Across the Board

Greetings from the Windy City!

(photo by Josh Evans)

This edition comes to you during a quick break from the Board of Directors’ Strategic Planning Retreat in Chicago, IL, where ANCOR leaders are diving into your feedback from the July 2^nd virtual Town Hall and the online strategic plan survey to develop a final guiding document for the next several years.  While we are still working on the final plan, the four strategic pillars stand strong:

 1. Influence responsible federal public policy to protect and promote quality services.

 2. Obtain resources to attract, expand and retain a quality workforce

 3. Be an indispensable resource to equip providers and partners in understanding and responding to impacts, opportunities, emerging practices and trends.

 4. Shape the future of service delivery models and measures to ensure sustainable services

The Board last met in Portland, Oregon after our incredibly successful 2019 Annual Conference where over 600 of you joined us to build bridges to better outcomes. The May Board meeting gave the Board time to reflect and celebrate the events of the week which included a “Wine with Senator Wyden” event for ANCOR’s Disability Champions PAC, an Evening on the Willamette boat cruise and live auction to benefit the ANCOR Foundation and its initiatives like the Leadership Academy and Included. Supported. Empowered. And of course, the annual Direct Support Professional of the Year Celebration, which we live streamed for the first time so that friends and family members could join in the festivities at home.

Given the waning energy levels in the room, it also gave us an opportunity to ponder whether meeting immediately after such a robust set of days was the best idea. Probably not. So, one of the decisions that resulted from May’s gathering was that while the Board will continue to meet quarterly, only 3 of those will be face-to-face and the 4^th meeting will be facilitated via video conferencing. Thank goodness for technology!

Another noteworthy outcome of the May Board meeting was the adoption of the following statement on diversity (which was also adopted by the ANCOR Foundation a few days prior):

Diversity creates an environment that fosters appreciation of the values, skills and abilities of everyone. We know that we do our best work when we embrace the diversity of ideas and experiences that characterize the social, cultural and intellectual world.

In this context, we are mindful of all aspects of human differences such as socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, language, nationality, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, geography, disability and age.

Inclusion is a core element for successfully achieving diversity. Inclusion is achieved by nurturing the climate and culture of the association through professional development, education, policy, and practice. The objective is creating a climate that fosters belonging, respect, and value for all and encourages engagement and connection throughout the association and membership community.

Here’s a summary of the rest of the May meeting of the Board of Directors.

The Board meets in person again on October 14^th, the day before this year’s ANCOR Policy Summit and Hill Day (have you registered yet?). Board meetings are open to ANCOR members but space is limited so please notify Jerri McCandless if you’d like to attend.

Gabrielle Sedor is Chief Operations Officer for ANCOR and Director of the ANCOR Foundation.