We have four committees currently working or creating the plan to move forward: Governance Task Force, Education Committee, Administrative Policy Committee and Member Communication Committee. This past month we have made our biggest strides in our area of governance.
1.Governance Task Force – This task force, chaired by John Curran of the Tinley Park Park District, includes John Wilson, John Hecker, Mary Fran Leno, Bill Clevenger and IPRA staff. The team is diligently combing through our by-laws to update and modify them to assure we are operating legally and most efficiently as an association. While another team: Gary Balling, Chuck Szoke, Steve Neil, Mary Jean Hutchinson and IPRA Staff, are carefully creating a model to better connect our members and sections in efforts to provide a more streamlined and integrated IPRA. Section leaders will be meeting with the task force to unveil the plan for our new vision, and how we will unite for a stronger
2.Education Committee – Led by Rick Hanetho, the Education Committee is currently being carefully crafted with a diverse, interdisciplinary group of professionals to assure we are developing a well-rounded, meaningful and powerful education system. We are currently interviewing members, evaluating other agencies and our past successes and struggles. As we build our base and our team, we will keep you posted on the plan to provide you with the best educational opportunities within the state and nationally.
3.Administrative Policy Committee - Led by Mike Sletten, the Administrative Policy Committee also includes Nancy Aldrich, Rhonda Brewer, Joe DeLuce, Sue Rini, Amy Riva and Craig Talsma. They will be meeting this month to provide recommendations to bring this training and procedural information up to date.
4.Member Communication Committee – Allison Niemela is leading the charge of pulling together this team to recommend a better communication system for IPRA, including information distribution, awareness, logo and the website. Initial steps involve the implementation of focus groups and interviews to assess and obtain user information. A progress report will be available next month.
It’s not too late – if you want to get involved this year, we still have plenty of opportunities! Please let us know. As always, your input and support is greatly appreciated. Please feel free to contact me
at anytime – lkpaden@illinois.edu.
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