In 2018, the League of California Cities board adopted a three-year strategic action plan that would build on the organization’s current success, guide its growth, and take the impact and value delivered to California cities to even greater levels.
The governance evaluation aligns with one of the six key goals in the strategic action plan roadmap: Advocacy, Education and Training, Organizational Effectiveness, Membership, Visibility, and Governance. Cal Cities has made great strides achieving the goals in the plan, and the work towards success continues with the evaluation.
Cal Cities has engaged an association governance expert to carry out the evaluation and prepare findings and recommendations to present to the board at the 2021 summer meeting. Meaningful engagement in the governance evaluation process with key stakeholders – including members active in caucuses, departments, and divisions sharing their experiences, perceptions, and ideas – is important to achieving our goal. That’s why the evaluation process includes gathering member input through a variety of strategies, including targeted surveys, focus groups, interviews, and forums.
Cal Cities President Cheryl Viegas Walker, mayor, El Centro, appointed members to a small advisory group with whom the governance expert will engage at different points in the process to bring an internal lens to the review, share personal experiences with the organization’s governance, deepen the insight from research findings, and bring into focus a vision and set of qualities for ideal Cal Cities governance.