Widening the Conversation (FY25)

In FY25, Starr King can harness our expanded reach to become a more influential voice in conversations about those things core to what Starr King does. The focus here would be on how we can actively engage in and influence the national and international conversations happening around religious leadership and practice, educating to counter oppressions and create just and sustainable communities, and counter-oppressive sacred social change.

The following questions can help guide Starr King in thinking about how to widen the conversation:

What is the conversation happening around sacred social change, countering oppressions, creating just and sustainable communities, religious leadership and practice, and theological education? What is missing from those conversations?
What and who is centered in conversations around social change, religious leadership, and theological education? What and who should be centered?
What can we contribute to these conversations?
How can we best engage in and foster these conversations on religious leadership and practice, educating to counter oppressions and create just and sustainable communities, and counter-oppressive sacred social change?
How can we harness the thought leadership of our staff, faculty, students, and others to influence and shift these conversations?
How can we help our staff, faculty, students, and others actively engage in those conversations?

Aligning Our Actions

With this focus and these guiding questions in mind, we can move forward along our four tracks of activity by thinking about ways to engage in and influence conversations on religious leadership and practice, educating to counter oppressions and create just and sustainable communities, and counter-oppressive sacred social change:

Our Programs and Offerings

We will grow in our programs and offerings to continue to equip people to engage in counter-oppressive sacred social change and to widen the conversation of what it means to do this work. This will include, but is not limited to:

Continuing to discuss possible programs to develop in the short- and long-term that enable students to explore or strengthen different forms of counter-oppressive religious leadership.
Exploring or enhancing offerings designed to equip students and others to engage in public thought leadership and counter-oppressive work.

Our Outward Engagement

We will actively participate in and generate conversations around religious leadership and practice, educating to counter oppressions and create just and sustainable communities, and sacred social change. This will include, but is not limited to:

Advancing the refinement and rollout of the WEAV curriculum for UU congregations and communities.
Strengthening The Tapestry as a platform for thought leadership.
Actively seeking out and seizing opportunities for Starr King faculty, staff, and students to share thought leadership and participate in wider conversations on those areas most connected to our work.
Offering public programs that present opportunities for us and for others to discuss academic and practical issues and insights on these topics in depth.

Our Internal Structure and Support

We will ensure that Starr King has the internal systems and structures than enable us to seize upon opportunities to engage in wider conversations on those topics most connected to our work. This will include, but is not limited to:

Achieving a smooth and effective presidential search and presidential transition that enables us to continue to advance our vision in the years to come.
Continuing to activate and engage our donor base, particularly around Sowing Seeds: The Comprehensive Campaign for Starr King.
Enhancing how Starr King organizes and engages across the school in applying for grants to support our programs and thought leadership.
Investing in new ways of understanding how we can strengthen our admissions and recruitment efforts within the school.
Continuing to cultivate more scholarship opportunities to enable more students to learn at Starr King.

Our Culture and Community

We will activate and equip our community to engage in these wider conversations, with each other and more broadly. This will include, but is not limited to:

Strengthening opportunities for the Starr King community to gather, learn, collaborate, and build relationships.
Finding opportunities to equip our community to engage effectively in public thought leadership.
Continuing to develop opportunities for Starr King graduates to share, learn, and build community with each other and with current Starr King students.