Strategic Plan working groups to summarize recommendations by end of February
In December 2010, the Strategic Planning Committee [SPC] issued a call for volunteers to form working groups to focus on each of the top level goals in the evolving draft Strategic Plan. [See www.oca.org/news/2339.]
“This came in response to feedback from the Church at large and from the Holy Synod of Bishops to provide examples of the next level of detail to make the top level goals more concrete, understandable, and practical,” according to Priest John Vitko, SPC chair. “All ten working groups—each consists of five to eight members—have begun their work. Group members were drawn from the Church at large. Some group members have been working in areas related to their specific goal for many years, while others are new to an area but possess an intense interest in it.”
The working groups begin with the top level goals in the current draft plan, but are free to change, add or delete from these as they see fit.
“Specifically, the groups are chartered with reviewing past and ongoing efforts related to the goals, deciding what is currently working and what may need improvement, and proposing new initiatives with intermediate objectives, including a ‘how-to’ description and estimate of required resources, for accomplishing these goals,” Father John added. “Each working group will document its recommendations in a two-page summary by Feburary 28, 2011. Most are on track for meeting these ambitious timelines.”
Output from the working groups will be reviewed by the members of the SPC, the Metropolitan Council, and the Holy Synod of Bishops in March 2011. If approved, their output will be incorporated in the strategic planning materials that will be distributed to delegates to the 16th All-American Council, slated to convene in Bellevue, WA October 31-November 4, 2011.
[The “Working Draft of a Strategic Plan for the Orthodox Church in America,” prepared by the Strategic Planning Committee of the OCA’s Metropolitan Council, is available on-line in PDF format at www.oca.org/PDF/NEWS/2010/2010-0624-strategicplan-v4.6.pdf.]
- For background on how the working groups are organized, please access the OCA Strategic Plan Charter and Guidelines for Working Groups, posted in PDF format at www.oca.org/PDF/NEWS/2010/2010-1202-charter.pdf.
- For background on the content of the topics being considered by the groups, please access the OCA Strategic Plan Working Groups Top Level Goals, posted in PDF format at www.oca.org/PDF/NEWS/2010/2010-1202-goals.pdf.