Strategic Planning Task Force 

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Sharing Key Learnings from Focus Groups for UUCGN’s Strategic Planning

The focus groups included 1) Parents of children in our youth program, 2) New members, 3) Long term UUCGN members (typically 20+ years membership), 4) Chairpersons of committees, 5) Members engaged with other area organizations, 6) Seasonal members 7) Teen members, and 8) Young adults who previously attended as youth. Some groups were split into two sessions. Here are the first three of seven themes:

THEME #1:  We Value our Sense of a Community with Shared Values – A resounding number of focus group members appreciated our sense of community and said they were part of it because of our shared values. Many felt a sense of belonging, that the church was integral to their lives, and that other members and our existing programs were interesting, smart, and mattered in the world.

THEME #2:  Improve General Inclusivity, Diversity, and New Member Involvement–Although there was praise for our existing community, there was also the repeated theme about the importance of making new members and visitors feel welcome and connected to our community with several suggestions such as an ambassador program and helping them find people to talk to at the coffee hour after service. Similarly, the theme extended to the need for inclusivity and support in a broader way, to improve community cohesion among many different types of our group members, and to reach out to diverse potential members as well (youth, families, LGBTQ, under-resourced, etc.) This extended to the overall idea about the importance of diversifying our membership, how this has been a challenge, and suggestions about how that may include changes to the schedules, locations, and communication approaches that we use.

THEME #3:  Increase Intergenerational Activities and Better Serve Youth and Families – There was a strong desire among many members to better integrate our existing youth, teens, and families into the UUCGN community and to serve them better. There was recognition that youth are our future and that our community would be strengthened through intergenerational activities and learning, which some noted had been more prevalent in past years. There were many suggestions about how to do this and there were also challenges identified including scheduling, childcare, the changing landscape for youth and families, and more.

THEME #4:  Need for Better Marketing and Outward Communications – There was recognition of the importance of marketing or promoting that our congregation was here in Naples and of the good work and programming that we are already doing. Many comments focused on this as an area of weakness, but also many cited this as a tool to achieve objectives such as attracting diverse members and also better serving both new and existing diverse members. There were also many suggestions such as improving our website and recognizing that we may need to expand our thinking about the best approaches, especially if attracting diverse members is the goal.

THEME #5:  Need for Better Internal Communications and Processes – There was recognition of the need to tighten up internal communications and the processes that support that with many identifying specific times when they noticed a communication problem or gap. While this emerged as an area of relative weakness (because there was also acknowledgement of the great effort already being placed here), many cited this as a tool to get members even more involved and engaged and to overall have UUCGN serve everyone better. Many suggestions about how to improve communication processes were shared, and additional benefits of focusing on internal communications were highlighted, such as improved knowledge-sharing and institutional knowledge, and about how there were benefits of having more diverse and inclusive communications.

THEME #6:  Need for Covenant and/or Conflict Resolution Plan – The need for conflict resolution was shared by members with a few examples of times when this was necessary, but was largely unaddressed. Several people specifically mentioned the need for a covenant, as the best approach to deal with conflicts, backed by the general agreement that resolving differences and maintaining positive relationships, in a largely volunteer organization, is important.

THEME #7:  Appreciation and Support for Our Social Justice Focus – The appreciation for the existing social justice focus of our congregation was a clear theme, with some mentioning the importance of this at this time. Members valued what we have and do in the social justice area, stating that these programs gave them great satisfaction. There was also a call to expand these efforts to have greater positive mission-impact, to gain visibility both for UUCGN and for the issues highlighted, and to better serve the broader community. There was certainty that efforts in this area would make a difference and that there were needs that UUCGN could fill. However, the specific focal area was unclear with members mentioning both existing programs and new ones.