President Jim Danley announced the TCWPA Board of Directors has endorsed five goals for the upcoming year. The goals address priority funding concerns, keeping TCWPA communications up-to-date and engaging broader audiences in TCWPA’s mission. President Danley offers, “TCWPA has done great work to promote and preserve Tennessee’s Civil War battlefields over the years and in order to continue that work, we have to evolve to maintain our vitality and our relevance. These goals will help us stay focused and make meaningful progress in our mission.”
- Plan and conduct a statewide preservation summit in spring, 2010.
TCWPA is planning a preservation summit in early spring 2010. TCWPA will convene a workshop for community and organization leaders from across the state. Among the objectives are to build a statewide network and identify a role TCWPA can play to assist local organizations in preserving Civil War sites in Tennessee.
- Conduct special battlefields tours.
TCWPA will sponsor in-depth tours of lesser known battlefields. TCWPA will invite leading historians to conduct intense, several-hour tours, over battlefield terrain not typically well known or toured. Tours will be open to the public and be publicized widely. TCWPA will begin with a fall tour, likely at a west Tennessee site.
- Implement a new communications strategy by creating a new design for the website, e-newsletters, and using social networking as appropriate.
TCWPA is revising its website with a clean, easy accessible source of information about the organization and the Tennessee Battlefield Assessment program. The site will provide online payment for membership or other donations; online registration for the license plate and other opportunities for sharing Civil War and Sesquicentennial information. TCWPA will explore using “E-Newsletters” and social networking as means to reach a broader audience.
- Continue and enhance the Sesquicentennial license plate campaign.
With the new authorization, TCWPA will continue the program and expand the marketing base. TCWPA will share revenues for the Civil War Trails program with local communities participating in the license plate campaign, in keeping with TCWPA’s mission of interpreting Tennessee’s Civil War sites. TCWPA will work with the Tennessee Sesquicentennial Commission and the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development to promote the Sesquicentennial Commemoration, the Civil War Trails program, and battlefield preservation through the sale and promotion of the license plate.
- Develop sustainable funding for organizational operations.
TCWPA has maintained its organization through a variety of grants from the state and other entities. Grant income, while still a component of support, is less available in current economic times. TCWPA is committed to finding other funding sources and innovative partnerships to continue its operations.
8/25/2009, 11:49 AM
