At the beginning of 2018, I noted in my new year’s message how women were coming out to work for change and have more of a voice. The result was another wave of change for our country last year. We now have more women and greater diversity in our legislative branch than ever before!
The Transition Network is also on a path of change. We are continuing to seek new ways to reach more women across the country with our message of Connect-Discover-Impact. We have had some terrific publicity in various news articles, and promoted them throughout our social media platforms. This, plus our grassroots efforts at the local levels, led to our total membership growth of 15% in 2018. We now have over 2800 members nationwide.
Several of our chapters have continued to grow, especially the three largest which now have over 830 (Long Island), 680 (NYC), and 410 (Philadelphia) members. They continue to excel at wonderful programming, creative learning opportunities and impactful volunteering events. Our Atlanta chapter more than doubled, and the Chicago chapter tripled their membership last year!
This growth requires new ways of supporting our members. We are continuing to work on the right support structure for doing so, and achieving even greater growth this year.
We are engaging with our three largest chapters to identify their unique requirements for managing and coordinating the many volunteers that is takes to support so many members. At the same time, we are setting up a special work group for the other chapters, who have different challenges yet the same goal of building a strong community of women.
Our new Signature Program,
On Resilience, is now available and we hope to see more chapters deliver this program throughout the coming year. The
Women in Transition Workshop continues to be a successful program which brings women together to begin to process their transition challenges. Even our members who are not in one of our chapter cities have made some great connections this year, thanks to videoconferencing and the creation of our “
Breaking Free” groups, based on our book
Smart Women Don’t Retire - They Break Free.
This coming year, we hope to find more and new ways to connect with women all across the country who want to find others who are “embracing change.” We will also begin planning for the 20th anniversary of TTN in 2020.
I want to thank
Mariann Zylstra for her 3 1/2 years of service on the Board of Directors. I appreciated her “out of the box” thinking and work on our Finance Committee. I also want to welcome our two newest members to the Board -
Ellen Murphy and
Sara Werder. It is always great to have new energy added to our leadership team. Our other 7 members (
Dale Davis, JoAnne D’Aleo, Marlene Gerber, Amy Kotkin, Linda Paige Levine, Chrissa Merron, and Wanda Olson) will continue to serve in this coming year, along with our Executive Director,
Susan Collins, and her staff of
Nancy Gendimenico and
Jennifer Monahan, supporting our members and chapters, to deliver on our mission in a national non-profit organization.
I am excited to see what changes 2019 will bring for TTN, and look forward to engaging with you in these efforts. Thank you for all you do for TTN, and being part of this unique and special organization!
~ Carol Oswald, Board President
