Welcome to VeNews, the email newsletter for Vesper Society friends!

Community Health Leadership: Incorporating Values into Daily Management

Last month VeNews reported on Vesper's projects and convening activities around the globe. This month we focus on our local community—Alameda County and the Bay Area of California.
Several months ago Vesper began discussions with the California Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (CAHSA). After a useful planning process, we agreed to collaborate on a project designed for professional staff in skilled nursing or long-term care facilities, residential care facilities, and affordable senior housing facilities in the community. The project will provide learning experiences in values-based leadership that complement the professional management skills that participants already possess. To the extent possible, the project will use information and experience gained in Vesper's national project conducted with the Ecumenical Leadership Institute, Faith-based Leadership in Health and Human Service Organizations.

The project uses a peer group learning approach. The curriculum is dynamic and includes a variety of teaching methods. It supports a participatory approach to learning, utilizing online learning, audio teleconferencing, along with the more traditional lecture and self-paced learning approaches.

There are eight modules, one each month from January through August 2002. Some sessions are face-to-face; some use audio conferencing; and some use online learning. Dr. Ernle Young formerly of Stanford University will be the keynote speaker for the opening session to be held at Mercy Center in Burlingame on January 10-11, 2002.

Any individual belonging to a CAHSA organization who is in a role of leadership (manager, director, senior executive) is a candidate for the project. The project is especially targeted to persons who want to incorporate values into their daily management responsibilities and who want to seek new ways to support the organizations they serve. Continuing education units (CEUs) can be earned for completed course modules. For more information on the project, contact Vesper Society at: .

Vesper Society is a private operating foundation with programs in leadership, health, and Central America. Our mission is to create opportunities for individuals, groups, and organizations to apply moral and ethical values in decision making on social and economic issues.