Dear Friends,
Over the past few months we have made great strides towards articulating Shumei America’s strategic goals and objectives for achieving a brighter, more resilient future. We are grateful for all the support from Shumei America leadership, staff, and volunteers in this endeavor. Please read on to review what has been accomplished and what plans are in store for the next few months.
Thank you for your support!
Akemi Imai
Project Manager
Highlights
Much of our achievements in 2018 have been focused on expanding awareness and accessibility to the strategic planning goals and objectives.
To this end, we:
Conducted a nationwide info session introducing Shumei America’s strategic planning viewed by approximately 100 attendees across the U.S.
Established a volunteer video-captioning team to help the Shumei America Media Department input English subtitles into videos and make them understandable without audio.
Launched a dedicated strategic planning website to centralize information and continue communications
Work In Progress
We have many interesting projects in the work for the coming months! Below are a couple of projects that we are very excited about. Curious about a specific project or learning about all projects currently in progress? Visit shumei.us/strategicplan or email strategicplanssa@shumei.us to learn more and discover how you can get involved!
The strategic planning website is now available in Japanese! Click on the 日本語 button to access Japanese. Thank you to Haruyuki for proofreading the translations. The Chinese website is still under development. Able to help? We are still looking for regular volunteers to help us continue to translate and share our activities with as many people as possible.
A staff self-evaluation will be conducted during February to identify what Shumei America staff are currently working on and what they are interested in working on in the future. The evaluation seeks to understand staff motivations and passions, and will help our project team make informed recommendations for changes to the administrative structure.
We have added a NEW objective that focuses on strengthening Shumei America’s educational programs. Details on strategies and specific initiatives are still in the works, but we expect to work heavily with the Education Department on this objective.
We are updating and developing media guidelines in collaboration with the Misono Media Department and the U.S. Education and Media Departments with a priority on creating policies that advise best practices for social media sharing.
In collaboration with the Shumei America Youth Department, we will pilot usage of Shumei America’s database software, FileMaker, and test its usefulness in supporting youth activities. Thank you to youth leaders Crystal and Cathy for cooperating with this project!
Gratitude Corner
Shumei America’s strategic planning cannot happen without the dedicated support and hours of work by our volunteers. We’d like to take a moment to highlight the amazing talent and passion our volunteers contribute to help make this all happen. Thank you!
Featured Volunteer: Manami Honda, Hawaii
“I have a great hope that this will help Shumei America become grounded in the USA and finally worldwide.”
My personal reason why I’m with this project is probably because I am away from [Shumei] centers so I have to think carefully before starting anything...I always had a passion to make this organization more appealing to people who doesn’t know us but I didn’t know how. Now I’m very grateful to get involved in this and am looking forward to not only seeing but also making our bright future together.
Join Manami and other dedicated volunteers like her to help us make progress on our strategic journey!
HELP WANTED!
We are looking for helpers with the following experience:
English-to-Japanese translators (writing) to help translate website and various strategic planning documents
English-to-Chinese translators (writing) to help translate website and various strategic planning documents
Website editor (familiarity with editing Wix sites)
Social media marketing (sharing content on Facebook/Instagram, using strategies for marketing/promotions)
Event planning (coordinating/organizing events at Shumei locations)
Donor management (familiarity with gift acknowledgment policies, donor cultivation, donor giving strategies, etc.)
Please email strategicplanssa@shumei.us or submit a Volunteer Form if you are able to help us with any of the above positions!
About Us
The Shumei America Strategic Planning Project Team is an ever-evolving task group of volunteers, advisors, and staff who are responsible for implementing the 2018 Strategic Framework. We welcome members and friends of all backgrounds and skill sets to join our team! Please see the Volunteer page on our website for more details.
The Project Team (as of 2/1/2019)
Project Manager: Akemi Imai
Advisors: Bill Ellzey, Lisa Faithorn, Sharon Franquemont, Carroll Hill, Alan Imai, Eugene Imai, Linda Lam, David Norgard
Team Members: Cathy Capalla, Matthew Crowley, Kate Durkee, Chisako Fukushima, Roy Gibbon, Manami Honda, Jim Kashiwagi, Hiroki Nakadai Komai, Tae Komai, Crystal Lau, Koji Nakamura, Annie Pierce, Tom Ryu, Anthony Schettini, Fannie Yeung