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Neff to leave Outright Vermont
In an email sent to fans, followers and supporters of Outright Vermont, Executive Director Christopher L. Neff announced he would be leaving that position as of January 1, 2010. He wrote:
Hi Everyone,
I have a personal update that I wanted to share with you.
After two fantastic years at Outright Vermont, I will be leaving as Executive Director on January 1st. I am going back to school to get my PhD in Public Policy in Sydney, Australia.
It is not easy to convey how special these two years have been for me. How great the youth, staff, Board, volunteers and supporters have been. How much your support has helped me and how grateful I am for the support and community trust that has allowed me to learn from and work with the most amazing group of youth I have ever met.
Outright has been the great success of my professional career - mostly because I've had a job where I have been able to learn from incredible youth and a remarkable community. Thank you.
Outright is and will continue to be amazing and I know how lucky I am to have been here. The work is incredible and I know it will continue to improve with the great staff that we have and with a new Executive Director in 2010.
Ok ... so what does this mean? Well, I have spoken with the staff and many youth and they are doing very well. They have been wonderfully supportive!
And my great Board of Directors could not have been better! They are all excited for me and I have told them - and want to express to you - that I have total confidence in the Board and that I know they will be looking for your input in the days ahead.
I will be consulting for Outright in January and February, answering any questions and assisting the Board's Search Committee to ensure a smooth transition. Outright's Director of Operations Michel Dubois will take over day-to-day leadership during the ED search. Michel has been at Outright longer than I have and he is simply brilliant.
The job of every Executive Director is to find a replacement that is better than them. The Board will approve the updated Executive Director Job Description at tonight's normal Board meeting and I will post it to this list and on our website tomorrow, so please feel free to circulate it far and wide. We will be recruiting from a statewide and national pool of candidates.
Our youth are the most resilient amongst us, but change is still change. It is not easy or fun. I am working to make this transition as smooth as possible and everyone at Outright is making themselves available to talk.
I can also announce a BASH - a going-away party (for me) at Outright on Tuesday Dec. 15th starting at 6pm. You are invited and I hope you can make it!
I have a very heavy heart about all of this. To me the biggest question has been, "Have I done what I set out to do at Outright?"
My goals were many - to bring in more youth, from more parts of the state than ever before; to empower youth to be the people and leaders they want to be through all of our programs; to add to Outright's great staff and board, and finally to bring in more funding so that Outright can keep supporting youth statewide.
This is a very solid list. Two years later (and with the help of everyone reading this email) I can tell you that I feel like these goals have been met:
Outright has seen a 300% increase in youth attendance. We now have 3 youth Board members, had 6 summer interns and the largest GSA leadership conference in our history. Outright has an amazing staff (and more of them) than when I began as well as a tremendous Board (and more of them) than when I started. And, since funding does keep the doors open and the pizza hot - I am very proud to have helped increase Outright's budget by 50% to more that $240,000 annually.
I am also excited to note the recent matching grant of $52,500 split over three years from the JFF Foundation and a federal earmark which is pending final approval that would give Outright an additional $100,000 for rural anti-bullying work in 2010. These pieces should ensure that Outright has a very solid financial position for years to come.
Simply put, Outright's youth, staff, Board and financials are great shape.
As a result, I feel comfortable looking at the road ahead and celebrating the great experience that this has been. I should also be clear that I will definitely be back in Vermont in the future. Outright is a big part of my family and I am pretty impossible to get rid of. I am also a Major Donor and will continue to be! I would encourage you to donate this week if haven't yet in 2009!
If you have any questions for me please let me know. I hope to see you on Dec. 15th at 6pm at Outright.
Thank you again and with great Pride, Chris
Christopher L. Neff
While feeling sorry for him for having to go to Sydney for his PhD (NOT!), we will miss him.
