Did you miss our recent town hall and wondering what's been going on with the Alumni Network transition? Here's a little summary. Earlier this year 6 members of the previous Alumni Council (Jessica, Olivia, Marlen, Princess, Tonyisha, and Storm) began consulting on four areas. Below are short summaries of their focus areas and information and images they shared during the town hall! Make sure you've filled out the census with your updated contact information so you can stay up to date on all our transition updates! If you have insights or experience working in one of these areas and you would like to get involved, email Sydney@elpnet.org.
- Mutual Aid: What does mutual aid look like in the future of the network? What can we learn from its models and lessons?
Mutual aid is an important aspect of community building. We hope to create a structure that helps alumni feel empowered to ask their local and virtual DDCSP community for support when they need it, self organize action, and create relationships without the structural support of a formal foundation-funded Alumni Network. Don't forget, there are still currently funds for alumni to get reimbursed for alumni meetups! Learn more here.
- Census: Update alumni information so no one gets left behind in the transition!
Thank you to the 160+ people who filled out the updated Alumni Census! This information will help us see what alumni want for the future of our network and allow us to update alumni contact information so no one gets left behind in the transition! Above is a graph showing the results from a question on the census about what topics are alumni most interested in. Fill out the census here if you haven't already to make sure your voice is heard!
- Information Synthesizing: Celebrate what we've already accomplished. Gather reviews and feedback from what we've done so far. What are the repeated themes? What do alumni really want/need?
As we transition our community into a future that has yet to be solidified, we want to celebrate our wins along the way and acknowledge our communal history. Big thanks to Olivia for this graphic highlighting the accomplishments oof the Alumni Network so far.
- Self Governance: What are alumni transitioning to? What structures best fit the needs and desires of alumni? Host knowledge shares to begin to answer these questions and learn more together.
The alumni consultants focusing on this area researched self governance models, hosted 3 knowledge shares where alumni could discuss ideas and learn together, and brainstormed various equitable decision-making processes. Stay tuned for how you can get invovled in the future structure of the network!