With the new year, comes new transitions and opportunities for our organization. One thing I know for sure is that Community Educators continue to rise to the occasion and continue to serve and support our communities while making a large impact on the students and residents we serve.
As the 2023 MCEA President, I am honored to serve alongside each of you as we continue to navigate forward towards successes and defining the future work of our organization. We have a large transition for our organization and Board with Bob Meyer stepping down as the Executive Director after 27+ years of service. Bob has been the constant for many of us as Community Educators to support our work, answer our questions, and provide support and guidance to help move our work forward. I want to thank Bob for his many dedicated years of service, and we know you are not leaving us completely but wish you nothing but joy as you transition onto your next adventure! We also want to thank Board and Committee Members that have served over the last year that are transitioning off or moving to new roles!
I am excited that Matt Dickhausen will begin as the new Executive Director of our organization this year. He is not new to the field of Community Education, but in this new role we are excited to see where we head next as an organization with Matt supporting this work! The MCEA Board as well as Matt are committed to expanding the work of supporting and serving our membership. We will continue to focus our priorities on how best to support our members and the work they do each day!
At our December retreat, we determined 2 priority areas to focus on in the upcoming year. Our first priority is to strengthen the connection and engagement of our members. This priority was developed to make sure as a board we listen and understand the current needs of our membership, while also helping to support and provide strong professional development and training opportunities to our field. As a board we listened to your feedback , and want to make sure you have the training, resources, and access to what you need to continue to provide high quality opportunities and services.
Our second priority is to create a sustainability and growth plan for MCEA. We want to make sure we are creating sustainable partnerships with our members as well as other organizations as we know we can’t do this work alone. The future of our success is anchored to the work of and by our members!
I am excited about the future of our organization and want you to know how much I value each member and member district of MCEA! On behalf of the board, thank you to our members for the continued and future engagement with us as we work to support all the lifelong learners of Minnesota!
With pride and honor,
Carrie Cabe
MCEA President 2023
Assistant Director of Community Education, Osseo Area Schools.