Trying to put the Ten Key Values into practice became the task of the first Committees of Correspondence clearinghouse, established in late 1984 in St. Paul with Harry Boyte as Clearinghouse Coordinator.

At the December 1985 Inter-Regional Committee (IC) meeting in Kansas City, the decision was made that both the IC and the Clearinghouse should actively support organizing efforts through a number of services. The Clearinghouse was moved to Kansas City because the required tasks and responsibilities were rapidly becoming too great for only one person to handle. In Kansas City there was a local group (the Prairie Greens) to actively support it. Dee Berry, a leading member of the Prairie Greens, volunteered to be the Clearinghouse Coordinator, with support from fellow Green Ben Kjelshus. She served in that key role until fall 1989, when she was succeeded by Jim Richmond. Through her organizing skills, steady leadership and vision, and charismatic verve — and with Kjelshus’s enthusiastic help and equally compelling vision, Berry assisted in the birth and intergroup coordination of over 350 local Green groups throughout the country. This provided the “that-without-which” foundation of much subsequent development of Green politics movement and the Green Party. It was a vital step in the direction of both.

One of the primary services provided by Dee Berry’s Clearinghouse was publication of The IC Bulletin. This periodical became a primary source of commentaries and newspaper reprints of Green success stories around the country. It was sent to all dues-paying Green locals within the CoC. This was before the era of widespread e-mails.