President's message - Preparing the Soil

MSCF President, Matt Williams

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I’m a gardener, and as any gardener knows, now is the time to be thinking ahead to warmer weather and making plans for the things that need to be done.

Here at the state MSCF office, we’re in a similar mindset. We know that planning is the difference between a few vegetables/flowers and an impressive harvest. We also know that even with the best planning, nothing will thrive without the right growing conditions and an abundance of healthy soil.

To that end, last week the officers got together to start etching out plans for the next two years. Importantly, we spent quite a bit of time discussing what needs to happen in the short term to make long term goals possible. What we immediately recognized is the importance of our union’s infrastructure—what I like to think of as the soil of any organization.

We worked to narrow it down to five very specific and concrete objectives the state MSCF office can accomplish by Fall 2020 in order to keep our long-term goals possible.

Some of these things are already happening and very visible, such as our lobby day. But for us, this year’s lobby day is just the kick-off event for the entire next 18 months of political engagement.

The rest, though, may not be immediately visible but will eventually be every bit as important. For example, if we want to have a high-engagement union capable using the strength of our numbers to make change in this world, we must have a way to track and organize a lot more information than we are currently capable of. Accordingly, one of our goals is to address our database situation.

We’re excited about the work ahead of us, and what this preparation will make possible in the future. Fully funding public higher-education is where we want to be, and that work starts now.

Matt

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Normandale Instructor Jack Norton Receives National Award from American Association of Community Colleges

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Normandale Community College History Instructor Jack Norton received the Dale P. Parnell Faculty Distinction Recognition from the American Association of Community Colleges.  Please visit www.normandale.edu to read the entire article.