AVI Office Update Letter

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Auditory-Verbal International, Inc. ? (AVI)
1390 Chain Bridge Road, #100
McLean, VA 22101

Steven R. Rech,
President

Chellie Lisenby
Executive Director

(703) 739-1049 (Voice)
(703) 739-0395 (Fax)

e-mail: [email protected]
web: www.auditory-verbal.org

December 10, 2004

Dear AVI Therapists, Supporters and Members:

Chellie and I though we should update your regarding two important matters. The first relates to the successful transition to Chellie as your interim Executive Director. The second relates to the conversations we have had, and are going to continue to have, with the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

  • 1. Transition to Chellie as Interim Executive Director

We would like to begin by thanking you for your patience and understanding during this transition period for AVI and the Auditory-Verbal International, Inc. office. Just over two months ago, Chellie stepped in as the Interim Executive Director. After much consideration the board decided that it made sense to allow Chellie to perform most of her duties from Tampa. We closed down the Alexandria, Virginia office and temporarily relocated the office operations to Tampa Florida where she lives so that she could maintain her work with The Auditory-Verbal Learning Institute, Inc. (AVLI).

The AVI mailing address has changed (please note the new mailing address in the letterhead) but the phone and fax numbers have remained the same. Our mailing address is a ?Personal Mailbox? located in McLean, Virginia. This service receives all of our mail, including Fed Ex/UPS, and forwards it to Tampa. This address allows us to maintain a Virginia address while we work with our key stakeholders to decide where and how AVI should be housed on a permanent basis.

With such wonderful technologies today, we are able to run a ?virtual? office from Tampa with great ease. The bulk of the AVI historical and dated financial materials are in an air-conditioned storage unit in McLean, Virginia. The confidential certification files are in Vinton and Sigrid Cerf?s basement securely locked, and the remaining ?working? files and computer equipment are in our small office space in Tampa Florida. With Sigrid?s help we have been able to make this system work quite well.

While serving in this role we wanted to share with you what the AVI office has been up to. Over the past several months we have been working as quickly as possible to take care and have taken care of the following tasks:

  • Break down, relocate and set up the AVI office October
  • Reorganize the AVI office files and begin to update office systems October/November
  • Complete and mail Annual Appeal November
  • Update and mail membership forms November
  • Update and mail recertification materials December
  • Toronto Conference 2005 November/December
      o Secure a hotel

    • o Create the Conference Team
      o Create the Program Committee ? Tina Olmstead has graciously agreed to be the program chair!
      o Update the Call for Papers, post online
  • Print and mail new Cert. AVT Certificates December
  • Post the Fall Auricle Online and mailed out November/December
  • Post the certification bulletin in Spanish online November
  • Update membership/cert data bases December

Please know that the list goes on, but what we feel is most important for you all to know is that our organization is alive and well and working to find the most efficient, effective ways to serve you and to grow the resources available for those in need of Auditory-Verbal Therapy. Please know also that your communication with the AVI office is very important to us and if you do not hear back from AVI immediately please be patient as we are working as fast as we can to respond to your requests.

  • 2. Discussions with Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Our strategic plan calls for collaboration with AG Bell, and in October representatives of AVI and AG Bell met in Washington to discuss collaboration. Gary Stern, AVI?s strategic planner, facilitated the meeting. At and before this meeting, it became apparent that the two organizations should discuss whether and to what extent they should integrate. The consensus from the meeting was that integration is something that is worth discussing, and we will have another meeting with AG Bell in Washington on January 8 and 9, 2005. We will have two groups work at the meeting. One will discuss issues specific to certification, and the other will discuss structural issues. After the meeting the groups will make recommendations to the boards of AVI and AG Bell. We will give you an update shortly after the January meeting.

If you have any questions or want further clarification please do not hesitate to contact either Chellie at ([email protected]) or myself, Steve Rech ([email protected]).

Thank you and I hope that you have a very happy holiday season and a safe and wonderful New Year!!

Warm regards,

Steve Rech
Chellie Lisenby

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