Board reunion: An opportunity to reconnect and recharge

A family reunion is usually an energetic gathering featuring people catching up on what happened over the previous year. A Community Solutions board reunion has that same excitement in the air. Our “family” of board members dates back more than 100 years! Of course, no one from our first board in 1913 attended the recent reunion event, but we did have one attendee who served on the board in the 1970s!

One of the fun things about the event was hearing from current and former board members about what they particularly value or what sticks out about their time on the board.

One of the fun things about the event was hearing from current and former board members about what they particularly value or what sticks out about their time on the board. For example former board members said highlights included chairing the local celebration of the International Year of the Family, learning about the community and how it works, working with so many smart, talented people and the annual recognition of community volunteers.What happens when MORE THAN 40 YEARS of leadership experience reunite? Find out here Click To Tweet

In addition to catching up with one another, current and former board members heard briefly from our President and Executive Director John Corlett about the range of exciting projects we’ve undertaken since last year’s reunion. For example:

  • Research projects with Akron Children’s Hospital, The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland and Community Legal Aid (Akron/Canton), Summit Addiction Leadership Council, Age Friendly Cleveland, Stark Community Foundation and United Way of Stark County (Canton) and Area Office on Aging of Northwest Ohio (Toledo). The Research Team also released updated fact sheets for every congressional district in Ohio and for all 132 Ohio House and Senate districts.
  • The policy team published the fourth edition of Follow The Money; provided analysis via reports, blogs, podcasts, presentations and webinars; engaged in numerous legislative visits around the state budget; hosted a Medicaid Institute; and continued to coordinate activities of the Council on Older Persons.
  • On the health front, we have also continued to co-convene LARC Access Ohio – a working group to advance best practice in family planning in Ohio—and to track Syringe Services Programs.
  • Our teams are collaborating on several maternal and infant health projects, including improving maternal mortality and morbidity surveillance for the state; county profiles on women’s economic and health status; and a project with First Year Cleveland that focuses on Tobacco 21, paid family leave and Medicaid.
  • Our website traffic has gone up by more than 125 percent, we’ve had more than 170 media hits so far this year, more than in all of 2017, our op-eds are published regularly and we recently launched the first-ever Ohio Health and Human Services Reporting grant for five media professionals around the state!

We look forward to seeing former board members—as well as many others from the community—again at the 2019 Celebration of Human Services on October 25!

Needless to say, there was a lot to talk about at this reunion. We look forward to seeing former board members—as well as many others from the community—again at the 2019 Celebration of Human Services on October 25!

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