FAV Members,

The year 2019 brought us many surprises and blessings. FAV earned 501c3 status and quickly gained the Bronze seal of transparency with Guidestar. We have a plan to get Silver and Gold prior to this year’s Symposium in September. We doubled the size of our board of directors bringing on Lawrence Rosenberg, a senior partner with Jones Day who has litigated First Amendment issues in front of the Supreme Court, Chelsea Langston Bombino, Director of the Sacred Sector, a lawyer and new Mom, and Stan Ellis, who brings two decades of financial management experience in the nonprofit sector. FAV is extremely blessed to have these talented individuals added to our founding team and look forward to the amazing work we will do together in the future.

As last year brought great change, 2020 promises much. We start by bidding farewell to Naomi Yakawich, who has been our stalwart communications professional keeping you informed about the many things going on with FAV. Congratulations to Naomi for a recent promotion and marriage! We look forward to seeing her continue great things in her new capacity. We will also celebrate our Fifth Annual National Symposium in 2020, bringing the program back to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. We are excited to make speaker announcements and also let you know about the Edward D. Lowry Memorial Award for Citizenship that will be presented for the first time at the Symposium. Ed lived a life of service as an active citizen in his community, exemplifying the mantra that “Citizenship is not a spectator sport.” We look forward to honoring his life and helping inspire others to live up to the standards that Ed set for civic engagement.

Lastly, we continue our long range strategic planning process, FAV 2025. We have almost concluded the first phase and will keep you updated as the trajectory comes together. Look for more updates in the future including during our upcoming “Delegate’s Call” on January 30^th. All FAV Delegates, Board, Advisors and Paid Members are invited as a benefit of their membership and contributions to raising the level of civic dialogue and helping inspire citizens to engage on issues of importance in their communities. We are extremely grateful to the support of all members who care about their communities and want to engage in constructive ways to bridge divides and continue progress through effective understanding and employment of First Amendment freedoms. Whatever your community issues, an effective grasp of the First Amendment will help you make progress.

With Gratitude, Steve & the FAV Team

Organizational Partner Spotlight

FAV is grateful to the Museum of the Bible for providing a VIP tour for FAV Friends & Family in December at no costs. Thanks to the work of the late Ed Lowry, FAV Strategic Advisor and Delegate, The Museum of the Bible hosted a dozen FAV members and family for a wonderful tour. Would you like to get a chance to see the museum? Check out the upcoming events section below for great programming coming up.

Upcoming Events

January 30 – delegate and member videoteleconference, FAV 2025, RSVP to Heather, time 8pm EST/ 5pm PST [by invitation for paid FAV members and delegates]

February 8 – Balm of Gilead, Museum of the Bible, D.C. register here

February 29 – Difficult Conversations Workshop, San Clemente, CA register here

May 12 – Dr. Cornell West, Museum of the Bible, D.C. Save the date! More info on museum website.

September 25-26 – fifth annual National Symposium, Philadelphia, National Constitution Center