NARSOL, Vivante boards prepare for expansion, revise vision & mission
By Robin . . . The combined boards of NARSOL and its foundation Vivante Espero met for three days of intensive work and training at its annual retreat in Houston, Texas, from January 11-13. Joined remotely by two directors who were unable to be in attendance, all ten directors spent Friday giving serious scrutiny to NARSOL’s existing vision and mission statements.
Determined to broaden the scope of its advocacy and clarify its position towards the use of lists and registries to dehumanize certain categories of people, the boards unanimously adopted a revision to both its vision and mission statements and are please to present you with the following updated statements:
Vision: A society free from public shaming, dehumanizing registries, discrimination, and unconstitutional laws.
Mission: NARSOL opposes dehumanizing registries and works to eliminate discrimination, banishment, and vigilantism against persons accused or convicted of sexual offenses through the use of impact litigation, public education, legislative advocacy, and media outreach in order to reintegrate and reconcile affected individuals and restore their constitutional rights.
The directors of both boards are determined to lead NARSOL into the next level of advocacy by investing in their time and talents to become the best possible leaders they can be. Implicit in the vision for NARSOL is a hope for continued success and sustained growth as all its programs and projects work together for the benefit of the people and families affected by registration. NARSOL fully intends to assume its mantle as the nation’s preeminent civil rights leader in the space that it fills.
To that end, and because of the enormity of the task, NARSOL’s combined boards were encouraged to enlist the assistance of a professional coach to facilitate its annual retreat training. Owing in no small measure to his recent fellowship with JustLeadershipUSA, NARSOL’s vice chair and foundation president Robin Vander Wall believed he had just the right person in mind for the task: David Mensah. Robin was a student of David’s leadership training during the course of his fellowship and approached him mid-way through with the idea of serving in a similar role for NARSOL and Vivante Espero, its foundation.
David Mensah’s style of leadership training utilizes a systems-based approach which he calls BAL, which stands for Breakthrough Action Leadership. Relying primarily on three essential characteristics of proven leaders — being responsible, being self-reflective, and creating collective leadership by investing in the leadership capacity of others — David’s training focuses on releasing the leader within each of us through instruction in some practical tools for communicating with others and dealing with conflict.
David Mensah’s 21-year-career includes 13 years in executive director positions, as well as 10 years as a youth and family counselor. David has two BS degrees from Oregon State University, a Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Bridgeport, and an M.Div. from Yale Divinity School. He has held faculty positions at Sacred Heart University in Leadership Studies, at the University of Bridgeport in Trauma Counseling, and currently holds an adjunct faculty position at Baruch College in the School of Public Affairs.
