Dear Friends,
Summer is finally here, and we hope that you all are enjoying it!
Like everyone, we look forward to the summer to relax and take it easy, focus on enjoying the outdoors, understanding that fall and winter are not too far away. Summer reminds us that there is more to life than school and work schedules, and that it is good and right to enjoy warmth, visiting family, the sunrise, and sunsets. And for many of us, we know that summer presents a welcomed opportunity for planning and getting things ready for a successful start to a new school year – for both family and work.
Usually, this would be the mode for ROC the Future as well – but this year is vastly different! We are in a very dynamic season and are “Aligning for Change” and preparing for several major changes, both programmatic and for our infrastructure.
Our Outcome Teams will be in this dynamic mode this summer. The School Readiness Outcome Team (SROT) and the Early Grade Outcome Team (EGLOT) are bringing their work together under the Whole Child Outcome Team, representing a major shift in focus from academic to a whole child frame, from prenatal to age 8. Planning for the next phase of this work will take place in a dynamic mini retreat this month. Additionally, the High School Graduation Outcome Team (HSGOT) has experienced renewed energy with new leadership and new members! HSGOT will hold a mini retreat this month to level set current and new members to identify a strategy to lift this fall. And Convener partners in higher education and K12 focused on the Teacher Pipeline will also meet to discuss the work currently taking place and identify steps for better alignment within ROC the Future Alliance moving forward.
For the infrastructure, we have two major leadership transitions this year – a new Executive Director and a new Convener Chair! The search process for my replacement is well underway with Clarity Consulting taking the lead, reviewing, and screening both local and national interests (more than 3 dozen at last count). So too, the Executive Committee is deliberating the next new chair for RTF. These two new leaders will result in a dynamic shift to take us to the next level. I am extremely excited that the new leaders selected will be exactly what RTF needs for the next horizon of our collective work.
All of this means lots of behind the scenes work to get things to happen and for us to move toward action. But this is not all of it…we have several staff transitions and hiring that will result in almost doubling in size, a revised backbone structure, training, and development, 1:1 meetings with Conveners, and planning for the State of Our Children report card release and annual event in the fall.
Like I said, this summer is very different, for all these reasons, and for the potential impact on our collective work in the future.
So, am I enjoying the summer? You bet I am!
For the Children,
Eldress Campbell