E. Notes on organizing
Scheduling
Tips for Scheduling:
Bottom-lining
What bottom-lining is:
Bottom-lining is an important thing and also a funny word with us at Kidz City. Bottom. Lining. (ha ha) Anyway – what a bottom-liner is someone that has volunteered to take ultimate responsibility for a task and to keep everyone else involved updated, as well as ask for input and help when needed. By dividing these big responsibilities we can concentrate on a certain task and then check-in with each other at meetings. We can cover much more territory working together like this.
Why bottom-lining is important:
How we divide up responsibilities is a very key element of Kidz City and we feel it is an integral component of creating responsible safe inspiring radical childcare. When responsibility is shared there is more energy to be respectful and responsive to children and parents needs, to each other, and to ourselves. This is a very different model then the capitalist one of over-burdened and exploited labor. It takes a lot of energy, coordinating preparations and then working with different, and often new, people in these temporary radical spaces. Having a good experience in the childcare space is something we really value.
Being supported, while supporting others, and working together to increase community support for caregivers and children in these short periods and spaces of time—makes a world of difference.
How we do it:
We have two different periods of bottom-lining:
1) leading up to the main event; and
2) during the event itself.
1) Leading up to the event we usually have three main Organizing Bottom-liners:
Sometimes we have also had:
You can divide these tasks the way you see fit. Depending on how many tasks, how big the conference and how many core members you have. In rare cases a bottom liner of food, materials, or supplies may not be a core-member or there may be two bottom liners for a task.
When there is a shortage of members there could even be one bottom-liner for numerous tasks such communication, volunteer coordination, and limited workshop but you can still ask for others to do tasks, such as make a form for filling in names and help get the word out.
It also depends what is going on in each of our lives (with school, work, other projects, family, and personal issues). Sometimes one of us takes on more-or-less responsibility, or even decides they are not taking part in organizing this go-round. We decide this at the beginning when we meet to decide if we will take on a project. If we did not feel we had enough collective energy we would not accept to collaborate on childcare in the first place.
As emergencies come up, as they have, we may also shift who is a bottom-lining and a Kidz City core member may step back in, sometimes working together in partnerships to cover a certain responsibility. We also may break down bottom-lining in time sensitive ways as well.
2) Bottom-lining during the Main Event:*
Shift (or Room) Bottom-liner
We divide being the main person for watching over and coordinating the children’s room into days, or half-days. At least one core member must be in the room at all times. It feels really good when there are two core members in the room together, and sometimes we visit each other or help out during harder parts of the day. The important thing is to divide responsibility so the space bottom-liner stays sharp. Half a day of bottom- lining is ideal. If you must bottom line all day being relieved a few hours early or taking a long lunch is good. We do not believe putting all the responsibility on one person for the entire event but doing shifts in bottom-lining, which are longer then volunteer shifts, as to create cohesion in knowing what has been going on.
By splitting up the responsibilities and duties of bottom-lining our children’s space by our core collective members (usually three available members of our three to four core collective members) we are very different then having one person, who has been hired or who volunteered, to be responsible to watch over and coordinate childcare for the entire weekend which is what often happens with childcare during radical events and conferences, when it is offered at all. This may take more effort in communication and organization but ultimately it creates a model of more supported childcare on all levels. We believe it is a more equitable model.
*There will be more about bottom-lining during the main event in the next segment.
Tips for Scheduling:
- Review event/conference hours
- Start childcare a half hour early/later then the main event.
- Create schedule to organize the childcare volunteers. We usually plan 2 or 3-hour shifts for childcare volunteers. Make sure you sync up volunteer slots with conference workshop schedule.
- Schedule some back-up childcare volunteers, if possible. Individuals who will be at the site and can be on call in case of an emergency.
- Divide up core organizer’s bottom-lining shifts into day/s or half-day/s. We always have one core member watching over the room/big picture. We usually divide an event into half days (4/5 hour shifts). If one person bottom lines a full day we make sure they have a lunch break, and/or can leave a few hours early.
- Create schedule to organize the children’s programming. We usually plan for 45 minutes to an hour workshops/activities, with some space between planned activities.
Bottom-lining
What bottom-lining is:
Bottom-lining is an important thing and also a funny word with us at Kidz City. Bottom. Lining. (ha ha) Anyway – what a bottom-liner is someone that has volunteered to take ultimate responsibility for a task and to keep everyone else involved updated, as well as ask for input and help when needed. By dividing these big responsibilities we can concentrate on a certain task and then check-in with each other at meetings. We can cover much more territory working together like this.
Why bottom-lining is important:
How we divide up responsibilities is a very key element of Kidz City and we feel it is an integral component of creating responsible safe inspiring radical childcare. When responsibility is shared there is more energy to be respectful and responsive to children and parents needs, to each other, and to ourselves. This is a very different model then the capitalist one of over-burdened and exploited labor. It takes a lot of energy, coordinating preparations and then working with different, and often new, people in these temporary radical spaces. Having a good experience in the childcare space is something we really value.
Being supported, while supporting others, and working together to increase community support for caregivers and children in these short periods and spaces of time—makes a world of difference.
How we do it:
We have two different periods of bottom-lining:
1) leading up to the main event; and
2) during the event itself.
1) Leading up to the event we usually have three main Organizing Bottom-liners:
- A bottom-liner that communicates back and forth between collective and designated event/conference organizer contact
- A bottom-liner for coordinating childcare volunteers
- A bottom-liner for coordinating children’s programming/workshops
Sometimes we have also had:
- A bottom-liner for food, materials, or supplies.
You can divide these tasks the way you see fit. Depending on how many tasks, how big the conference and how many core members you have. In rare cases a bottom liner of food, materials, or supplies may not be a core-member or there may be two bottom liners for a task.
When there is a shortage of members there could even be one bottom-liner for numerous tasks such communication, volunteer coordination, and limited workshop but you can still ask for others to do tasks, such as make a form for filling in names and help get the word out.
It also depends what is going on in each of our lives (with school, work, other projects, family, and personal issues). Sometimes one of us takes on more-or-less responsibility, or even decides they are not taking part in organizing this go-round. We decide this at the beginning when we meet to decide if we will take on a project. If we did not feel we had enough collective energy we would not accept to collaborate on childcare in the first place.
As emergencies come up, as they have, we may also shift who is a bottom-lining and a Kidz City core member may step back in, sometimes working together in partnerships to cover a certain responsibility. We also may break down bottom-lining in time sensitive ways as well.
2) Bottom-lining during the Main Event:*
Shift (or Room) Bottom-liner
We divide being the main person for watching over and coordinating the children’s room into days, or half-days. At least one core member must be in the room at all times. It feels really good when there are two core members in the room together, and sometimes we visit each other or help out during harder parts of the day. The important thing is to divide responsibility so the space bottom-liner stays sharp. Half a day of bottom- lining is ideal. If you must bottom line all day being relieved a few hours early or taking a long lunch is good. We do not believe putting all the responsibility on one person for the entire event but doing shifts in bottom-lining, which are longer then volunteer shifts, as to create cohesion in knowing what has been going on.
By splitting up the responsibilities and duties of bottom-lining our children’s space by our core collective members (usually three available members of our three to four core collective members) we are very different then having one person, who has been hired or who volunteered, to be responsible to watch over and coordinate childcare for the entire weekend which is what often happens with childcare during radical events and conferences, when it is offered at all. This may take more effort in communication and organization but ultimately it creates a model of more supported childcare on all levels. We believe it is a more equitable model.
*There will be more about bottom-lining during the main event in the next segment.
on to --> F. Some Last Tips