A Letter from Cliff Jones to the Senior Fellow Network
During ALF Oregon's 2024 Reunion, 16-year faculty member Cliff Jones shared a short history of Fellows Program innovation and evolution from the organization's last five Executive Directors.
Cliff Jones (Class 18) made a call to the Senior Network: "[Sarah Greenman] is building an amazing program. Support her leadership. The purpose of ALF is to build connection between people who don't see that they have connection. A major piece of that is the urban and rural. But every other difference is there as well. Sarah is curating that and building that possibility in the organization. Don't let her do it alone. Be a part of it and help ALF fulfill its promise of transforming the state and transforming our relationships."
Today, would like to share this letter:
Dear Friends -
I am writing to ask you to invest money in the amazing American Leadership Forum of Oregon. Please read on, my message is short.
Take a moment and reflect on a joy, challenge, or moment of peace and/or insight from your experience in ALF.
I was in Class 18, 2003. The moment that came to mind for me, was when I had to make the decision during one of the Community Building Week activities about whether to act with compassion with a class member who was in fear physically in doing the exercise, and in need of help. During the week I had a very, very deep, and unresolved conflict with this person. That decision moment was a lesson for me about our common humanity in the active presence of our deep and active division. 20 years later, I remember vividly what it felt like as a Black man, to reach my hand out across our vast differences, and have this White man accept my help.
Since 2003 when I was in ALF, the program and organization has steadily grown stronger and stronger each year with each subsequent team in charge of running the organization and programs.
Having had the privilege to move from an ALF Fellow to serve for a decade and a half as one of the co-facilitators of Community Building Week and the monthly class gatherings, I got to see from the inside, the enormous amount of work, creativity, collaboration, and resources it takes to successfully recruit and support Fellows from first conversation to ongoing member of the ALF Network.
The current program is incredibly rich!
More than ever, it is fulfilling our long-term ambitions for how to actualize the potential of this statewide network of leaders who come together from so many different journeys. Our current ALF staff have implemented new innovations to engage the ALF Network.
A couple I will mention include - the annual curriculum for the monthly visits to communities throughout Oregon is proactively, sequentially and strategically structured for deeper engagement of local Senior Fellows, local leaders, and the current class in dynamic and challenging dialogues about the most difficult issues we face locally and as a state. Another innovation is Senior Fellow Saturdays: place-based dialogue and exploration in communities across the state. Another is ALF Connect, the new directory and app.
Back to my opening invitation!
ALF Oregon is not fully funded by corporate giving. ALF depends on the monthly and annual contributions from Senior Fellows to help meet its annual budget. Without our contributions the organization cannot sustain itself. Right now, it is strong and thriving! We need several of us to partner right now, to maintain this presence and impact over time. There are over 900 ALF Oregon Senior Fellows. And currently, we donate money at a rate of between 2-4% of ALF’s annual budget. If we all invest a little bit, we can make an enormous impact.
Please join me right now - in making a monthly or annual contribution: www.alforegon.org/donate.
Or you can join your Class in meeting their goal here: www.alforegon.org/38for38.
I pledge $600 per year in $50 per month increments. Please join me at whatever level makes sense for you. Let’s get to 20% of Senior Fellows with monthly or annual contributions by December 31, 2024. That is 180 of us making a financial contribution.
Thank you, and please donate now to sustain the support ALF Oregon offers to Oregon’s bright future! I will let you know what percentage we reach in January 2025. I look forward to seeing you at an ALF event in the coming year!
Cliff Jones
Managing Partner, Capacity Building Partnerships