Letter from the President October 2021
Happy October! It’s starting to feel like fall in the DC area. How is the weather where you are?
I’m excited to share with our members the outcomes of two initiatives.
First, I want to thank everyone who filled out a survey in May. AAFSW received over 400 complete surveys. Over the summer, Ann La Porta, the AAFSW FORUM Chair, and I analyzed the data. There were over 100 pages of written comments. That section proved to be the most fruitful. AAFSW will use this information to better plan for the future and determine how best to advocate for you! Be sure to read Ann’s article in this month’s Global Link, with more details about the survey and our report.
Second, AAFSW has a new feature on our website – the AAFSW Timeline. This project was under development for approximately six months. In March 2020, AAFSW celebrated its 60th anniversary with little fanfare due to COVID. The planned gala and additional work event at the State Department were canceled. During the website refresh, I thought it would be a nice feature to incorporate a timeline of key events of AAFSW history. This required time to pour over scrapbooks, newspaper articles, oral history transcripts and newsletters to find supporting materials for the timeline content. AAFSW is extremely grateful to ADST and AFSA for access to their archives and use of materials for this project. The next hurdle was finding a platform or plugin that would work with our website. Sean McKee, a long time AAFSW volunteer, offered his services for free to create the timeline. He spent over 60 hours developing the timeline.
I am rather impressed with AAFSW’s accomplishments over the years. I’m excited with the end result. Please take time to learn more about AAFSW’s robust history at: timeline.aafsw.org.
Lara Center, AAFSW President
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