This past August 17 and 18, 2004 the AEOE Board met at the Santa Cruz Mission State Park to discuss a vision of the future for AEOE. Placing the leadership of this ~700 member organization into a small room for 16 hours spread out over two days and interrupted by a fun night “under the boardwalk, down by the sea” was certainly a risk, considering that we are all environmental and/or outdoor educators and tend to become stir crazy when we’re inside under florescent lights. Luckily, outdoor meeting space was available so we were able to take in some fresh oxygen rather than breathing and re-breathing stale carbon dioxide.
This “Strategic Planning” session is a process, as our facilitator, Jeff Hohensee from TreePeople, explained, a process that has begun and will continue for the next few months and then will be re-evaluated on an annual basis. It will involve the AEOE leadership, external stakeholders, and you, the AEOE membership. In the next few months, you will possibly hear from us via e-mail or phone, and through workshops at the fall conferences. In the south, Michael Charnofsky (Publicity Affairs Officer), and in the north, rikki Shackelford (Northern Council Chair), are spearheading the efforts to attain input from the membership. We want to gain as much feedback from you as possible because this organization is about you, the members, and without your attendance at the conferences, and support of AEOE through membership, this organization can not exist.
We have developed some “Big Ideas” that will turn into our Vision, some Strategies that need to be prioritized to focus our limited resources, and an analysis of AEOE’s strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities. In beginning this process, we also began re-examining our Mission, reading it over (and over and over). We are considering making our Mission Statement more precise and concise so that it can function as an arrow that points us on our way to achieving the Strategies and reaching for our Vision.
I’m sure you’re curious about some of our preliminary thoughts. Our “Big Ideas” about what AEOE should be include the following elements:
The “Wordsmith Committee” is working to refine the above elements to create a Vision that will then be sent out for your input. In addition, we want your input on the Mission Statement, as well as on a long list of strategies that will be used to obtain our Mission that include such elements as: professional development, raising the status of the profession, and advocacy.
If you are
interested in becoming more involved with AEOE, now is a great opportunity
to have your voice heard and share with the leadership where you think AEOE
should be headed during the next 50 years. Please contact Laura Vandezande
(
),
a Strategic Planning Committee member, to notify her of your desire to participate
as a committee member or to assist in communicating with the AEOE membership
and/or external stakeholders to obtain input for the strategic planning process.
We look forward to your support in this important effort to continue improving and growing AEOE, that ultimately, provides those who attend our programs with environmental knowledge that empowers them to consider the sustainability of the planet in making decisions.
To the Future!
NEW - help us plan our future - fill out the member survey - click here!