Our Values as a Network
● We commit through action to community sustainable development.
● We work to center diversity, equity, and inclusion within our organizations and in our shared work.
● We respect and use each other’s strengths to achieve CAN goals.
● We engage in solution-oriented problem solving, identifying challenges, and offering specific solutions.
● We deliberately share learning and experiences from our individual work with other CAN members.
● We demonstrate leadership, accountability, trust, and shared responsibility for CAN and its work.
● We engage in honest and proactive communication with each other.
● We practice peer-to-peer communication to raise attention to issues, share concerns, and mitigate conflicts.
● We strive to create brave spaces and deeply commit to working towards equity, justice, inclusivity, and access by prioritizing marginalized and systemically disenfranchised groups and communities for all Central Appalachians through continuous education and self-reflection.
For the past three years, we have been working to democratize the network and engage more of our peers and colleagues in the governance of CAN. Our work is growing, and this planning period will support this growth and enable CAN to invest the time needed to develop a robust proposal for the growth and replication of its model. The planning process timeline is as follows:
November/December 2022
- Engage network development consultant and network coordinator (currently underway)
- Develop engagement strategies for broad participation in network development process
January 2023
- Leadership team and Working Group convening: deep analysis of current structure, opportunities for growth, and visioning for network and sector-based expansion
February/April 2023
- Leadership team works with network development consultant
- Working Groups develop plans for increased capacity: to include structure for facilitation support and increased capacity to financially support emerging work in each sector
- TA visits: CAN leadership team members with relevant expertise meet with emerging networks to support replication efforts, as requested by ARC staff or state program managers
- Leadership team meets with state program managers, economic development leaders, and Local Development Districts to share strategies and develop alignment where appropriate
May 2023
• Leadership team and Working Group convening for synthesis and implementation proposal development