I attended a few board meetings and felt that I was awash in new vocabulary and election procedures, and it appeared that I was not alone in this confusion over issues and terminology. Previously I had taught at CCC for a nearby university that had backed out of its community obligations. I had nursing students there weekly who participated in preschool activities and also did an amazing amount of health promotion. I became friends with all the teachers and workers there but hardly ever saw the director of operations who sat in her office, backed turned, facing her keyboard.
The director asked me to lunch which I ended up paying for shortly after my admission to the board. She definitely had an agenda and this added to my confusion. Only now do I realize that I was asked to join the board as a potentially major donor. She thought that we might throw some of our vast wealth (ha ha) at the poor children of CCC. After about a year, I told this person, "You should never have asked a Jewish person to participate on your board without realizing the we Jews ask tons of questions and rarely accept the status quo." I brought a young friend to the board with experience in not-for-profit agencies who also happens to be Jewish and everyone has come to view us as the most probing, acerbic, and annoying members. Our stance is hardly appreciated.
I take a lighter view of things now that I am on the board for three years. I donate what I can, when I can and I don't expect any consistency in priorities or actions from the people who make decisions. This past week, unbeknownst to the board until after it was a fait accompli, the preschool director was fired. I had always felt her to be the wrong person for the job. She saw everything in terms of, literally, black and white, and had little exposure to a changing world. She was suspicious, often rude, sometimes charming, but above all, very provincial.
The neighborhoods around CCC are changing rapidly. I drive from home through the streets of the neighborhoods and I can see that the Hispanic community is reaching into previously held African American turf. The developers and the yuppies of the South End would love to get their hands on the property of CCC as it is in a prime location on a large lot. There are all new ethnic groups entering the area. Muslim women from different regions stroll down the streets in groups wearing traditional garb. The changing demographics are fascinating.
For many reasons, our board is an anachronism. We are all good people of serious intent but none of us have the vision or authority to pull the center out of the morass. Instead we embark upon fruitless endeavors, or put all our eggs in the one basket of a suburban community who feels sorry for the poor black children and holds high society auctions for their benefit. It is their donations which are keeping us afloat.
Too much confidence is placed in itinerant do-gooders who show up, then disappear often leaving more confusion in their wake. Last week we received a memo asking us to email information about where we work and our professional positions to the development director because a "new board member" wanted to know who he would be working with. It's true that an unknown gentleman attended our last meeting where a lot of dirty laundry was aired, and he jumped in with his assessments. This man was never introduced because J, the chairperson of the nominating committee was not present, so we never admitted this man to the board. Yet his being white and very confident allowed him to aggressively ask us for personal information. Where is your CV buster? Absurd, no?
In the years that I have been a member of the board, we have traveled around in circles, often uninformed with decisions being made in back rooms. The big donors from the affiliated church turn out to only donate an annual pittance and the mortgage that was promised us was denied with hardly an explanation. The executive members of the board fail to accomplish any goals they've set. Fewer and fewer people and organizations are interested in sustaining a nearly century old settlement house organization.
Instead of being perpetually aggravated, I put myself on a path that provides direct service and interaction with the clients of CCC. I started my knitting club in November and I don't care who wants to feed off it and how it is marketed. I dismiss the personal compliments received for my work from people from near and far. In this case, I clearly know my objectives and goals.
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