Natalie Scherlong

Greetings WESTAF trustees and staff: Hope everyone had a relaxing long weekend and is ready to finally ease into summer. This weekend, I drove out to Naturita, CO where we camped, swam, inner tubed and checked out some cool art at CampV. Hope you found a way to relax, too! It was a great break after a busy few weeks. Hot off the press this morning, this article in Governing Magazine is by former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and NASAA CEO Pam Breaux, and uses the example of the rebound from Hurricane Katrina to show the arts sector’s contribution…

Hello there WESTAF community of staff and trustees: Lots of wonderful checking-in below on the dizzying array of projects we’ve been up to at WESTAF these past two weeks. First off, wishing “farewell!” and “good luck!” to Lani Morris and Tess Emslie. They have represented WESTAF so well with their remarkable contributions and we are so grateful to them! We’re excited to welcome new executive coordinator Cameron Green (ELC 2021) to WESTAF. He starts next Monday, but you’ll get to meet him a little sooner!  We have a busy week coming up, with our thrice-yearly all-team meeting, our committee meetings,…

Hello again, WESTAF community of staff and trustees: These past two weeks were abbreviated for me as I was away for a bit reuniting with parents, siblings and children in a more fully-vaccinated world. It felt pretty glorious and dreamy, gotta say. WESTAF continues to grow, adapt and change, with big, full-hearted “hellos!” to Blair, Lilly and Paul over on the business side of things (more on that below), and fond farewells to Janae and Eliza, who said their goodbyes to WESTAF this past week. So much activity on the hiring front at WESTAF right now, which is exciting and…

Greetings WESTAF community: As usual, so much going on in the WESTAF-world these past few weeks, so let’s jump right in, shall we? UPCOMING BOARD MEETINGS (CG) Incorporating some great feedback from trustees following our February meeting, we’re in planning mode for our upcoming virtual board of trustees meetings scheduled for May 19-20. While our meeting will be busy as usual with reports from committees, finance and general updates, we’re making a special effort to make space for discussion and reflection, especially in the later part of the meeting. At a later date, we will be sending trustees a brief…

Spring greetings, WESTAF trustees and colleagues: This gorgeous Denver spring weather almost made me forget that we’re now officially half way through WESAF’s fiscal year! How did this happen? Let us skim right over that, and convey that we are so very joyful to welcome Anika Kwinana to WESTAF (her first day is today, April 5!) and also to announce that Moana Palalei Hoching is also joining us as a senior policy associate working with David. More information about Moana is included below. These sharp and savvy experts will provide much needed leadership, oversight and support in our SRI and…

Dear WESTAF trustees and colleagues: Another busy fortnight has passed at WESTAF, and you can read all about it below.  Most urgently though, we want to let our trustees know that we reached out to the WESTAF team last week with the following message: “WESTAF will be posting this statement on the horrifying murder of Asian American women and others in Georgia this past week. The statement also includes some resources to help educate ourselves about these issues and advance advocacy on behalf of AAPI communities everywhere. As the statement says: “we rededicate ourselves to supporting leaders of color, particularly…

Hey now, WESTAF colleagues: A jam-packed last few weeks, as usual. First up in this recap, a lightning update on what’s been going on in the U.S. Senate. Then, we have super news about a new addition to the team as well as some smart moves in the business division, with more open positions and interviews keeping us busy (thank you, Becca Dominguez!) and progressing steadily. After that, there’s a detailed recap of last week’s online ALAS session. Massive thanks to team ALAS David Holland, Leah Horn, Samantha Ortega and Natalie Scherlong and special shoutouts also to the policy cohort…

Greetings WESTAF Nation: Hey there! Lots going on, including some people transition. This can be hard on a community, and has additionally taxed emotions and capacity, no doubt about it! Looking ahead, there is lots of exciting potential and possibility, but in the short term, well, it’s been rough. Much gratitude and respect to my WESTAF colleagues for stepping up to the challenge, and thank you to trustee leadership for the support and wise counsel. Here’s what’s been going on at WESTAF for the last few weeks: JANUARY FINANCIALS (AH)  The January cash summary is available to view. A line…

Hello again WESTAF community: Thank you everyone for such an action-packed week — really productive and inspiring all-team, committee and trustee meetings. Thanks for the blocks of intense time, focus and feedback. It was a lot! There was so much information to cover in the agenda that in fine-tuning how we spend our time together in the future, we want to make sure that individual topics have more room for thoughtful discourse and the sharing of ideas. Special thanks to our team and trustee committee presenters for the preparation and delivery. This coming week, we’ll be saying farewell to Seyan…

Greetings WESTAF trustees and colleagues: Like me, maybe you’re feeling relieved — even optimistic and inspired — after an Inauguration Day that went by pretty smoothly last week given the circumstances we face as a nation. While I definitely gave myself the space to soak up what this transition and new chapter means for our fragile democracy (there may have been a January 20th, 12:01 PM mimosa involved) as you can see from this biweekly recap the work of WESTAF has not skipped a beat and indeed, seems to be ramping up across the organization. There’s much to be thankful…