Our Year of Strategic Inquiry (YSI)
People across the world are acknowledging that after almost three years of disruption, things have changed, and organizations and systems need to change, too. As an organization that supports youth, we feel compelled to better understand the lived experience of our kids and the learned experience provided by research showing what youth need to thrive today.
The original founders of the Decatur Education Foundation set a culture of aspiration and flexibility that has endured across over 100 board members, staff expansion and city growth. Innovation is at the core of who we are as an organization. So, it is not surprising that, in our 20th year, we find ourselves wanting to dig deeper to inform the impact we can make in the next 20 years.
Our mission has not changed, but the world has, and it is essential that we move forward thoughtfully, with a focused intention to center the experience and voice of our kids. We actually began this process in 2021 by partnering with the local nonprofit VOX ATL, to create peer-designed and -led listening sessions to inform our understanding of kids’ mental health. Our experience was an epiphany, seeing the power and promise of centering youth voice in needs assessment, planning, and implementation of our community investment strategies.
To that end, I am excited to share that I will be leading a “year of strategic inquiry” for DEF to visit with and learn from youth-centered organizations who are making great impact in other communities. We’ll be expanding our partnership with VOX ATL, and concurrently, diving into the research about protective factors for youth and how our community can work even more collaboratively on behalf of our kids.
I will be sharing interesting ideas and observations right here in Connecting the Dots and through our social media accounts. I hope you will join in and offer your thoughts and opinions to help shape the discussion. If you have ideas for organizations or people I should learn about, or are interested in hearing about this journey over a cup of coffee, please reach out gail@decatureducationfoundation.org.