Trainers’ Session November 7, 2010

Belleville, Illinois

What is your “take away” from this meeting?

• Go ahead and do the things I’ve been hearing about.

• Educate others on systemic change; share what the VF is doing world-wide

• Provide a catalyst for the VF to think creatively about what kinds of projects could be designed for local areas

• Design a training that invites us to think about our present service models and how they might move more towards systemic change.

• I don’t feel like a lone wolf anymore; communication has given me a new heart.

• There is a lot of wisdom; theological basis for what we do; gather the wisdom and begin to train each other; share the gifts of the VF

• Have already taken a step towards collaboration in my own area; expanding my contact group

• Learn from each other; share programs and evaluate potential for transformation

• Start personally

• Intend to work on three levels: get SVDP represented at UN

• Plenary session at national SVdP meeting on systemic change

• Work to develop a common understanding of poverty and the root causes; regional commitment

• Move beyond just VF and work with other groups who are already engaged in systemic change

• Challenge our own congregations• Who is going to do it? Need to be creative and

enthusiastic about passing on what we have learned to the next generation; need for systemic vocational program

• Where are those living in poverty involved in this process of systemic change

• How do you mobilize systemic change thinking?

• Hope to go back and help my own congregation to think more systemically.

• Hope to effect change in thinking on the boards of directors on which we sit

• Need to start with ourselves; our own branches of the family

• Gather the trainers from the VMY, LOC, and Sisters and train as a team with all those groups; model collaboration

• Need to understand the groups with whom we wish to collaborate

• Look at the stewardship campaigns in our parishes; invite people to recognize their own time, talent and treasures to transform their own lives

• Leaders need to set up another time to meet with us for continual training

• Need for Sisters in local ministries to seek out other branches of the VF and to collaborate with others outside of the VF who are interested in systemic change

• Need to stay in contact with others from this meeting

• Why was I asked to come here? How do we utilize the groups of our communities so that we can co-create a plan of action in our region?

• “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to get far, go together.”

• Need to identify among ourselves what potential is available for collaboration at the local level.

• Need to work on intentionally incorporating systemic change

• Need to create regional trainings; need to distill these three days into three hours

• Would have liked to have spent more time on projects; discussing strategies, etc.

• Necessary for people to receive facilitation training or to serve as a planner behind the scenes

• Electronic training; training in technology

• Develop a systemic change blog

• Share resources as we discover them

• Would be great to be able to click on individual states and have branches of the family and contacts identified; list those who have already been trained

What on-going training do you need?

• Need for a network so we can learn from each other; how is each group engaging in training in their regional area?

• Need to continue to communicate with leaders, but also with each other.

What do you see as your next step?

• Gather my colleagues for a meal and have a conversation that might lead to a systemic change training at DePaul; prayer, reflection and planting of seeds on systemic change

• There already is a blog that those in this group can participate in; change.family.org on vinfam website

• How do we transform our parishes so that they become agents of systemic change?

• How are we going to change the SVdP conferences to enable a change in mentality? Need to help them understand how to change the projects they are already doing into systemic change.

• Need to get more comfortable with technology

• Look at who the community is to whom we are speaking and be sensitive to where they are.

• Need to look at what we are already doing and engage in the questions which might lead to transformation within existing ministries.

• What happened here is like the Transfiguration. You have to go back down from the mountain. When you have a change you want to implement you are usually on Step 4. The people you want to engage in change are usually on Step 1. There is a need to go down to Step 1 to meet them and lead them to the next Step.

• Need to do more work within myself; need for conversion to take place

• A retreat that might call on people from the different branches to come together around systemic change

• There is a need for a shared understanding of the causes of poverty

• Need to do a better job of engaging young people in understanding systemic change; also need to do a better job of helping them to see their relationship to other branches of the family.

• VMY need more time with the leaders of the VF so we can better learn how to collaborate with them

• Need for a different way of approaching collaboration with other VF members for those of us who live in rural areas

• Need to add to our family simply lay Vincentians.

• The way that we communicate with each other from the top down is always effective; need to allow people to choose to opt in

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• VF gatherings are essential to share our different works; need to have more at the regional level to share ideas

• I would like to have a way of helping other branches of the family come to an understanding of the connections we share