SPC Proposal: Ongoing Media Coordination Fellowship
In recent SPC meetings, we've been discussing the need for "ongoing appropriations" to handle ongoing essential expenses, without burdening the community with item-by-item votes. This is the first. We want to turn the Media Coordination position into an ongoing Fellowship. Please discuss!
Ben Rubin has been working on the e-NABLE Media Coordination project for approximately one year.
During that time, his role has evolved and the programs he has developed have proven themselves to be
indispensable. Ben is a part time temporary contractor and may move on to other things, but the
Strategic Planning Committee has determined that the role and the programs he has modeled should
continue. The Media Coordination programs help us tell e-NABLE's story to the outside world, keep the
community informed about our activities around the world, and forge new alliances both internally and
with other groups. In order to keep that role filled, SPC now proposes that the community fund an ongoing
e-NABLE Communications Fellowship program.
The budget of this funding will approximate the ongoing stipend, approved in past proposals to the
EnableFund ($1500 per month/20+ hours a week). Once the program begins, fellowships will extend up
to 1 year.
Two things are new in this proposal:
1. We want to make this an ongoing Fellowship, and allow for a one month overlap between terms
for onboarding. This will allow a smooth transition and knowledge sharing between successive
Fellows.
2. The position will include several fund-raising efforts, including a search for corporate sponsors
who would eventually underwrite this very Fellowship.
Details in the attached.
Enable Sierra Leone
Wed 27 Jan 2021 6:43PM
Not an easy task to coordinate all the volunteers and chapters. Best of luck!
Michael Bowman
Wed 27 Jan 2021 6:43PM
Communication, organization and accountability is a vital part of any network .
Will McCaffrey
Wed 27 Jan 2021 6:43PM
A good investment for the future of e-NABLE. In addition to the value of a coordinated message and increased outreach, this fellowship has the potential to pay for itself and then some.
Jon Schull
Wed 27 Jan 2021 6:43PM
This is a significant step forward. I'm all for it!
Ben
Wed 27 Jan 2021 6:42PM
From the pilot project, this proposal aims to define sustainable media coordination across the international e-NABLE ecosystem. Keep in mind that part of the responsibility of the fellow is to support sponsorship to cover the program and other similar efforts. It is also to transfer experience from one fellow to the next. I will be working with a student intern this quarter to better articulate the fundraising materials and explore a partnership to cover the costs of 2021 (and beyond).
Poll Created Wed 27 Jan 2021 6:42PM
Media Coordination Fellowship Closed Sat 6 Feb 2021 5:03PM
Thank you to everyone who participated in this process!
The project has passed. I have been encouraged by the comments, and will continue to shape this fellowship with your help and guidance. Next week, I will follow up with a list of our next steps.
I would like to take a moment to recognize several people and teams who have influenced this process. In the spirit of e-NABLE, this fellowship exists as a contact point within a diversity of efforts, and would not exist without leadership from the following contributors:
The SPC, and specifically @Jon Schull, @Bob Rieger, and @Jeremy Simon have developed a system of initiatives on which this model relies. They have informed the program and will continue to guide it's growth.
ETF and @Jen Owen have helped to link the newsletter with various branches of the online community, and shared feedback for programs like Wishbone.
@Maria Esquela, @Lyndsey Wells and @Everton Lins have been influential in leading conferences and presentations which bring together the community and offer a platform for sharing insights from the project.
All the Chapter Leaders who I've interviewed and collaborated with have defined the Chapter Spotlight process: @James Quilty, @Rich B, @Rodrigo Savage, @Zeynep Karagöz, @Ahmad Alhaj Moussa, @Everton Lins - A big thank you for their time and effort, both regionally and internationally.
@Teri Sanor and Evan Blackmon are facilitating the Chapter Sharing aspects of the Wishbone program, which will nurture future chapter development.
@Nate Munro has modeled the NIOP initiative around team mentoring and an international community base, which offers many parallels and points of collaboration.
Ricardo Granados and @Saiph Savage have helped pilot the foundations of a mentoring program and provide a context for related research.
For community infrastructure, Mazvydas Sverdiolas continues to be a powerhouse and much appreciated voice of reason when it comes to our online systems, especially within the Hub and Wishbone. Thank you for your patience Mazvy!
I would also like to share my appreciation for the Loomio platform. For more than a year, my contributions have been publicly defined and developed with regular feedback. This the project demonstrates the potential of community leadership and governance to design, mold, and sustain programs within a volunteer network. There is still much to be desired, but we owe the possibility of a fellowship program on the bedrock that existed when I arrived. Thanks to all those who read these projects, participate, and may propose new projects in the future.
We've made edits based on the discussion. Please see attached document for updated details.
Results
| Results | Option | % of points | Voters | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Agree | 100.0% | 20 |
|
| Abstain | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Disagree | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Block | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Undecided | 0% | 147 |
|
20 of 167 people have participated (11%)
Ben Tue 19 Jan 2021 9:04PM
Great considerations, I will bring this up Friday in the SPC meeting with some suggestions and copy a summary of the discussion for you here afterwards. You are correct - @Jon Schull loves to say 'e-nable can't hire or fire but it can inspire'...while this is true, the SPC is another story (chapters also do plenty of traditional hiring, of course). The SPC will be involved in the selection process of the fellow and will need a clear process for evaluation. I appreciate the suggestions!
Will McCaffrey Sun 17 Jan 2021 7:59PM
It seems like this is an incredibly valuable role. The more people that hear about us, the more people we can collectively help. Continuation of WISHBONE will strengthen the network, and seeking fundraising will allow for more revolutionary projects to be sponsored. Thank you for all of the great work Ben.
My only question/concern with a role of this nature is accountability. This is not a business with employee handbooks and the like, and this role will morph and change as new ideas come forth and e-NABLE grows. How will the SPC/community set expectations for the role, how will those expectations be updated, and how will those expectations be enforced? I think loomio is a fine solution, but I'm curious what your thoughts are around this?
Since this is the first time a "permanent fellowship" has been proposed, I would be in favor of seeing some definition of this go into the proposal. Ben is doing an exceptional job. But I do think it's reasonable to consider the controls for when someone is not producing adequate work, since this is such a critical role.
Zeynep Karagöz Sun 17 Jan 2021 2:31PM
I agree on the necessity of a to-go-person on especially about communication. We have been strugling to set up a secretarial staff here in Turkey as well. Great work.
Rich B · Tue 9 Feb 2021 6:22PM
Thanks for the support and we look to the Future working on new ideas.
Rich B
Rich Brown,D.C., Founder & President
Handling The Future, Inc. Volunteers from diverse professional business backgrounds who, as a group of individuals from a private community in the Tampa Bay Region, are affiliated as a chapter with and to assist the global e-NABLE network WWW.EnablingtheFuture ( http://WWW.EnablingtheFuture ).or
Handling The Future, Inc. (WWW.HandlingTheFuture.com ( http://WWW.HandlingTheFuture.com )) purpose is to achieve through creativity and education the Three-Dimensional (3D) printing quality that provides a potential solution to those who have all or partial loss of a hand either from birth or trauma. The use of 3D printing is also being explored for use in other disabilities.
Handling the Future, Inc. Is a registered Florida Non-Profit Corporation and a 501(c)3 Charity REGISTRATION #: CH54785 - A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.