[Dialogue] Board of Directors approves new mission statement for ICA USA

[David Dunn]

Hello colleagues,

At their fall '05 meeting just completed in ICA's Community Resource Center
in Chicago, the ICA Board of Directors approved a new mission statement that
encompasses ICA's holistic approach to human development in community.

"The ICA releases the capacity to create positive, sustainable futures in
individuals, organizations, and communities."

The statement acknowledges the breadth of the work ICA staff and colleagues
around the nation undertake daily. This work includes capacity-building
programs for organizations and communities as well as programs for children,
young parents, youth and adults.

The new mission statement is rooted in ICA's history and is reminiscent of a
quote from Rabindranath Tagore that was an important guide for our work in
village development during the 1970s and '80s. "Our aim is to restore to the
villages the power to meet their own requirements."

It reflects ICA's founding conviction that people have within them the
ability to create their own lives and that the ICA's role is, therefore, to
offer methods and opportunities that support personal and local initiatives.

This was the first Board meeting since Elizabeth Houde was hired as ICA's
first Chief Executive this past August, 2005.

Watch for Friends' Flashes later this fall with stories about some of the
striking examples of the diversity and depth of ICA's work across the
nation.

Members of ICA Board of Directors include:
 
Richard Wilkinson, President
Seattle, WA
Learning & Organization Development Team Leader, PATH
 
Lela Jahn, Vice President
San Francisco, CA
Jahn Investment Advisors -- Specializing in the Financial Concerns of Women
 
Don P Elliott,  Past President
Denver, CO  
Retired Heart Surgeon
 
Ray Caruso
Columbus, OH 
Partner, Center for Participative Leadership
 
Kathleen Joyce
Birchwood, MN
Independent Consultant
 
Jaimie Leopold
Tucson, AZ
J. Leopold Consulting, Consultant
 
Judy Lindblad
Tucson, AZ & Michigan City, IN
Retired
 
Timothy Lush
Jersey City, NJ
Sr. Project Manager, Northwater Capital Management
 
Suganya Sockalingam
New York, NY
Executive Director, TeamWorks
 
Rachael Swanson
Washington, DC
Regional Director, National Youth Partnership
 


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David Dunn
Director of Publishing
Institute of Cultural Affairs
ddunn at ica-usa.org