reFlecting on 2024
Dear Reader,
reDirect has had quite an amazing year! We’ve grown in staff, in programming, in collaborations, in aspirations, all of which deserve a brief moment of reflection.
Staff Addition
One of the key changes this year was adding Rachel Schad, our new Communications and Marketing Associate. “New Rachel” brings a strong background in both of those areas, having worked with both non-profits and businesses in the past. She also has worked in the design field and seems to have a natural affinity for the SEE framework. Rachel joined the team in April, and we’re thrilled to have her in the mix! Paige Porter, reDirect’s awesome Director of Programs and Communications, serves as Rachel’s supervisor, and the two of them collaborate on a wide range of projects – and keep our operation running smoothly! (Click here to see our board/staff bios.)
Learning Cohorts and Fellowship Programs
Our SEE Learning Cohorts allow small groups of nonprofits to come together to learn the framework under the guidance of a SEE coach, culminating in a small experiment to work through an organizational challenge. In addition to our ongoing cohorts in St. Louis, East-Central Iowa, and Colorado, we’ve been fortunate to add a new one in Wisconsin this year. In addition, we sponsored fellowships for the third consecutive summer in partnership with the Ann Arbor Office of Sustainability & Innovations (OSI). We are proud of the work that our three fellows did this year on projects supporting climate resilience, home solarization, and home energy rebate programs.
Building SEE Communities
The feedback from our cohort participants and coaches has been overwhelmingly positive. The group learning environments our coaches foster have proven to be transformative spaces, where organizations share perspectives, challenges, and solutions, deepening their understanding of SEE. Stories shared by our cohort grantees remind us of the extent to which reDirect supports nonprofits across diverse mission areas. They also point out how natural connections often occur as a result of experiencing similar challenges and working in the same geographic regions. Somewhere at the crossroads of organizational differences and common ground is a ripe learning environment for exploration and discovery.
Our Colorado cohort, focused on Volunteer Engagement professionals, has offered one such highlight. With professional development opportunities in this field being rare, the participants formed a SEE community, and they continue to meet quarterly, creating a sustainable and collaborative network. In the future, we hope to expand our capacity to support more SEE communities like this.
A Quiet Milestone
This year also marked an unofficial milestone—the tenth anniversary of the idea behind reDirect. Born from a simple conversation among family and friends, reDirect started as a vision to bring SEE concepts out of academia and into the hands of nonprofits, equipping them with new tools to create meaningful change. I guess all that research by the elder Kaplans has made a difference…
Looking Ahead
reDirect has a number of initiatives in the works for 2025 and beyond. We’re getting serious about the idea of certifying consultants to take the SEE framework into new arenas and will begin developing the groundwork for that goal in the very near future. With Paige & Rachel’s help, we’re also formulating a stronger set of tools, materials, and resources to help non-profits build their capacity with the framework and to make better sense of key tools like the small experiment. We will have new videos and new platforms where our virtual presence can become better known. Thanks for being part of this grand adventure!
Here’s to a new year filled with opportunity and shared purpose.
Abram Kaplan
Board Chair, reDirect
For the Book Lovers
We enjoy curling up with a good book, especially in these winter months, and we wanted to share a few recommendations with you. Each title below touches on ideas in the SEE framework. If you pick one up, let us know what you think!
Nonfiction Books
“Whatever It Is, I’m Against It”: Resistance to Change In Higher Education by Brian Rosenberg
“President emeritus of Macalester College, Brian Rosenberg draws on decades of higher education experience to expose the entrenched structures, practices, and cultures that inhibit meaningful postsecondary reform, even as institutions face serious challenges to their financial and educational models.”
“James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.” We have found that Clear’s tips about habit formation nicely parallel SEE.
Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America by Leila Philip
“NPR Science Friday Book Club Selection. An intimate and revelatory dive into the world of the beaver—the wonderfully weird rodent that has surprisingly shaped American history and may save its ecological future.” We haven’t read this one yet, but it’s bound to be full of model-building examples as public perception of beavers has changed dramatically over the past two hundred years.
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
Cal Newport, author, and professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University, reflects on our era of digital distraction and makes the case for building habits and environments to support deep work, or “the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task.” The book includes Newport’s tips to build the skill of deep work along with memorable stories that illustrate how others have cultivated the practice.
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
"With tenacity and candor, Haidt lays out the consequences that have come with allowing kids to drift further into the virtual world . . . While also offering suggestions and solutions that could help protect a new generation of kids.” —Shannon Carlin, TIME, 100 Must-Read Books of 2024
Fiction Books
A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles
Set in Bolshevik Russia, Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced to house arrest for life within the walls of a luxury hotel. The story of how he adapts to and shapes his new environment to create a meaningful life may be fiction, but it’s poetry. “[He] was neither scientist nor sage; but…he was wise enough to know that life does not proceed by leaps and bounds. It unfolds. At any given moment, it is the manifestation of a thousand transitions.”
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Funny, charming, and also, heartbreaking, and inspiring, this fictional story follows Christopher, a teen with autism, as he investigates the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog. The mystery gradually unfolds as the reader follows Christopher’s struggles to expand his mental models of the world and learn new skills in the face of adversity.
