Dear folks,
Here is an example of a letter / process that I used to engage staff and board while unpacking a specific topic. Please feel free to comment.
The Baptist Union sees its vision in three key areas: Kingdom Growth, Cultivating and Nurturing Leaders, and Alleviating Poverty and Suffering. This particular memo clearly only speaks to one of those: the last.
Re: 2007 “Alleviating Poverty and Suffering” Initiative on Affordable Housing and Homelessness
Dear All,
We have set aside $25,000 in the 2007 budget for this initiative. So far we have been (along with World Vision and the Salvation Army) the main sponsors of a Homelessness and Affordable Housing Conference in October 2006 in Vancouver. We have also identified several cities (7) as areas in need of thoughtful examination and support in this area. We are establishing partner / interested people / partners in these towns and cities. We will also look up or create groups and coalitions of concerned people in each of these areas to work together on the topic.
It is the practical aspects of increasing housing for the homeless and affordable housing for the poor that I am asking you about in the Executive Staff and Planning and Priorities committees.
Here are the options as I see them so far; please come prepared to comment or revise these thoughts. Manny thanks.
- Should the Baptist union engage in some partnerships with organizations external to ourselves like the Mennonites, Habitat for Humanity or one of three groups in Vancouver? Or Mustard Seed in Calgary, Victoria, Edmonton, etc?
- Should we in partnership with the expertise of the Beulah Garden Home Society engage in adding housing units to areas in Western Canada that are in need?
- Should the Baptist Union be creating (like the Fellowship Baptists) our own free-standing Housing Society?
- Should our primary role be that of facilitating groups of action in homelessness and affordable housing but not be a direct player in facilitating units?
Here are some examples; I trust they provide food for thought.
Warmly,
Jeremy Bell