1: Education and Outreach
Public Education and Outreach Other Information:
Summary of Activities for 2007: National Freedom of Information Conference: WCOG hosted the annual conference of the National
Freedom of Information Coalition at the Seattle Waterfront Marriott on May 11-13. As part of the event, we hosted a reception
for conference attendees, at which we presented the inaugural Key Awards (see below) and honored our major contributors. TVW
taped and broadcast many of the conference sessions. We staffed a table to provide information about WCOG, answer questions,
and recruit possible local organizers and contacts. The film “U.S. vs. John Lennon” was shown at McCaw Hall, and the film’s
director, John Scheinfeld, answered questions from the audience after the showing. WCOG netted about $3,600 from the conference
sponsorships. Sunshine Week Town Hall Meeting: The Coalition participated in the annual national Sunshine Week recognition,
coordinated across the country by a coalition of open government advocacy groups know as OpenTheGovernment.org, by sponsoring
a town hall meeting in Olympia. The meeting, held in a legislative hearing room at the Capitol in Olympia, included viewing
of the national webcast from Washington DC followed by a local panel discussion on open government. The local panel was moderated
by Cindy Zehnder, president of TVW, and panelists were Attorney General Rob McKenna, House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, Bill
Will of Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, and Stefan Sharkansky of SoundPolitics.com. The program was taped and
shown several times on TVW. It was also promoted in several newspapers, to WCOG members, and to members and staff of the legislature
and several state government agencies, and was well-attended. Open Government Forums: WCOG and the Society of Professional
Journalists co-hosted an open government forum at the Tacoma News Tribune in April, focused on issues related to personal
information privacy and identity theft. About 30 people attended; TVW taped and broadcast the event. Another open government
forum was held in May in Sequim, with 35 persons attending. And in November, a Forum was held in Bellingham, hosted by the
Bellingham Herald, with over fifty people in attendance. As the year ended, WCOG was making preparations for several forums
in 2008, including one in Monroe in January. Other Conferences: Representatives of WCOG spoke on open government at several
other conferences, including the First Amendment Festival at Central Washington University in Ellensburg in March, the Evergreen
Leadership Conference in Richland in May, and the national ACLU convention in Seattle in July. We staffed an informational
booth at the Washington Library Association conference in Kennewick in April. Local Organizing: WCOG established guidelines
for creation of local affiliate organizations that would focus on open government issues in individual cities, counties, and
other local governments. A “start up kit” to help local affiliate organizers get off the ground is in progress and should
be posted on the web site in the near future. A protocol for organizing local forums on open government was completed and
is now on the web site. Spanish Language Outreach: WCOG sought and obtained a grant of $4,500 from the National Freedom of
Information Coalition to translate a variety of materials in order to inform those who speak Spanish of their rights to access
government information. We now have the beginnings of an “en Español” section on the web site that includes Spanish versions
of the WCOG membership brochure, frequently asked questions, and contact information, and our translator is making progress
on additional information. We are also working with TVW to investigate creating Spanish subtitles or second audio program
tracks for WCOG events taped for TVW. Open Government Leadership Institute: WCOG committed to move forward with our first
Open Government Leadership Institute in 2009, and started planning and preparations in earnest. This program will be a weekend-long
intensive and comprehensive training program in open government principles, laws, and policy for invited government and community
leaders. We secured endorsements for the program for a number of key organizations (such as the Bench-Bar-Press Committee
and Evergreen Freedom Foundation) and public officials (including Attorney General Rob McKenna, State Auditor Brian Sonntag,
Secretary of State Sam Reed, and Clallam County Commissioner Mike Doherty), started researching possible venues and facilitators,
and began the process of obtaining commitments for grants and sponsorships to fund the program. Newspapers in Education: WCOG
committed to a collaboration with the Seattle Times Newspapers In Education program to produce a newspaper insert, in the
full run of the Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer, that will include summaries of open government principles and
laws, a sample public records request, frequently asked questions, and many other resources, that would be used by teachers
throughout the Northwest to teach high school students about open government. WCOG will obtain extra copies of the insert
to use in our outreach efforts. We committed to raise $10,000 in sponsorships to help cover the cost of delivering the free
copies of the newspapers into classrooms, which will also provide an opportunity for WCOG and other organizations supporting
open government to have their logos printed in the insert. As the year ended, this fundraising effort was well under way,
with the goal of publishing the insert in March, 2008. Spreading Open Government Abroad: Representatives of WCOG met with
several groups of visitors from other countries who were seeking to learn about open government in Washington, including delegations
from Russia, China, and Chile. Updated Web Site: WCOG launched an improved and updated web site in August incorporating easier-to-use
navigation and visual enhancements. The structure of the site will allow us to make much more information available to the
public while still being usable. We’ve also added the ability to join the Coalition and make contributions online using credit
cards and PayPal accounts.
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