10th Anniversary Community Forum Charts Our Path to Improved Communication and Transparency
As part of our 10-year celebration, more than 100 Ashby Village members and volunteers devoted an afternoon Oct. 5 to sharing what’s valuable about their experience and how our extraordinary community can improve as it matures.
Planned by the Program Leadership Team (PLT) with staff support and contribution from the Communications Interest Group (CIG), the day’s goals were clear: to share what works, and why; to air what doesn’t and to explore how to improve; and to share ideas on how we can care for newer members and volunteers. Board member and volunteer Laura Peck facilitated the program, which was held at Ashby Village’s Julia Morgan Room.
The fast-paced afternoon included time to listen, digest, share and raise questions. It began with explaining structures, moved through a Q&A and ended with small group sessions followed by brief reports on what mattered most to each group. The program included presentations by members of the AV board, staff, PLT and Neighborhood Group Council (NGC)—about how we started and what we’ve begun to do in the larger community. We then broke into small groups discussing key questions, from how our Village is organized and how our leaders are selected, to how decisions are made and how we can have input.
It was inspiring to hear the roomful of members and volunteers discussing what we appreciate about Ashby Village, addressing our frustrations and exploring how to best stay warm and welcoming to all as we grow.
And Saturday was just the beginning. Just two days later, an email from the PLT thanked us all for our contributions, offering another opportunity to give anonymous feedback through a survey and setting out some next steps toward improved communication and transparency. Indeed, after the Forum, our staff, PLT, CIG and Board reviewed all that was discussed and went right to work to sort the day’s input and feedback, including what was reported from the small group discussions and on comment cards. Here are six main themes:
- Internal Communication: including direct member-to-member contact, a full directory and a clear chart showing which staff members to approach for specific questions or areas of concern.
- Connection/Engagement: continuing to strengthen our community, especially for new members via a new buddy system, help with how to find your niche and different format for new member orientations and some of our social hours.
- Increased Diversity: via partnership with existing groups, with a mix of racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, economic, geographic membership, to work together on common challenges.
- More Transparency: especially in decision-making, policy protocol and showing who is in charge of what areas.
- Leadership Opportunities: how to get involved and have an impact.
- Improved accommodations and accessibility: especially for those of us with hearing and vision loss.
Next steps are already underway. Since Oct. 5, five meetings have taken place in which the Forum was the focus of discussion. We hope you’ll get involved and help us to implement these changes.
Some changes you can expect to see by the end of the year are:
- A change of format for our Social Hours, including opportunities for getting to know one another.
- Improved acoustics at our Dec. 7 Holiday Party, in consultation with our Hearing Loss Interest Group.
- A directory on our website of each AV Team (with descriptions), including appropriate contact person.
Additional steps that are being taken, but which require more time and additional support from members and volunteers, are:
- Redesigning the Ashby Village website to include an improved communication platform for member-to-member messaging.
- Creating a task force to gather additional focused and actionable ideas on the six areas listed above.
- Designing, overseeing and tabulating an anonymous survey.
The degree of passion and dedication by all of our Ashby Village stakeholders is extraordinary, and we understand how important it is that all of the work and changes that are taking place be clearly communicated to all. As additional needs are identified and steps are taken they will be highlighted here in Village Voices.
As Board Chair Andra Lichtenstein told us in her introductory remarks, “We may come to Ashby Village for services, but we stay for community.”
If you were unable to attend or just want to review what was said at the Forum, please CLICK HERE to view the recorded Forum.