DURHAM CONGREGATIONS IN ACTION

504 W. Chapel Hill Street

Durham, NC 27701-3102

(919) 688-2036

Kaaren Johanson

Chair, Action/Process Team

kaarelisa@hotmail.com

Cell: (919) 451-7203

DCIA Members and Friends,

I am very excited to have this opportunity to share with you just some of what is happening at DCIA. Things are starting to happen, and I wanted to be sure everyone is up to date and involved. With this end in mind, I will share with you a brief history of the strategic planning process, the current status, and the future plans of the Action/Process Committee. I will also be requesting your assistance in keeping the momentum going by getting involved directly or by referring others to be part of the process

Our team has been working on developing and implementing a process that will discern the interests of member congregations, the most immediate and pressing needs of the Durham community, and how DCIA - as a united collection of congregations - can most effectively address these identified areas of concern. Our goal at the end of the process is to have a proposal(s) for how Durham Congregations in Action can most effectively be in ACTION.

For those who are not familiar with the results of the Strategic Planning Task Force’s findings (or for those who would just like a reminder) I will begin by summarizing their findings. I will then discuss the current status of the Strategic Goal Committee addressing the Action/Process Goal (see below), and most importantly, I will talk about what’s next for DCIA. If you are familiar with the Strategic Planning Process up to this point, you may choose to begin at Part II.

I. History: Strategic Planning Task Force Findings.

After many months of discussion and discernment, the members of the Strategic Planning Task Force developed mission and vision statements, and then settled on three goals they believed DCIA should address. These goals were then presented to the board and approved. They are:

A. Develop and implement a process for determining what the ACTION part of Durham Congregations in Action will look like. It should include:

· Assessing interests and passions of member congregations

· Assessing community needs, possible resources

· Selecting a project that the congregations have ownership of, that will have a major impact on the community, and that takes advantage of member congregations acting together in ways that are more effective than any individual congregation acting alone.

B. Focus on improving communication in the following areas

· Defining the roles of the representatives on the Board

· Making it easier for representatives to get information dispensed to their congregational members

· Create a new general information pamphlet about DCIA

· Keeping the community aware of DCIA and its activities

C. Plan educational programs, events, and other forms of dialogue focusing on bridging cultural, religious and/or racial diversity gaps between our member congregations as well as with outside segments of our community that are not well represented in DCIA.

Committees were then formed to begin working on each of the goals. The remainder of this letter deals with the first of these three committees.

II. Current Status of the Action/Process Committee.

This team chose to address the first of its tasks via a series of 5 Focus Groups. The Focus Groups were designed to provide an open space for participants to discuss what area(s) of ministry work interest them and/or their congregations. The focus groups were also designed to look at specific ways DCIA could be instrumental in addressing these issues. The facilitators then got together and reported what had come up at their individual sessions, and what topics elicited the most excitement and passion among the participants. The three general topics that came up most often, and seemed to generate the most interest were health, transportation and youth. There was a consensus among the facilitators that Youth was the clear choice. The specific Youth-related issues discussed in the focus groups, for the most part, fell into one of two categories: (1) Gangs and Violence and (2) Education, Leadership, Job Skills.

III. Future: Where are we going from here??

These results were presented at the last DCIA board meeting and we began to assemble two Work Teams. The Gangs and Violence Work Team will initially be coordinated by Maryann Crea (cream@raldioc.org) and the Education, Leadership and Job Skills Team by Pebbles Lindsay-Lucas (lindsey.lucas@verizon.net). We asked Board Members who were present to sign up for teams that interest them AND to provide us with a list of people they know who would be good resources for these teams - we will contact them. The Work Teams will consist of DCIA members as well as outside experts. We are especially interested in involving congregational members who are interested in these specific topics, but may not currently be active in DCIA, congregations who are not currently members of DCIA but have ministry programs in these areas, and agencies who are already addressing these issues.

Each Work Team will meet to gather information about their specific area. They will examine the programs and resources that are currently in place, potential funding sources (e.g., grant money, government programs, etc.), what needs are not being met, what resources our congregations have, what our congregations are currently doing, etc. The team members will compile and share information with the end goal being a proposal for the Board about how DCIA can be most effective in addressing these issues. We will not be choosing either one project or the other, but rather the DCIA Board will consider each of the proposals independently.

What we are asking of each of you, is to participate in any Work Team that interests you, AND to find out from the members of your congregation, who else would be interested in joining either of these Work Teams. If you know of anyone you think would be a valuable resource for either team, please contact that individual directly or pass the information along to a member of the Action/Process Committee (see list below), so we can follow up with them.

As I mentioned before, this is a very exciting time for DCIA, and I know that all of our congregations, acting as a single body, have the vision and determination to achieve amazing things. Now we get to discern what specific direction we will move in, and then we get to make it happen. I am excited to see what difference DCIA will make in this community!

Love and Peace,

Kaaren Johanson

Chair, Action/Process Committee

Action/Process Team Members:

Kaaren Johanson