Embracing Change in 2021
Dear GRNC community,
From our team to you, we wish you a very happy New Year! This seemingly endless year is finally coming to a close and although the challenges it brought will not all end when the clock strikes midnight, we are hopeful for the new beginnings 2021 will bring.
This year we watched our community show up for each other in countless ways while navigating uncertainty, fear, and loss. We experienced a tremendous increase in mutual aid efforts, an unparalleled public outcry against police brutality, and a deeper understanding that we are all in this together. GRNC would like to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for giving us belief that another world is possible.
Unrelated to the pandemic, our former Executive Director Mary Alta decided it was time for her to transition out of her role at GRNC in the fall. We are grateful to Alta for her commitment and leadership, and we wish her the best of luck with what the future has in store.
Finally, we would like to thank those of you who helped GRNC get through this year. Because of the support and trust we had from our people, we were able to host a virtual summer camp, lend out music gear to families, and launch a new collective for our high school youth.
While these past ten months have been incredibly challenging and unpredictable for GRNC, they have also opened up a plethora of new possibilities and forced us to critically examine parts of our organization that are not fully aligned with our values.
GRNC is now entering a radical period of transformation. We are not yet sure exactly what changes this will bring, but we are excited to invite our loving community of supporters to be a part of the process.
Over the next year, we are putting a pause on a majority of our programs in order to take a step back and realign our focus. This means we will not be hosting Rock Roulette, After-School, or Summer Rock Camp in 2021.
Instead, we will spend time addressing the ways oppression has shown up in our organization, reevaluating our role in the community, and dreaming up new possibilities for our future. We are mapping out multiple windows of opportunity for folks to participate.
With the Executive Director position vacant, we are considering ways our organization can operate with a non-hierarchical structure. We will also take a look at the programs we have devoted our energy to in the past and determine if they still have a role in our future.
How would we redesign this organization if we had the opportunity to build it up from scratch today? How have the needs of the youth we service shifted in the past year alone? What fresh, radical places can we take GRNC next?
These are the questions we have been asking ourselves and dreaming up answers to. Our personal insight is limited, however, and the real value lies in our community of young people, volunteers, parents, guardians, and supporters.
Over the next few months, we are recruiting for our Board of Directors, a group that looks out for GRNC’s sustainability. We plan to form Committees whose members will make lasting decisions about GRNC’s operations as an organization. We will also have virtual meetups and open office hours where people can drop in without any expectations for long-term commitment. During these sessions, we will have a chance to simply share space with one another once again and see what new brilliant ideas come to light.
If you are interested in coming on this journey with us, please complete a short volunteer interest form to stay informed of these opportunities: girlsrocknc.org/volunteer.
We are so excited to begin this transformation process with you. Change is intimidating, but it can also be invigorating, enticing, and much needed.
With love and in solidarity,
GRNC
