Dear WES community,

We are excited to share the just-created, hot-off-the-presses, brand new Focus Goals for the 2019-20 programming year. Consistent with our annual planning schedule, these Focus Goals were created at the Strategy Saturday that happens at the end of January each year. In the next five months, the staff will create a work plan for each Focus Goal, and we will use them to direct our budgeting for the 2019-20 year. They go “into effect” on July 1, 2019, and Amanda will report on them to the Board every other month of the 2019-2020 program year.

The Strategy Saturday that led to these goals included the Board (including our two newest trustees, Donna and Julie), staff, and lay leaders from a number of different groups around WES. We were inspired by the dedication and engagement of those lay leaders in particular, who spent their whole Saturday talking with us about what they loved about WES, what they hoped to see more of, and where they wanted our journey to take us next. So…drum roll please…we are proud to present the 2019-20 Focus Goals!

• Develop and begin implementing a plan for member stickiness (sense of belonging), including a focus on increasing member ownership of the community, and creating opportunities for connection and celebration, in order to inform and engage all WES members and nurture their wellbeing.

• Create organizational structures to foster a community where being in right relations is the norm, and conflict resolution is practiced.

• Dedicate the time and resources required for WES to become an increasingly anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and multicultural congregation by directly addressing oppression, white supremacy, and privilege.

We also thought you might want to see some of what we shared that Saturday, including our powerpoint presentation (here) and the list of participants (below). Please let us know if you have any questions, and we can’t wait to fulfill these Focus Goals with you!

Warmly,

2018 – 2019 WES Board of Trustees* and Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader

*Julie Campbell, Margaret Conway, Trang Duong, Kristin Hunter, Kate Lange, Lauren Strange, & Donna Taylor

Lay Leader, Staff, and Board Participants:

• Perry Beider
• Shelagh Bocoum
• Julie Campbell
• Margaret Conway
• Russell Corbin
• Trang Duong
• Lydia Fettig
• Chris Holmes
• Kristin Hunter
• Tom Hutton
• Ellen Kahn
• Robyn Kravitz
• Kate Lang
• Jennifer Linkletter
• Jerrod Mason
• LA McCrea
• Genevieve Owen
• Bryan Pashigian
• Amanda Poppei
• Heather Prichard
• Lauren Strange
• Donna Taylor
• Rajesh Vidyasagar
• Bailey Whitman