Over the weekend, 23 MCN staff members and all eight of our board members gathered in Austin, Texas for a weekend of strategic planning. The meetings, held on Saturday and Sunday with the board and staff together, and Monday with staff only, covered a wide breadth of topics, from the implementation and refinement of our 2018-20 logic model and strategic plan, to the development of a global migration framework, to a deep-dive into assuring that MCN’s mission and our basic descriptive language translates into Spanish and incorporates the many vulnerable populations with which we work. Within our leveled meeting set-up, new voices and frontline perspectives were valued and encouraged to help steer our conversations -- a unique aspect of MCN that assures that our meetings are inclusive and our decisions are made based on input from all corners of our organization.

We made sure that we had time to enjoy each other’s company as well. On the first night ahead of the meetings, much of the staff gathered for Chinese food at a restaurant close to the MCN office. Watching the cheers, hugs, and smiles as we trickled in from the airport, the owner of the restaurant pulled aside MCN’s CEO, Karen Mountain, to ask if we were in fact her extended family, and not her employees. The camaraderie continued throughout the weekend.  The out-of-towners would like to extend gratitude to our Austin hosts, for driving us around, allowing us to take over the couches at the office and your spare bedrooms, and showing us your spectacular town. A big thank you to Karen, Elaine, and our Board of Directors for recognizing the value of this in-person meet-up, not just in building a strong strategic vision, but for strengthening our relationships and rejuvenating the passion and spirit in our fight for health justice.