Many thanks to Kathy Keeser for all she did in her work leading Northern Berkshire Neighbors these past twelve years. A lot has happened. Lots of people have been involved. And the community is better off for all of this.
But times change. It's time now to hire a new leader for Northern Berkshire Neighbors.. It's time to look at what should be done in leading Northern Berkshire Neighbors in our changing world.
I keep thinking of the remarkable election we just experienced and the organization that President Obama built throughout the country to get him elected. Putting aside for a moment our own political preferences, Obama’s organization is important because it worked remarkably well. Young, inexperienced, voters who all shared a similar passion for getting our world on the right track staffed polling stations. The polling staff was trusted to do the right thing, all under the Obama model for community organizing.
That's a model for Northern Berkshire Neighbors as well. As you may know, we are beginning tonight (3/18) our training for community outreach workers. These workers will help get information to our neighborhoods about available resources. In addition, we have worked with others that are leaders in their neighborhoods and that may or may not be signed up to be our community outreach workers. What we have are relationships with current and potential neighborhood leaders.. Some invested through the Community Outreach Team.. Others invested just because they care.
Like Obama's organization, we have a similar organization in our community through the Coalition and Northern Berkshire Neighbors and my hope is that our new staff person and Natalie and Tim will help to provide support, encouragement, ideas, and resources to our neighborhood leaders. We'll make the linkages when we can, and will provide the structure (neighborhood summits / neighborhood newsletters) for people to check in with each other and proceed with their work. Once a year, the Neighborhood Expo can be a celebration of events past and an opportunity to set an agenda for the coming year.
Sound realistic? Sound like a job you may like or someone you know might like? Let us know.
This will be a full time job with benefits at the Coalition office. Within a few days, a job description and instructions for applying will be posted on our website, http://www.nbccoalition.org