Apply to be an OPIRG-Toronto Action Group!

Thank you for your interest in becoming an Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) Toronto Action Group! Below you will find more information on what being an Action Group means, what OPIRG can do for you, the application process and the policies surrounding Action Groups.

OPIRG Toronto is a volunteer-driven, non-profit organization based at the University of Toronto. Fundamental to our operation are Action Groups. These Action Groups organize autonomously around various issues of social justice and environmental action. Some examples of past Action Groups include: Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA UofT), Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network (LACSN), No One is Illegal (NOII), and Anakbayan-Toronto.

Action Groups are central to the functioning of OPIRG. They consist of a group of volunteers who work on a specific issue pertaining to anti-oppressive, anti-colonial, anti-imperialist, social justice and environmental justice issues. The Action Groups are dedicated to enacting change across University of Toronto campuses and/or in the broader community. Action Groups receive funding from OPIRG and access to the OPIRG office. OPIRG Toronto is committed to change at University of Toronto but we ALSO envision larger community interaction. We work to blend student organizing with grassroots activism to ensure broad social and environmental change. Thus, we are encouraging applications for Action Groups with a broad vision, especially those who come from traditionally marginalized communities such as Indigenous, Racialized, Trans and/or Queer and DisAbled communities.

To be considered for Action Group status, please fill out the application form that is attached below, and sign the Action Group policies form. This form allows the Action Group to concisely outline its goals and the way in which it embodies a particular issue. Once reviewed by the OPIRG Toronto board of directors, the contact person will be notified of the board’s decision. Approved Action Groups must follow the Action Group policies.

If you have any questions about applying to become an Action Group and/or what the benefits of becoming an Action Group are please contact us at 416-978-7770 or opirg.toronto@gmail.com.

We are also in the office located at 563 Spadina Crescent, unit 101 from 11am-5pm from Monday to Thursday. Please feel free to stop by anytime!

All Action Groups are allocated a budget for projects and events they wish to organize. These might include a speaker series, movie nights, handbooks, outreach materials, trainings, etc.

In addition to a budget each Action Group also has access to OPIRG Toronto’s many resources:

* Access to a phone, internet, printing services, mailbox, and photocopier.

* Assistance with outreach and event planning

* The OPIRG office can be used as a place to hold meetings for your Action Group.

* Room booking

* Information about your events and meetings can be sent out to the OPIRG listserv and promoted through our social media.

* Space in our newsletter and website to write about your group and/or issues of importance that you would like the UofT community to know about.

* Anti-oppression trainings, consensus/collective building and facilitation trainings for all Action Groups.

* The contact person for the Action Group will keep us apprised and up-to-date on meetings, events, etc.

* Information for the OPIRG Toronto website, including current contact person and links to affiliated organizations.

* Action Groups are required to put the OPIRG Toronto logo on all posters and other advertisements.

* The Action Groups will uphold OPIRG Toronto’s mandate at all times and avoid and address any and all racist, sexist, classist, ableist, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic and/or any other oppressive language or actions in meetings, at events, and so on.

* The Action Groups will use the OPIRG Toronto office respectfully and responsibly. This includes cleaning up after yourselves, keeping the office tidy and not removing/taking items from the office without asking permission, and returning borrowed items.

* The Action Groups will be committed to fostering a cooperative environment that encourages open communication, is welcoming to newcomers, and based on consensus decision-making.

* Action Group members will attend a mandatory Action Group meeting with the Volunteer and Programming Coordinator, once per term and an orientation meeting held at the beginning of the school year.

* Every Action Group will present an overview of their work from the previous year at the Annual General Meeting at the end of April or early May of the year.

* All Action Groups will provide a year-end report that will be published in the annual newsletter, and/or be put on the OPIRG Toronto website.

Please complete the action group application form attached and return it to opirg.toronto@gmail.com or in person at 563 Spadina Crescent, room 101. Our office hours are Monday-Thursday, 11 AM – 6 PM. If you need us to send you a copy of the application form or if you have any questions, please get in touch with us at the above email.