Jeffrey Moy
I hope everyone is having a relaxing summer and is excited for this year’s upcoming National Convention. We have a great agenda in place, emphasizing opportunities to engage with great speakers, learn from other members and reconnect with friends from around the country.
As with any convention, we also have some important business to discuss, including Constitution and Bylaw amendments. I wanted to take a moment to address CBL-2, a bylaw amendment the National Board is proposing in hopes of unifying and strengthening the relationship between JACL and the Pacific Citizen program.
Over the past year, the National Board has taken steps to improve internal processes and systems in order to improve communication and efficiency as we move forward. One key piece that we have worked with staff to accomplish is streamlining financial processes, in particular, ensuring that the Pacific Citizen budget is managed by the business manager like every other JACL program.
As we worked on this issue, it became clear that more could be done to streamline our operations in order to allow Pacific Citizen staff to focus on what’s most important in their roles: making sure we are able to continue to produce this wonderful resource for our members.
Over the past few months, I’ve been collaborating with Allison Haramoto, David Inoue, Pacific Citizen Editorial Board Chair Rob Buscher and VP for General Operations Marissa Kitazawa to ensure that we are all on the same page in moving forward.
Although we recognize that in the past there have been attempts to take action against the Pacific Citizen, this is simply not one of those cases.
As always, the Pacific Citizen staff and Editorial Board will maintain independence with regard to content. This move helps take some operational business off their plates while also providing an opportunity for JACL staff to work more closely as one organization.
I look forward to having a great discussion around this and other issues in Salt Lake City with you all in the near future as we continue to consider ways to strengthen and sustain JACL for years to come.
In the meantime, continue to reach out to myself and other National Board members with your questions and comments.
See you soon!
