InPlace: Our Future Direction
Announcing InPlace & the beginning of the next twenty years of Institute for Village Studies
Hello dear IVS community!
We have some big news. When our normal operations halted last year due to Covid-19, it gave us a chance to have some long-overdue conversations about our name and work. Since then, we've spent a good deal of time brainstorming, writing, discussing, and rewriting, and we've finally reached a point we feel good about. Today we would like to officially announce our new name - InPlace: Ecocultural Learning Institute (www.engageinplace.org)! We are so excited to continue our work under this name with our reimagined Mission, Values, and Goals for the future.
Our Origins:
A group of enthusiastic volunteers started IVS with a dream of providing study abroad opportunities for students to learn hands-on with villages across the globe. They chose the name to reflect where students traveled - village communities. However, as time went on and conversations evolved, it became clear that it was no longer reflective of our values or work.
Our Process:
COVID-19 gave us time to push the reset button and have these long-awaited conversations, first with our board and staff and later with the broader IVS community. Thank you to all of you that responded to emails, surveys and phone calls! Your input was invaluable during our current online era. Of course, we wish we could have utilized a more engaging (and in person!) process, but luckily our willingness to adapt will provide space for us to hone our strategic plan as we get more input from our community partners.
Over the last two years (yes, we started before the pandemic!), we have got down to the nitty-gritty on definitions and connotations of the language we use and larger systemic issues surrounding study abroad and community development. We want how we address these issues to be a cornerstone of who we are while remembering the core values of our founders.
The name ‘InPlace’ comes from the importance of being present, both in a physical and mental sense. In our globalized world, it can be easy to get lost on the macro scale, and with our work, we bring it back to the local and personal. We want to be fully immersed “in place” and engaged with the community, surroundings and people. This process requires continuous “learning” and must be guided by cultural and environmental literacy that, for us, are foundational building blocks for a better future.
Thank you to all of you that participated, especially current Western Washington University students! This would have truly been impossible without all of you!! And a special thank you to Rose Bryers and Devon Sherwood for for keeping us organized and for our beautiful new logo.
Is everything perfect? No. But we’ll continue to do our best and educate ourselves, so our best keeps improving. We look forward to continuing our work and hope you’ll join us.
To the future of InPlace!
Sincerely,
The Board of Directors
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Our decision-making processes throughout the pandemic have been grounded in our values. We have been intentional in our approach to stay true to our mission. This year, we have continued to implement strategies to connect our network through peer-peer learning, hone our model for change and community-driven development, and tackle challenging issues like climate change.