Holyoke Unites/Holyoke Se Une Meeting for All
Tuesday April 8, 2008 9-10:30
299 Main St, Holyoke

Join us for the Launch Party: Premier Showing of the New
Holyoke Unites/Holyoke Se Une Web Site and Service Directory

Carol Soules and UMass students Rafael, Keith, Christopher, Shaun, Kendra, Ana, Ben and Rachel have been busy working with the Web Task Force of Holyoke Unites/Holoke se Une. Those of us who have seen the early versions were “wowed”. This is a major contribution to Holyoke.
On April 8th they will unveil their work to the whole coalition. They will give us a chance to:
- react and give feedback
- learn how we will be able to edit material on our agency and add items to the
calendar
- sign up for a training on the Directory
Don’t miss this exciting launch. See you there.

Holyoke Unites/Holyoke Se Une Addresses Leadership Building Emerging and Diverse Leadership in Holyoke
Discussion led by Maritza Smidy and Gustavo Acosta

Holyoke has struggled for years at fully developing all the talented and diverse leadership that we need in this community. On March 19th Holyoke Unites/Holyoke Se Une met to discuss this issue and decide what we can do about it.

Our Vision
The Holyoke of the future will have vibrant leaders of all ages that represent the diversity of the community.
Our Goals for the Meeting:
To understand Holyoke’s needs for future leaders from all groups in the city.
To understand what already exists and how effective it is.
To understand whether those who are trained as leaders are then given opportunities and support to become successful leaders.

To understand what is needed and what role Holyoke Unites/Holyoke Se Une and others can play in meeting our goal and keeping the issue of leadership in the forefront as a priority and coordinating existing efforts.
Leadership Issues in Holyoke Raised at the Meeting
What is a leader? One definition is the young professional, who strives to advance in whatever field he/she has chosen. Another defines those who are involved in the community (volunteers, mentors, etc.).
As the meeting went on, it became evident that leadership programs abound in Holyoke. Major agencies and coalitions offer a range of opportunities for fostering leadership among the city’s youth. The issue seems to be a lack of connectivity and awareness between projects and residents. There is a framework for building leadership in the community now, it’s just that it often goes unnoticed by the community and the agencies. In addition, individuals and potential leaders sometimes run out of gas. In some way their tenacity and dedication are not nurtured, and the y move away. So the question becomes: How do we support those that get trained to move into positions of leadership? How do we address the lack of recognition and nurturance for informal leaders, as well as the absence of communication among leadership programs? A few suggestions made at the March 19th meeting:

We need to build leadership development into existing services
Education is key-the dropout issue-We need to take people to the point that they can advocate-We need to build trusteeship

Also, assess who needs to be trained- Young professionals, everyday leaders; informal leaders, i.e. mothers, teens, human service workers.

Alan Gilburg– the leadership drought is not limited to this community. There is a lack of leaders across the country. This might be due to the current approach to building leaders. We might discuss how we could improve our methods.– Continued on next page

Leadership is crucial in fixing/resolving whatever concerns we might have for the community. Almost everyone can develop leadership opportunities into existing programs.

Having heard the issues, what are some of the things that Holyoke Unites/Holyoke Se Une can do?

Ideas generated
As a coalition working together, what would be some goals that we could agree on?
What do we mean by leadership? – have that conversation as a community.
What, as a coalition, can we provide that will allow the community (be they clients, residents, employees, etc) to articulate its concerns and, before that, to develop the ability to articulate its concerns? Amy Gilburg, as an example, offers a community conversation model.
Can we develop a survey to learn about each other’s leadership programs?
We are trying to collect as much info as we can about the existence of leadership programs which can be published in the HU newsletter and web site.

Networking and coordination across leadership programs
Leadership education should cross all sectors (e.g. business) and cannot be limited just to the social service sector. Neighborhood groups need to connect/link.
Recruit from existing leaders. Reach across sectors
Opportunity from Rebecca Lisi suggesting the creation of Neighborhood Associations through City Council.
Potential leaders have to commit to mentoring others. Commit to identifying new leaders-youth and adults. Each of us take an apprentice.

In sum
Create a Vision
Document and coordinate existing programs
Identify gaps and address them
Engage more folks : Business, government, neighbor to neighbor

Next Steps
Is there an interest to move forward with this issue? Most agree that we need to
Do we want to form a specific team that will be dedicated solely to this issue?
How can we make it so that we foster leadership?
Form a group that will carry this issue forward:
Daniel Ross, Amy and Alan Gilburg, Rebecca Lisi, Rebecca Masters, Jay Breines, Isolde Ortega, Imre Kepes
Group meets in the next three weeks. Comes back to the whole group in May
Can some agencies help with this task force by providing funding so that Victor can staff the group or provide their own staff to take minutes?

Bettys Reflections

It really has been a joy to work with so many of you in developing Holyoke Unites/Holyoke Se Une. As individuals who are constantly networking, collaborating and facilitating meetings, when we call a meeting we never really know who will attend, what issues will be raised, and what the energy will be like in the room. On March 19th Holyoke Unites/ Holyoke Se Une had its monthly meeting of the “Whole Group” with a focus on “Leadership” We drew a full house -some were first time attendees, and others were members who have taken part in this movement from its inception in April ‘07.

The excitement in the room was about building leadership in Holyoke and, wow, the energy was high. It was a difficult task to keep the 50 plus individuals focused but at the same time covering all the areas that needed to be addressed. Two hours later the energy and commitment to make Building Emerging Leaders a part of the agenda of Holyoke Unites/ Holyoke Se Une was the ultimate outcome.

Questions emerged, like what does “Leadership” mean?, Who are we trying to engage as we begin to plan trainings, supports and mentoring programs that emerging leaders may need and want? Where are representatives of business, industry, elected officials? As one attendee stated during the meeting “We are in a crisis right now, Today. We must take action NOW!”

For the past 30 some odd years when a community voice has been needed, the voice has traditionally come from service providers, who at times are also residents of the community. When can we reach further into the community to gain the voice of the ordinary resident? Is that not the “true community voice” that each of us want to support? We need them to define “leadership” for themselves.
I hope all those who are interested in this issue can join this United Movement as we continue to build our tomorrow. ? These will be some of the questions that the Leadership Development Working group will begin to tackle. This group will be coming together in the next few weeks to begin to unravel some of these very complex issues and will be reporting back and seeking feedback from the Whole Group at the May meeting.

Gracias: Betty Medina Lichtenstein- betty@hfn.org