National Alumni Council
YFU-USA Alumni Association
October 1998 Update

During a very positive and productive meeting the first weekend in October, the members of the National Alumni Council addressed a variety of concerns raised by YFU volunteers, YFU staff and the NAC members themselves. Substantial efforts were made to redesign the internal structure to enhance involvement from people outside of the NAC plus develop consistent ways to communicate with all.The decision was made to replace the committee structure with a task based system. All NAC members will take responsibility for at least one project or task thus becoming a Project Manager. The objective is to involve additional alumni, volunteers and staff and collaborate on specific projects and tasks. Using suggestions from YFU staff, the NAC members prioritized a list of projects/tasks and made some initial assignments to NAC members. Since some NAC members were unable to attend the weekend, it was necessary to wait until all members were able to review the list and comment. Some projects are spearheaded and led by the NAC, while others will require collaboration with YFU staff and volunteers, or are actually led by YFU staff with NAC participation. Summary descriptions for each project will be listed on the YFU-USA Alumni Association website soon.

red checkCoordinate the YFU-USA Alumni Association Website - Laurie Sutch

red checkCoordinate Alumni Referral List - Jeanne Pierce

red checkDevelop Alumni Internships in YFU Offices - Michele Peters

red checkPromote Universal Funding for Re-Entry Orientation - Jeanne Pierce

red checkMentor Development of New Re-Entry Locations - TBA

red checkCreate Alumni Activities Resource List - David Barber

red checkRevise Pre-Departure Orientation Curriculum - Lisa Chinnery & Jan Burwell

red checkParticipate in Orienter Training Team - Laurie Sutch

red checkCoordinate Open On-line chats - David Barber

red checkServe as YFU Listserv Liaison - Vicki Daly Redholtz

red checkPromote YFU 50th Anniversary Celebration - Ben Squire

The NAC asks and encourages that anyone interested in the these projects to please contact the Project Manager directly. This would include those people who wish to become involved in a project, have information to share regarding a particular topic or would like to know the status of a project. If there are any general comments, suggestions or questions, the NAC would like for them to be sent directly to the NAC secretary, Melissa McDonough.

In an effort to communicate more effectively, the NAC is planning on:

1) Having information on the National Alumni Council, the YFU-USA Alumni Association or general alumni news in the weekly YFU staff update

2) Having a monthly NAC update posted to the weekly staff update, the YFU alumni listserv and the YFU-USA Alumni Association website. Hard copies will be provided to the regional offices for regional newsletters and requests for hard copies for other newsletters can be made through Betsy Roach.

After a great weekend meeting, the NAC members appreciate and thank the staff that were able to attend: Margot Berkey, Betsy Roach, Trina Ramsey, Monique Turner, Peter Engebretson, and Cheryl Ramp. A special thanks to Laurel Back, Regional Director in Indianapolis, since her thoughts, comments and suggestions were particularly helpful in planning how to work and communicate with YFU volunteers, staff and alumni.

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