Last year, in March, more than 100 of us participated in small group visioning meetings or completed the online survey.  The Vision Team analyzed and collated the five hundred data points which resulted, and three major priorities emerged.

Building Community, we envision:

• A campus that is a safe and welcoming home for people of diverse ages, backgrounds, and identities.
• A trusted location for building community partnerships that reflect our values of love and justice.
• A campus that inspires joyful and meaningful social connections.

Building Accessibility, we envision:

• A place where people of diverse abilities participate seamlessly in all aspects of community life.
• Using technology in ways that improve access and build community.

Building Resilience, we envision:

• A campus equipped with sustainable facilities that allow us to be of service in times of crisis.
• A campus that models our commitment to climate action and care for the environment.
• Our campus as a sanctuary that sustains the spiritual and physical wellbeing of the community.

As we move ahead this year into our Capital Campaign, let’s bear in mind that the Strategic Plan encloses and empowers the Capital Campaign. Almost every proposed adjustment and enhancement in the Capital Campaign, is based on the Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan is the why and what. The Capital Campaign is the how.

What happens to our shared vision after the Capital Campaign reaches its successful conclusion, stained glass windows re-leaded, heat pumps installed, our campus beautified and made both more accessible and more resilient? We’ll have good reason to feel proud of our work and generosity, but will we be done with visioning?

I’m thinking not and hope you will agree with me that visioning should be an ongoing process, something we find time to do together on a regular basis.

This seems particularly true when we look at the Community piece of our strategic plan. These goals are perhaps the most important, but also less concrete than providing wheelchair access to the courtyard or adding to our array of solar panels. It will be harder to say when we accomplish, for example, the vision of building community partnerships that reflect our values of love and justice. Excuse me for stating the obvious, but that will be or should be an ongoing effort to engage with community organizations outside of our immediate, beloved Unitarian community. Last year USSB hosted participants in the Peace and Dignity Run and also tabled at the Día de los Muertos observance at Ortega Park. Community groups such as AHA, Freedom for Youth and Lisa’s Place meet on our campus already—a good beginning.

So, the strategic plan informs the capital campaign but won’t end there. We have done ourselves the great favor of creating a shared template for our actions stretching into the future. Talk about a Bridge to the Future!

by John Altman, USSB Board of Trustees