An Update on the MRC

July 26, 2009

Dear friends of the MRC:

Wow, what a time of change! Clearly, this has been a year that has tested the adaptability of the MRC. Though navigating unwanted realities has been challenging, I am pleased to say that we have progressed in a manner that has been both sensible and resourceful.

A year ago, we were optimistic about re-envisioning our mission and activities. However, the sudden shift in the local and global economic climate led to a hastened need to evaluate our resources and priorities—and adapt. Throughout this process, our primary concerns have been to sustain as much as possible of the unique and meaningful legacy of our work while at the same time being fiscally responsible. I am proud to say that from the MRC Board point of view, we have accomplished most of our recently identified specific objectives in the best possible way.

The two most significant changes for the MRC have been to eliminate our paid staff positions (for now at least) and to sell our building.

We have found a new home for our largest program, the Moving Forward Batterer’s Intervention Program, in a well-established local human service agency, ServiceNet. As we sought an appropriate agency to assume the MF Program, ServiceNet met all our primary concerns. We were impressed by ServiceNet’s appreciation of the importance of violence intervention work and their readiness to fully adopt our highly regarded program model. They were also interested in employing all MF staff who chose to continue with this work. As a large multi-program agency, we realized that ServiceNet has the ideal administrative structure to effectively manage Moving Forward. We also were hopeful that collaboration with existing ServiceNet clinical services would allow the potential for expanding services including more programming for teens. Mission accomplished: we have embedded a once ground-breaking program into a mainstream human service agency!

Eve Bogdanove, who remains the Moving Forward Program Director, deserves significant credit for overseeing this transfer. She wants all to know that the MF phone number will be changed to a 1-800 number soon, though the current number 413-253-9588 will still be in operation for the next year.

Our second major change was to sell our building on June 30th. For those of us who once celebrated the concrete realness of purchasing our own MRC “home,” this has been a bittersweet development. Yet, we accepted that we were no longer realistically in a position to sustain management of the building and understood that the MRC is not a building but rather a vision and a group of people committed to that vision. The good news of this is that we made the sale at a reasonable price and we are comfortable with the new owner, Barry Roberts, and his responsible stewardship of local property.

Our foresight and success in transferring MOVE and selling the building left us with funds that will remain a nest egg for future MRC activities. It should be noted that Board Treasurer Carl Erikson contributed immeasurable time and energy in successfully overseeing both the closing down of the building and the transition from an organization with a paid staff to one run by volunteers.

And yes, the MRC will continue with other aspects of its work. Our support groups will continue to provide a valuable resource to many men in the community. The Amherst meetings are now taking place at the Synthesis Center at 274 North Pleasant Street. We continue to respond to phone calls soliciting commentary on social issues and have numerous talented and experienced individuals available for speaking or consultation opportunities.

With so much astir over the last few months, many have noted the importance of creating an opportunity to mark this milestone moment in the MRC history. Hence, a gathering is being planned for October 17. This gathering will serve to honor the MRC history, acknowledge the recent changes and to mark the kick-off of a strategic planning process that will review our mission and priorities. Russell Bradbury-Carlin will head up the planning process for the October gathering and more details will be forthcoming about time and place. Regarding the subsequent strategic planning process, I would be delighted to hear from any MRC “stakeholders” who might want to participate in what I expect to be a very dynamic process.

Finally, I want to appreciate the past and ongoing support of so many of you who have allowed the MRC to make a difference. You can be assured that our staff has been a model of dignity throughout these transitions. Because of all of you, we can look back over our past 25 years of effort in the community and see the profound impact we have made.

Respectfully,

Mark Nickerson

MRC Board Chair