Best Practices for Developing a Community-Led ECBO Board

This webinar is presented by Switchboard, a one-stop shop for refugee service providers in the United States. Learn more about Switchboard at www.SwitchboardTA.org.

Hosted on September 27, 2023 the training was delivered by Drocella Mugorewera, international bestselling author, award-winning speaker, and founder of the Diversity in Action Global Movement; Dauda Sesay, the National Network Director at African Communities Together (ACT), the founder and Executive Director of the Louisiana Organization for Refugees and Immigrants (LORI) and Vice Chair of the Refugee Congress Board of Directors; Khara Timsina, co-founder and Executive Director of the Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh (BCAP); Hsihsa Thaw, the Community Program Manager at the Karen Organization of San Diego (KOSD); and Nao Kabashima, the co-founder and Executive Director of the Karen Organization of San Diego (KOSD).

Members of a community understand their needs best, which is why a community-led board can help ethnic community-based organizations (ECBOs) make decisions in the community’s best interest. Building a successful community-led ECBO board means developing the community leadership skills that board members bring with them, engaging and mobilizing the community via communication and outreach strategies, practicing collaborative decision-making, and monitoring and evaluating targets for success.

In this webinar, the Karen Organization of San Diego (KOSD), an ECBO that supports refugees from Burma with the help of a community-led board, alongside Drocella Mugorewera, the founder of the Diversity in Action Global Movement, will share some of their best practices, strategies, and tips for building and sustaining a community-led board that contributes successfully to the mission and governance of an ECBO.

This webinar will also address recruiting, onboarding, and orienting community members to serve as ECBO board members and how to support them as they carry out their roles. Participants will have the opportunity to learn from case studies of ECBOs’ journeys to find their best practices for successful and sustainable community-led board development.

After participating in this 90-minute session, you will be able to:
– Identify key elements of successful community-led board development
– Name at least one new practice or strategy for community-led board development to implement at your ECBO
– Describe strategies to connect with other leaders to learn more about best practices and relevant resources for community-led board development