Update from the Board of Trustees, August 29, 2025
The UCE Board of Trustees held our annual Board Retreat on August 22 and 23. We celebrated our new Board President, Hoa Voscott. Other Board members for the 2025-26 Congregation year include Vice President Kera Beskin, President Emerita Elaine Siegel, Peggy Boccard, Ally Hunter, Sally Parsons, Forrest Marie Peters Linsell, Melanie Kitchner, and Michael Drennan. Rev. Eileen Wiviott, Rev. Susan Frances, and Dr. Emma Farrell joined us. It was a thoughtful and convivial event, planning the coming year.
Rev. Roger Bertschausen, presently the Developmental Lead Minister at Unity Temple in Oak Park, led us through an analysis of our governance. Last year’s Board Retreat focused on the Policy Governance model; this year, we refined its application to UCE. Rev. Roger stressed that Policy Governance aligns responsibility, authority and accountability, and differs by congregation. Lack of clarity and alignment can cause conflict. Our structure should be highly adaptable and fluid.
We considered and clarified our lines of responsibility, modifying our organization chart accordingly. We reviewed the roles of the Board, in relation to the leadership, staff, and Congregation.
We also scrutinized the financial structure supporting our work. We reviewed the checks and balances in our financial procedures, the expertise and diligence of our officers and personnel, and the success of our pledging and fund-raising activities. We noted the successful solar panels project, funded by the generous bequest of Barbara Young, and shepherded by Adam Gough. Our financial security enables UCE to maintain a well-functioning basis for spiritual development and social action.
An outgrowth of last year’s Retreat has been our “Big Questions” project, focused on the issues raised by our Congregation during last year’s Board Retreat: (1) How can we foster connections that go beyond our comfort zones at UCE and in the larger community? (2): How do you imagine we need to grow individually and as a congregation to create a more accessible, open environment?
The Retreat featured an overview of the many insights and suggestions of the members of our Congregation who participated in this spring’s discussion groups. Select suggestions will be pursued in the coming year.
For the past half decade, UCE’s Anti-Oppression Task Force (“AOTF”) has been instrumental in supporting our efforts to “widen the circle” of our Congregation, to develop cultural competency and greater inclusion. The AOTF will soon be sunsetting. The REAL Team (“Racial Equity Action and Inclusion”) will be continuing its work, in collaboration with the Social Justice Council.
As part of that process, in the course of our new year together, our Congregation will seek and identify a new name for what we have known as the Unitarian Church of Evanston. The ultimate Big Answer to our Big Questions!