Report on Programs Focus Group

On June 23rd, KCC conducted the first of four public focus groups as a part of our strategic planning process.  We asked people to consider four questions in advance of and during the focus group:

1. What do you feel you need to help your practice grow now and in the coming years?
2. The mission andvision included a number of aspirations related to programs and activities. Are these aspirations being fulfilled for you personally?
3. Lama Michael recently said, “If long retreats hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t be here at all.” What kind of connection do you see between long retreats and the benefits you receive at KCC?
4. During the SWOT in January, the Sangha raised a number of ideas for programs where the Sangha would interact and support each other more.  [A list was included.]  How important are these for you, and how would you see yourself being part of this?

Thanks to the hard work of Peter Frothingham, we now have the responses available for you to peruse.  In the embedded document below, the first four pages were the responses given by small groups at the focus group and the second four were written responses.  

Roughly 30 members were able to attend the focus group, and the small group discussions were rich and varied. After the meeting, the Strategic Planning Committee met and discussed what we learned from the process, and we all felt it was most useful.  The programs of meditation, retreat, and study offered at KCC mainly fall in the purview of Lama Michael Conklin and the the Program Council, but your candid responses will help shape the way they think about those programs, how they prioritize them, and will inform program development in the coming years.

It was a great joy to see the sangha's interest and engagement with the first focus group.  We hope to see you this Sunday from 2-5 pm for the second focus group.  If you can't make it, consider commenting at the blog.  I will report back about that meeting in the next week or two.  

Program Focus Group Input