CONSTITUTION, 2023
PREAMBLE
ARTICLE I. Organization and Status
ARTICLE II. Objectives
ARTICLE III. Membership
ARTICLE IV. Dues
ARTICLE V. Facilitators
ARTICLE VI. Election and Voting
ARTICLE VII. Board of Directors
ARTICLE VIII. Meetings
ARTICLE IX. Discipline
ARTICLE X. Tenure of Office
ARTICLE XI. Finance
ARTICLE XII. Amendments
PREAMBLE
We, the people, desiring to trust and enjoy the fellowship of one another, aspiring to promote the interests and welfare of one another, motivated and guided by a deep sense of integrity and honesty, committed to excellence in performance, and determined to build a stronger socio-economic and political community in Dallas, Texas and across the country, do pledge to promote the unity, progress and empowerment of people in the United States and diaspora for a peaceful coexistence based on equality, unity and justice.
We shall forever cherish the invaluable contributions of our community members, who worked tirelessly not only to produce and deliver commodity and services but also contribute to our common vision of self-governing and self managing democratic commune.
It is against this backdrop that we hereby resolve to form a political action committee on this …th day of Janurary 2023. The tenets of said committee are detailed below:
ARTICLE I. Organization and status
1.1 The name of the organization shall be known and called Alliance for America Forward Political Action Committee
1.2 Alliance for America Forward shall be operated as a non-profit organization, located in and governed by the statutes and regulations of the State of Texas.
1.3 The organization shall be headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
1.4 Vision: A peaceful and law-abiding community of people, who work, raise their families, and actively participate in the civic and political processes of the United States of America
1.5 Mission: To empower the self-governing community in all spheres of life through promotion of political, economic, and civic participation
1.6 Motto: Political empowerment of ordinary people in the United States
ARTICLE II. Objectives
2.1 To uphold and preserve the committee as a community-based democratic commune
2.2 To promote and support democracy
2.3 To deliberate on issues affecting middle and lower-class people
2.4 To bolster the political and socio-economic progress of people
2.6 To encourage people to participate in civic and political processes to empower the community for self-governance and self-sufficiency
2.7 To endorse and vote for political candidates who are willing to empower our organization’s democratic autonomy, self-governance, and self-fashioning
2.8 To engage in electioneering activities such as receptions, fundraising, volunteering for political campaigns, community briefings/town hall meetings, forums for elected officials and political candidates
ARTICLE III. Membership
Membership is open to all people in the United States of America, who are eighteen (18) years or older and are willing and able to contribute their time and labor for community services.
ARTICLE IV. Dues
All members including the facilitators shall entertain free annual membership as a reward for their voluntary services of a minimum of three hours, and membership should be renewed every year.
ARTICLE V. Officers
The officers of the organization shall comprise president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and members of the organization.
ARTICLE VI. Election and voting
To be eligible for the board members, a member should be extremely popular among community members with his/her extraordinary activities for community and democratically elected/chosen by the majority of the people if necessary, through voting process as defined in the bylaws.
ARTICLE VIII. Meetings
Meetings shall be held regularly and as needed by the organization.
ARTICLE IX. Discipline
The membership reserves the right to counsel and discipline members who are in violation of the rules as defined in the bylaws of the organization.
ARTICLE XII. Amendments
Amendments to the constitution shall be made when the need arises.
8.2 The quorum for all general membership meetings shall be the presence of no fewer than three (3) members. The quorum for other meetings shall be left to the discretion of each group.
8.3 General meetings shall be held on the last Friday of every month.
8.4 All meetings shall start promptly at 6:30 p.m. and end at 8:00 p.m., or as directed by the designee. Unless extenuating circumstances arise, the general meeting shall start no later than seven minutes (7) after the stated time.
8.5 In case of an exigency, the designee may convene a general meeting, as deemed necessary.
8.6 the executive board’s meetings shall be held every calendar quarter. The designee shall direct the meetings’ schedule.
8.7 Ad-hoc committee meetings shall be determined by the facilitators of those committees.
8.8 The notice of the general membership meetings shall be prepared and distributed at least a week before the set date.
8.9 In case of an exigency, an urgent meeting notice shall be relayed to the general membership via the most appropriate and convenient means of communication available.
8.10 The minutes shall be concise, preferably, in bullet form, and shall include:
8.10a date, time and place of the meeting;
8.10b members present;
8.10c decisions made in the form of consensus, motions, subsequent voting results, etc.
8.11 The minutes of the previous meeting shall be distributed to each member, preferably, via e-mail, prior to the next meeting.
8.12 The minutes shall be corrected and adopted as soon as a quorum is formed, and the meeting is called to order.
8.13 Adoption of the minutes shall be based on factual content and not on grammatical syntax or style.
8.14 The adopted minutes shall be filed as a permanent record of the meetings with the Secretary and a copy shall be kept at the regular meeting place.
ARTICLE IX Discipline
9.1 Any member charged with an act that is contrary to the provisions of the constitution or detrimental to the organization or its image shall have the right to a fair hearing.
9.2 Discipline, if any, shall be imposed after due process is exercised.
9.3 Any member found in violation of provision(s) including but not limited to the following, shall be subjected to disciplinary action:
9.3a breach of any provision of the constitution, anti-organization activities or propaganda, conduct likely to embarrass the organization or subject it to contempt, ridicule, or disrepute, in whatever manner;
9.3b disobedience or negligence in carrying out lawful directives of the organization;
9.3c engaging in dishonest practices or acts that could expose the organization to financial or other liability;
9.3d defrauding the organization;
9.3e excessive unexcused absences from meetings;
9.3f any other activity which would tend to disrupt the peaceful, lawful, and efficient running of the organization, or which is not consistent with the achievements of the objectives of the organization.
9.4 Punishment may be imposed by the organization as a disciplinary measure against any of its members.
9.5 The gravity of the punishment shall depend upon the seriousness and circumstances of each case.
9.6 Punishment to be imposed may include but not limited to the following:
9.6a expulsion from the organization,
9.6b suspension for a specified period from the organization,
9.6c suspension or removal from office,
9.6d debarring from holding office, and
9.6e fine (to be determined by an ad-hoc committee appointed by the executive).
9.7 Any member aggrieved by the decisions of the organization shall have the right to appeal the decision within thirty (30) days.
9.8 Pending the outcome of an appeal regarding expulsion, suspension, or other disciplinary measures, the member shall be placed on suspension.
ARTICLE X. Tenure of Office
10.1 All active facilitators of the organization shall hold office. This organization will have president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, committee coordinators.
10.2 Should a vacancy for any positions occur in any of the offices, every effort will be made to fill the vacancy, based on availability of qualified candidates. Officers so appointed shall remain in the office for the unexpired period of the term.
10.3 A facilitator may be removed during his/her tenure of office through a vote of “no confidence” passed by a two-third-majority vote of the membership.
ARTICLE XI. Finance
11.1 The Association shall derive its funds primarily from producing and selling goods and services by the members and donation made by individual or institutions.
11.2 Other monetary contributions shall be set and revised as necessary.
11.3 Fundraising activities shall also be organized from time to time.
11.4 The Financial Facilitator shall have the power to sign checks up to a maximum of $2,000.00. Any check in excess of $2,000.00 shall be signed by two facilitators
11.5 The financial records of the organization shall be kept in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
11.6 All checking and saving accounts shall be set up in Dallas, Texas.
ARTICLE XII. Amendments
12.1 Amendments to the constitution may be initiated by a member or by a committee.
12.2 A proposed amendment shall be publicized thirty (30) days in advance.
12.3 The proposed amendment may be voted upon at a general membership meeting and passed with a two-third-majority vote of those present at the meeting.
12.4 The amended constitution shall be updated and distributed to members within thirty (30) days of the amendment.