Every year, we host a “Strategy Week” that brings together national and chapter leadership for professional development and collaboration. The goal is to explore new ways to strengthen the incredible work we’re doing in 78 cities across the country.
While planning this year’s Strategy Week, we saw an opportunity to pivot to a virtual format, allowing us to include more employees, provide a more flexible schedule, and spread sessions out over a period of several months.
By hosting everything online, we were able to bring more voices and perspectives into the conversation. All told, we held 9 sessions and connected with 264 total participants from across the network!
The series culminated with our State of the Union address when CEO Ben Paul and our Executive Team provided insights from the past year and shared their goals for the future.
Looking back on this year’s Strategy Series, here’s what I learned:
1 — Our (Programs) Teamwork makes the Dream Work
Our National Programs Team (the superstars who plan and implement everything we do for our students!) co-hosted five sessions alongside HR, bringing together programs staff from every chapter across the network. Topics included career pathways and professional development, contingency planning, having tough conversations with employees, and effective time management.
2 — Better Data Makes Us Stronger
Our Evaluation Team tracks impact, measures growth, and analyzes the data that helps us bring meaningful change to our students and their communities. This year, our national Eval staff led three strategy sessions to help strengthen and align how every chapter collects and uses data, including more effective student surveys to measure positive youth development outcomes.
3 — This is the Best Team Ever!
OK, I already knew this. But one of my favorite moments was seeing everyone during the State of the Union. We had 120 All-Star employees join in from all over the country to celebrate a record year of sites served, students reached, dollars raised, and other incredible successes. We know everyone works extremely hard, but it was heartwarming to see colleagues acknowledged both during the presentation and with comments from each other in the chat!
4 — We’re Part of Something Bigger
It can be easy to get wrapped up in our own chapters or departments and the work we’re doing locally. Any opportunity to bring the network together and hear about the larger scope of our work is incredibly valuable.
Final thoughts
I’m excited to continue exploring new ideas for future Strategy sessions, such as hearing directly from our Youth Advisory Board students, who have such a powerful vision for the future of All-Stars.
And as much as I enjoyed the virtual format, I’m also really looking forward to our next in-person Strategy Week. We touched on so many great topics this year, and I can’t wait to dive even deeper with everyone in 2025!
The All-Stars Effect
With more than 30 years of service to historically underserved communities, “the All-Stars effect” refers to lasting impact that extends beyond classroom walls and traditional after-school hours. It’s the ripple that flows outward from ASAS staff and students to their families and neighborhoods—across generations.
Fittingly, the All-Stars effect is the theme and throughline of our most recent annual report.
If you’re curious about the full scope of our national impact or how a specific chapter is making a difference, we strongly encourage you to take a few minutes to explore our 2023 annual report.
It’s packed with inspiring student stories from each chapter, insights from ASAS founder Arnold Schwarzenegger, org-wide statistics, and so much more. We think this is our best annual report yet–and we can’t wait for you to check it out!
