Sunday, January 16, 2011 — 10am
Troy, Michigan. After you RSVP to TACAM, we will e-mail you the address.
With your support, we had a very busy and successful 2010 for the Turkish American Cultural Association in Michigan (TACAM)! We met all our targets and many times exceeded them! Please see details on our events and committees below.
So that TACAM can meet your needs, a Vision and Strategy Workshop was held on June 13, 2010, and followed it with a Membership Survey. Based on the information gathered, the following targets were formulated: (1) Increase the voice of the Turkish-American Community; (2) “Educate” the Michigan’s Policy Makers, Media, our Future Generations etc; and (3) Membership Engagement & Development. At this time, we are inviting you to actively participate in the review of a drafted plan for “TACAM Vision & Strategy Implementation for 2011+” by taking part in a follow-up interactive “Workshop”; we hope that you will be able to take part?
All TACAM board members and committee leaders will join; including the Honorary Turkish Consul of Detroit Nurten Ural and the ATAA Civic Engagement Director Yenal Küçüker.
The space we have reserved for the Workshop has limited capacity; furthermore we want to make arrangements to serve a complementary lunch to those attending. Therefore, please respond to this invitation not any later than Friday, January 14, 2011, by e-mail.
- Part 1 – Workshop between 10am to 2:30pm: Please join 15 min before as we will start on time. We will offer snacks and cold and warm drinks.
- Part 2 – Social time with families and kids at (after) 2:30pm: Complimentary lunch from TACAM Board. You can also have some fun by using the bowling, table tennis, pool table and child facilities of the Community Center.
Draft Agenda
- Analyzing the current status of TACAM (where we are today):
- Pros and Cons
- Area needing improvement
- Fine-tuning our new targets and strategies (where do we want to be?)
- Prioritizing our targets and strategies
- Discussion of options for solutions
- Review available total TACAM capacity to organize the events
- Event planning for the entire 2011+ (we need to think long-term)
- Group work for committee development & implementation (for each committee):
- Formulating the mission of each committee
- Define targets & challenges
- Action plan for the next 12+ months
- Required support and next steps
- Role & responsibilities – Board and Committees
- Next steps and how to implement them
- Summary and conclusion
Overview of some TACAM’s 2010 and 2011 Activities
We would like to thank Leyla Ahmed, TACAM Past-President, for implementing excellent projects in 2009 (such as the Grassroots Grant Project and Mesut İlgim Conference with key Jewish-American Federations). Our Grassroots Leaders Ümit Memenenci and Gökhan Özalp completed all grassroots-related targets before the set deadlines, receiving the rating of “most successful organization in grassroots activities” by ATAA, the funding agency. The 2010 Republic Day Ball tickets were sold out; the program was found to be impressive. During our Building Fundraiser event, we received donations approaching $4,000. Indeed, in November and December 2010, we received almost $20,000 from events, income and donations, which made TACAM financially more stable. Further, the number of our members increased satisfactorily. The Family Mickey and Sumer Pek donated $5,000 to support the committee development work. We hosted in December 2010 the regional Consul General of Lebanon and his Leadership Team in a special dinner.
Together with the Bulgarian Community, we have organized a lecture series on child development, which will take place on January 22, 2011, at our TACAM building. We are in the process of partnering with the Balkan-American Community to further increase the voice of the Turkish-American Community. On February 12, 2011, we will have the Mayor of City of Novi and an archaeologist from Turkey as speakers at a fund-raising event to sponsor two American college students to attend a 2-week workshop on archaeology in Ephesus (Selçuk), Turkey. We are planning to organize a joint event with the Macedonian Community on February 26, 2011. And more!
In addition, in the past 6 months we developed the following committees; we ask you to join them as well to make a difference:
Advocacy & Grassroots Committee (Leaders: Ümit Menemenci and Gökhan Özalp)
Communicate proactively with politicians and media on Turkish-American related matters; seek partnerships with other ethnic communities. This team visited over 20 officials in Lansing, Michigan and started building good relationships with the Governor, representatives and senators. It was successful in receiving four proclamations celebrating the Turkish Republic Day 2010 from the Governor of the State of Michigan and further cities. The team contacted over 50 media outlets this year.
Education Committee (Leaders: Asst. Prof. Mehmet E. Yaya and Suzan Arslantürk)
Develop a curriculum for the Turkish/Atatürk School for adults and children; provide language courses and cultural lectures; perform Turkish folklore, and further cultural activities.
Student Outreach Committee (Leader: Berk Köprülü)
In order to mentor our future Turkish-American leaders we need to access and engage them in an early stage. The Student Outreach committee already organized two special events for students and is planning the next big event in March 2011 with targeting further 200 students.
Committee to Establish a “Turkic Studies Program” at the University of Michigan (Leader: Prof. Dr. Sumer Pek)
With the leadership of Prof. Dr. Sumer Pek at the University of Michigan Medical School, based on a written proposal and contacts with relevant executives and faculty members of the University with the participation of the Consul General Fatih Yıldız, and established collaboration with the Michigan alumni in İstanbul. An endowment of about $10 million will have to be secured; so far commitments for $1.2 million have been made by the alumni.
Anatolian Voice, e-Communication Committee (Leader: Erol Ahmed)
Develop the Anatolian Voice Magazine; provide Internet-based communications.
Membership & Public Relations Committee (Leaders: Aslı Yashin, Mine Taşçı and Prof. Dr. Ece Yaprak)
Undertake public relations activities for Turkish-Americans and TACAM; focus on developing and expanding membership.
By-Laws Committee (Leader: Özlem Falkiewicz)
Develop a proposal for a revised TACAM By-Laws commensurate with the envisioned reform, to be revised and updated to accommodate membership input.
Organizational Development & Strategic Implementation Committee (Leader: Mark Arfert)
Support all committees with target and process approaches, and ensure strategic implementation.
TACAM Building Improvement Committee (under development; leaders to be announced shortly)
Work in progress to solve the problem of crumbling TACAM building and property. Contacts with construction experts, real estate establishment, and secure the needed funds as donations from members and friends ($4,000 secured so far).