil Meeting Update
- 2025-12-11 Spokescouncil Meeting Update
2025-09-11 Spokescouncil Meeting Update
Completed projects
Withfriends account |
Link |
QR - Click for larger size in new window |
|
Withfriends.events homepage |
 |
|
|
Withfriends.events donate page |
 |
|
Patreon account |
||
|
Patreon.com homepage |
 |
|
Riseup mailing list |
||
| Riseup list homepage |  |
|
|
Riseup list subscribe page
|
https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/ridgewoodcommonsnyc-info |
 |
Forms |
|
|
| "Rental Application for Ridgewood Commons" (assume owned by main google account) |
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScMsyQwvfUK1nt_hMQ6wo2JiytbNCVp_ix6H0WIQfyl2B_hdw/viewform |
|
|
"Programming at Ridgewood Commons" |
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeZttCPYzVbobKJ6rVx2muerTWUoevBcc60BbHwptgrUPGwxg/viewform |
|
|
"Film Screening Proposal Form" |
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfgC-HNbTdfnE5g9EydPZce10ms8s78a5wRq2CJVbXOEWeM4A/viewform |
|
Socials |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bluesky |
|
Active projects
- Basic site / "landing page"
- Single streamlined calendar management workflow that doesn't leak personal information using existing google tools
- Custom non-google calendar and event management
- Web hosting via solidarity partners
- Documentation and instructional screencasts re: wiki
- Financial software
- Brainstorming and development of communications beyond existing use of signal groups
- Improving copy and aesthetics of funding platforms
- Migrating our stuff off of woodbine.nyc and not breaking the old site -- the wiki being the most visible to the group
Needs expressed
- More group participation by those interested in a combination of people/tech/communication to...
- ...think about ideas and systems to democratize communications
- ...find existing "pain points" and communication bottlenecks within and between working groups
- ...create compelling, clear, copy for communications
- People with graphic design & branding skills
- People who actually use and are fluent in corporate social media
- Please try https://ridgewoodcommons.nyc/ and report any issues with your device. Flag us down after meeting to report plz.
Projected budget needs (annual)
In discussion! Trying to get it down down down 📉
- ~$250 financial software
- ~$40-125 site hosting, email lists
Other
Internal discussion of re-naming group from "Tech & Comms) to make group function more clear (e.g. building workflow for content, but not creating content), or take on more responsibility for crafting content as listed in above needs list.
2025-10-11 Spokescouncil Meeting Update
Completed stuff
- Schedule maker tool: https://ridgewoodcommonsnyc.github.io/RC-schedule-maker/index.html
- Takes exported file from calendar page (sample: ridgewood-commons-weekly-schedule(10).html)
- Can use community supplied backgrounds!
- Sample output:
- Social post maker: https://ridgewoodcommonsnyc.github.io/RC-presents-IG-maker/index.html
- Take an image, adds "Ridgewood Commons" header
- Sample output:
Current Practices
- manually updated rolling (first day listed is today) sidebar calendar on https://ridgewoodcommons.nyc/
- effort to post weekly calendar poster to community announcement chat / IG
- using withfriends for event RSVPs to free events to present opportunity for donor conversion.
Upcoming
- Online non-google collaborative schedule/calendar prototype
Analytics report
Withfriends (~LP)
| tier | # | $ |
$ total/month |
% total |
| Vision Supporter | 10 | $10 | $100 | 9% |
| Rent Contributor | 14 | $25 | $350 | 31% |
| Infrastructure Upgrader | 3 | $50 | $150 | 14% |
| Future Planner | 2 | $100 | $200 | 18% |
| Coworker | 3 | $100 | $300 | 27% |
| Total | $1,100 net ($1,001.95 gross) |
For posterity/other groups: Makes me think tiers are not optimal bc of big drop from $25 to $50 tier. (~LP)
Adding arbitrary donations to tiers such that you can sub as a Rent Contributor but then more would maybe be optimal. Maybe worth talking to Withfriends about this.
Membership jumped up, plateaued, bumped again, plateaued
Hard to say why, but would be good to keep a solid posting schedule and review
Patreon
? Don't have access because of two-factor setup. (~LP)
we need to fix that! (~ p cm)
| tier | # | $ |
$ total/month |
% total |
| Vision Supporter | 16 | $10 | $160 | 14% |
| Rent Contributor | 14 | $25 | $350 | 30% |
| Infrastructure Upgrader | 5 | $50 | $250 | 21% |
| Future Planner | 2 | $100 | $200 | 17% |
| Coworker | 2 | $100 | $200 | 17% |
| Total | $1,160 net |
Combined Funding Platforms
| tier | # | $ |
$ total/month |
% total |
| Vision Supporter | 26 | $10 | $260 | 11% |
| Rent Contributor | 28 | $25 | $700 | 31% |
| Infrastructure Upgrader | 8 | $50 | $400 | 18% |
| Future Planner | 4 | $100 | $400 | 18% |
| Coworker | 5 | $100 | $500 | 22% |
| Total | $2,260 net |
Socials & Communication Channels Growth (or lack thereof, aside from Instagram)
Need to directly message in order to grow these connections.
Other Thoughts
- Need for dedicated "comms" group to handle
- Collection and confirmation of events from disparate groups and individuals
- Very regular social posting: week schedule, day-of stories/posts
- Using submitted posters, bespoke graphics work, or using existing tools (with feedback/improvement cycle)
- IG, bluesky, withfriends, nonsense, cal.red, etc.
- Social question/comment/message followup
- More standardized copy for various calls to action re: in-space signage, membership calls, socials, lists, etc.
- Need for additional person(s) to help with
- DevOps / infrastructure management and research
- Hosting
- SSO
- Integrations
- Analytics/reporting
- DevOps / infrastructure management and research
2025-12-11 Spokescouncil Meeting Update
Current focus is finalizing the infrastructure that will help:
- visibilize and distribute admin labor
- ease onboarding into admin roles / tasks
- make Tech / Comms role sustainable
- support WGs in the same way
Tasks Completed
- Deployed beta version of our new digital infrastructure
- open call for user testers from admin commitees (and WGs too).
- calendar on https://ridgewoodcommons.nyc/ now generated from google sheet.
Tasks in Progress
- https://coopcloud.tech/ adopting their tools and building a relationship with their community
- a community of values-aligned open-source developers and tech-cooperatives
- our technical labor becomes a contribution to a free and open-source commons
- in early talks of planning a workshop using Ridgewood Commons as a case study
- "come see what we did, learn how we did it, and learn how to help us do it"
- Working w sunday dinner increase onboarding opportunities with dinner announcements configuration
- Initial conversations with working groups about public-facing onboarding materials
Future Tasks
- Somebody has to send out a newsletter (124 pending subscribers).
- Have a meeting
- Onboard new members to admin committee
- Clarify purpose of the inter-working-group chats: "how do I make an internal announcement?"
- Set up distributed encrypted backups with other community spaces around the country
Task Pitches
- help write an inagural newsletter?
- user testing on our infrastructure
- figure out an organized way to handle IG DMs
- research https://garagehq.deuxfleurs.fr/
Pain Point
- Our charter is far broader than our capacity allows
- No-one is doing the important work of improving our internal communication