Closing Remarks #33

The other day I sat down to start watching the newest season of The Bear. I have mixed feelings about that show. Sometimes it can be a lot of style and very little substance; a lot of sultry gazes and lingering in doorways and not a lot of exposition. However, other times it has a way of tapping into human dynamics, especially the dynamics of how we work together to make amazing things happen.

Now this season in the first episode, there is a scene in which the team is told that they are running out of time to make the restaurant work. The point is punctuated by a character plugging in a large countdown clock and leaving it on a counter within eye-shot of all kitchen staff. So as they chop, sear, and plate they are reminded of the seriousness of the situation. The mind is sharpened and focused on doing what they can to beat the clock.

Organizational endings can also have the same mind-sharpening effect. Everyone is steering together towards this end that is drawing ever nearer. It is clearer than ever what is out of scope, what to say no to, and also what must be done. Once things are pared down --- given you have good guidance and leadership and enough time -- you then have the luxury to maybe have a little fun within that sandbox and be creative.

I truly love the countdown clock idea. I know the leaders of WaterSHED project in Cambodia were clear from the start that they were closing and kept a banner up at the top of their website all that time reminding all visitors that they were working their way towards an ending. Also, AIME, which began its life as the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Exchange but has grown into a global initiative to address inequity, has a countdown clock (to its final day in 2033) tick-tick-ticking to remind everyone that it --like all things --- will come to its end.

1) New Jersey State Fair hits pause
In order to make space for this year's FIFA Club World Cup as well as next year's World Cup (yes, those are two different tournaments), the 102 year-old agricultural fun fair will be taking a two year hiatus. The only other times the fair missed years were from 1944-45 due to World War II and, again, in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. Organizers promise a “bigger, better” fair when they return in 2027.

2) Washington youth shelter in perfect storm of collapse
For the past year and a half, Seattle's largest shelter for young people, YouthCare, has been in the slow, arduous process of shedding staff and cutting programs. The most recent developments in the saga have been the departure of their controversial and embattled executive director, the closure of their residence for recently arrived immigrant youth, and the shuttering of the housing program for LGBTQ youth.

YouthCare was founded more than 50 years ago with a mission to end youth homelessness, but according to reports it has largely (messily!) abandoned that mission to pivot into a workforce training and education hub. From where I am sitting, this situation seems to be a master class in how NOT to manage an organizational scale-down.

3) UK feminist festival marks its final gathering
Started 10 years ago to draw attention to the concerns of women and gender-nonconforming people, the Power of Women in Thanet, Kent has offered an annual International Women’s Day Festival, school programs, youth mentoring and community outreach projects. They are using this moment to shine a light on the inequalities in funding for UK charities focused on women and nonbinary people. The group is also collecting funds from the local community to create a commemorative mural in the area.

4) School district ordered shut after convoluted cash for credentials scheme

OK, y'all, bear with me now. This is one of the weirdest ones I have ever seen, and I won't pretend to have my head completely around it. However, my understanding is that the tiny Indiana school district of Union, which is based in the 157-person town of Modoc, was near collapse when they were approached by Indiana Digital Learning School (IDLS), a division of the publicly-traded, multi-billion dollar "online school" corporation Stride, Inc. IDLS needed to be affiliated with an Indiana school district in order to conduct business, so Union was identified and given millions of dollars in exchange for lending the company its accreditation.

The arrangement went smoothly for years, until the state finally realized that the online school was raking in profit while the brick-and-mortar Union schools were still in free-fall. This prompted state education officials to order the district --- and by extension IDLS -- to shut down.

5) Century-old Catholic university announces final year
In what has become an all-too-familiar refrain in higher education, the board and associated Catholic leadership of Siena University have decided that this coming school year will be the final one for the 106 year-old institution. Falling headcount and their inability to generate sufficient unrestricted gifts led to a precipitous financial decline over the past decade. A fully-programmed year is planned at the Michigan school even as administrators sort out transfer pathways for non-graduating students.

6) Election monitoring organization forced to close
After 25 years of operation, Russia's Movement for Defense of Voters' Rights "Golos" will no longer be in operation. The move came on the heels of one of its leaders, Grigory Melkonyants, being sent to a penal colony for working with the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO), which the Russian government considers "undesirable organization."

Off the bat, this story about New Mexico using public lands for senior housing might not seem related to what we are doing here at CR, but this part jumped out at me:

“Who knows? 60 years from now this [apartment complex] may not be appropriate,” Hicks said. “We may need something completely different. I think that’s a more responsible use of our land.”

The tl;dr is that the New Mexico Land Management department has granted nonprofit Sol Housing a 60-year lease to build and run their senior housing facility the Luminaria, on this plot of public land. Once the 60 years are up, Sol is responsible for demolishing Luminaria and returning ownership to the state. The devil is definitely in the details, but on the face of it, I kinda love it. Creative. Timeboxed. What foresight! What vision!

Closing Remarks is brought to you by The Wind Down, a consultancy for exploring, building, designing, and delivering better endings for mission-driven projects and organizations, and also raising closure consciousness. If you're enjoying it, please support my work.