CHHSM Survey Seeks Member Feedback to Inform Direction of Future Programs and Services

CHHSM members can participate in the survey by clicking on the survey link, or by clicking the survey box in the October Diakonie.

The UCC Council for Health and Human Service Ministries is seeking member feedback in order to assess its current programs and services and better serve its membership. All CHHSM members are encouraged to participate. The deadline for submissions is Friday, Oct. 29.

“This member survey is one way CHHSM continually seeks to fully engage our membership,” says Michael J. Readinger, CHHSM president and CEO. “The responses will help us know which CHHSM programs and services are important to our members, as well as give us important feedback on where we can grow and improve.”

The annual survey, which was released Oct. 14, asks questions about every aspect and program of CHHSM, from its Annual Gathering to its leadership programs, including the Nollau Leadership Institute and Nollau To You. Most of the questions are the same as CHHSM’s 2019 member survey so that the results can be compared and analyzed. The survey wasn’t conducted in 2020 due to the demands faced by CHHSM members because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The survey is designed to elicit both broad and specific feedback. Questions include rating the overall value of CHHSM membership, events, and leadership development programs, among other categories; relationship formation through various CHHSM events and programs, as well as to the larger UCC national and regional settings; and CHHSM’s role in assisting members in their own ministry settings. Communication tools also are evaluated, as are the benefits available to CHHSM members through partner UCC groups.

A new section in this year’s survey concerns CHHSM’s increasing work on issues of Race, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (RDEI). RDEI questions include how members rate the value of the way in which CHHSM addresses issues of RDEI at various events, through leadership development programs, in affinity and study groups, through advocacy and public policy efforts, via the CHHSM website and its electronic communications, and in supporting members work in RDEI. The section — written by the Rev. George Graham, vice president of CHHSM — was created in response to CHHSM’s RDEI assessment in order to begin to measure the value that CHHSM members place on the way the organizations addresses topics of Race, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

“While we wanted to be able to compare responses from this survey to our 2019 survey, the CHHSM board thought that it was important to include the new section on RDEI,” said Graham. “So much of CHHSM’s work over the past 18 months has been informed by CHHSM’s anti-racism work — including our statement on the pandemic of systemic racism and the CHHSM co-sponsored UCC General Synod resolution naming systemic racism a public health crisis — that board members felt we needed to assess the effectiveness of this new emphasis.”

CHHSM members completing the survey have an additional benefit: for completing the survey, including contact information, members have the option of being entered into a drawing for a free registration to the CHHSM Annual Gathering, which takes place March 8-10, 2022, in Louisville, Ky.

“The CHHSM staff and board work hard to assure that the programs and services we offer help fill the needs of our members. By taking the pulse of our membership, we can better meet the future needs of our ministries,” said Readinger. “We deeply appreciate our members taking the time to give us this important feedback, because it will shape how we grow into the future.”

Take the CHHSM Member Survey.