April 2016

Hi everyone!

In case we haven’t met, my name is Rachel and I’m the new(ish) National Mosaic Committee Chair. I am both honored and excited to be filling Tamara’s shoes and to continue to build our NA’s momentum around increasing our local impact through Mosaic projects.

MONTHLY MOSAIC NEWSLETTER

I am planning to send out a Mosaic newsletter monthly (via a blog post) which I hope will accomplish a number of goals:

·     Build momentum and excitement around Mosaic as one of CISV’s 7 core programmes
·      Connect Mosaic chairs from different chapters
·      Share successes from US chapters and other NAs
·      Remind you all of upcoming deadlines
·      Connect you to resources

In addition to accomplishing the above, this will also ensure my communications around Mosaic are centralized and streamlined, in order to decrease the number of emails you receive from me J You are receiving this communication if you are a Mosaic Chair for your chapter, or if you are the Mosaic contact person while your chapter searches for a chair.

I am planning for these newsletters to go out around the 20th of each month. As this is a new structure, please do share any feedback you have or suggestions for how to make this resource more helpful for you and your chapter.

WHERE WE ARE

I was able to attend the Mosaic training at the RTF in Peru last month and I learned a ton that I’m excited to share with you. I felt myself pivoting between excitement and dismay throughout the training- organizationally, our goal is so ambitious (educating and inspiring action for a more just and peaceful world), and we have accomplished some great things so far. But our world is far from our vision of just and peaceful- we can and we must do more and be better in our pursuit of this ideal.

One of the most impactful moments for me was when one of the women in the training tied Mosaic to all of these feel-good stories we read about on social media. These little videos or stories are touching and they give us goosebumps (or make us cry…). Mosaic has the power to do this! We don’t have to create videos, of course, but we can touch people’s lives, and our own, in very real and impactful ways.

My goal as chair is to provide you with whatever assistance I can in order to help you to feel more inspired and comfortable with the idea of launching Mosaic projects in your own communities. This support can be anything from chatting on the phone or delivering training, or giving you feedback on your plans, or visiting your Mosaic projects in person. I am here for you in whatever capacity you would find the most helpful!

WHERE WE’RE GOING

            As I mentioned above, one of my main goals as chair is to continue to build momentum around Mosaic. Daniel Krajnak (NJR from Columbus) and I have been in talks recently about the JB’s plans to host lots of Mosaics in 2017, and a handful of chapters have committed to hosting this year, too! One of the beautiful things about Mosaic is that any chapter can host one at any time (including multiple projects per year even). You don’t necessarily have to commit in advance (though that’s always nice), and since our NA has the ability to approve projects, we don’t need to go through the IO to make things official. If your chapter is thinking of pulling something together this year, please do let me know and I’m happy to help!

SPOTLIGHT

#1: International Women’s Day Video: As you may have heard through prior communications from Tamara or CISV Central, a team of CISVers from the Americas put together resources for chapters to host Mosaic projects on International Women’s Day in March. Although this day is past, the good news is they have created a video that could easily be streamed in conjunction with a discussion if your chapter is looking for an easy project to get started. Thanks to Bian for creating this amazing video!

#2: The Mosaic Handbook is an amazing resource that will answer virtually any question you have about the programme. Take a look if you haven’t seen it before (and save it for future reference)!

Thanks for reading through this lengthy post! Next month I’m planning to include some concrete resources to help you plan Mosaic projects, as well as any additional information you all tell me you would like to receive (so please do be in touch about what would be most helpful J).

I look forward to working with all of you in the coming months!

Rachel