To YFT Board of Directors:

It is with regret that I formally resign from the board of directors of Youth First Texas effective 7PM on Monday, January 9, 2012. While this decision may come to some on the board as a sense of relief and joy, it is written with a great deal of concern and sadness, mixed with a high level of frustration.

Since joining the board, I have worked to ensure that the board has acted in good faith and fulfilled its legal obligations to our community, our donors and our youth (primarily through my role as Governance Committee Chair and member). While the board has had some lively discussions, and made some hard decisions, the board – for the most past – has acted professionally and respectfully, and met those obligations. It is only in the last six or so months that I have seen the board disintegrate as factions have formed, and discussions (and some decisions) have been based on alliances to individuals and not always in the best interests of the organization.

The most evident of these was in the handling of my concerns expressed about both co-chairs, TJ Wilson and Chris-James Cognetta, and my board complaint against both for misleading the board, misrepresenting the use of organizational funds to the board in relation to the Black Tie Dinner (as was the case with the documented issue against TJ), among other issues. The intent behind the complaint was to remind the board of its role to maintain a check and balance on all of its directors and its officers, and it saddens me that the majority of the board has ignored repeated requests to address these serious and substantiated concerns. Instead, the (now) majority of the board is focusing on seeking revenge and retaliation against members of the board with whom they disagree, and who have raised concerns in an effort to protect the organization’s integrity and status within the community. This is not a board acting judiciously to protect our organization, but a board acting out of spite.

It is the knowledge that the majority of the board has decided to act in this manner that has contributed to my (and others) level of frustration and my decision to tender my resignation. It is the fact that a large part of the board is now aligned to 1 or 2 individuals, and makes decisions based on that loyalty, rather than to the organization itself, that makes it impossible for me to be effective and remain on the board. All efforts to reach out to work with these individuals have been futile given that it appears the goal of the alliance on the board has been to simply remove those members that don’t play by their rules, or don’t agree with them. This has become most evident in the past 2 months amongst many board members. It is worth noting that I have attempted multiple times to meet with or talk with board members on the rare occasions when issues have arisen; no other board member has ever reached out to discuss their concerns directly with me.

While I do not doubt that with my resignation the complaint against the co-chairs will fail to appear before the board again, it is my hope that some of you on the board will see that continuing the lack of accountability expected of our co-chairs could lead to further misrepresentations and possibly jeopardize the organization more than they have to date. It is up to you all to ensure that the board does its best to always protect the organization’s interests above those of any one individual. That is the basic duty that each director has.

The organization appears to be once again heading into a downward spiral, and rather than working together to protect our organization (including honoring our own mission, vision and values), some have chosen to work to fuel the negativity and encourage board members to ignore a commitment to dignity and respect (both of the person and the diversity of thought) that each board member should have.

While I am sad to tend my resignation, I am proud of the work that I have done during my first term on the board, including successfully adding a youth representative on the board (thereby providing an active voice for our main stakeholders); leading the changes to the organizational mission, vision and values that better reflect the organization that Youth First Texas had grown into over the past ten years (as part of the strategic review for the organization); enhancing the effectiveness of our meetings through modified meeting procedures; streamlining the communication and document management for the board and the organization through the transition to Google Apps; and working to change the strategic direction of the organization to better provide services and programs for our youth. These are my legacy, and each one supports and confirms my commitment to my belief that Youth First Texas is, and should always be, the strongest organization of its kind in the North Texas region, and the state. WE owe it to the youth that we serve.

I hope that the organization will remain strong for the youth that need YFT and the safe space that we provide. It is in your hands.

Respectfully,
James Nunn

I genuinely hope that the organization will move on and become stronger, but it will take a change in the current personalities on the board to make that happen. I am doing my part to make that a reality.

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Home Life

Our new home in Frisco was completed and we moved in during March 2011. We are thrilled with our house and have yet to find anything that we really are unhappy with, or would have done differently (well… there may be a couple of things). Not only was the move being planned for March, but a week after our move in date, I hosted a surprise 40th birthday party for Chris. None of that would be have been possible without the amazing support of friends, and I’m thankful for them for helping make our move and Chris’s surprise such a success.

Since being in the home, we have made some of our planned modifications, and continue to schedule others. We have amazing neighbors, and had the opportunity to socialize with them a number of times already. Ending the year at the new home, Chris and I hosted both Thanksgiving and Christmas. So from a home perspective it has been a great year.

As they say, when one door closes another opens. In 2011 we said a sad farewell to EGB (Eaglebend Lane); the home Chris and I shared for just over ten years. The house has a new set of owners who appear to be just as in love with the house as we were, so we have been comforted that we left EGB in good hands. We have been fortunate to get to know the new owners, and continue to get updates on the house.

Family

One of my previous goals has been to start a family, but this did not eventuate during 2011. With other priorities throughout the year, there never was a good time to do this. 2012 will bring a lot more planning in relation to this, and we hope to have at least started the process before the end of the year.

The most amazing and special part of 2011 in relation to my family has been my mother and sister arriving on November 28 for their vacation. So far we have celebrated mum’s birthday, Christmas and New Years, a first for me in over 13 years. Every day has been one that I have cherished, and though we have not been busy with travel or loads of other fun activities as we have prepared for the end of the year, I have enjoyed every moment.

Chris’s mother continues to live in East Texas, and this has created some challenges through the year, but we are hopeful that she will be making the move more locally in the coming months to reduce some of the stress that Chris and his brother are going through.

Friends

Our relationship with our Little Brother, Trey continues to be very rewarding. Chris and I have continued to meet with Trey every week doing the things that we seem to enjoy doing. I continue to be amazed at how much he is growing up and how different he is to the 10yo boy that we met nearly 4 years ago. He has become part of our family, and I hope that we will be there to enjoy all of his milestones in his life over the many years to come.

One of the major pluses for the year (besides plus added to Google+) was the decision of our best friends, Bobby and Ian to move into the same neighborhood (8 lots away). They continue to be our closest friends and for that I am grateful (did I mention that they are more fun to be around now that they have Parker?).

We continued through the year to celebrate our friend’s milestones, including TWO forty-year-old birthdays: Chris and Brian.

Community

One of the biggest projects I was involved with in 2011 was the Frisco Arts bond election. This ran from February through to May, and while every effort was made to defeat the proposition, it passed. While disappointing, it was also incredibly rewarding as I got to work alongside some of the most energetic and passionate individuals in our community; all sharing  my disappointment about the decision that Frisco voters made. From that experience, came new friendships and the rekindling of some older friendships. In looking back, we did our best and lost, but in losing we gained so much, that I consider it to be one of my “winning” moments through the year.

Also through 2011, I have continued my tenure on the board of directors at Youth First Texas. I have worked with some talented people to bring about the start of change with the organization, especially after leading efforts for a new mission statement, vision and values statements. My involvement is not likely to continue in 2012, as the organization has taken a different route to get to where they need to be, and sometimes it is important to recognize the time to step back and hope for the best. As I have said in other posts, I try to take something positive from each experience, and the one thing I learned is that the youth that we serve are strong, they will survive and they are more adult-like than many give them credit.

Technology

Where would we be without technology? Well for starters, you may not be reading this (assuming of course, that anyone is reading this). Facebook continues to dominate our lives, but it has been a tremendous benefit to me in the planning on my mother’s trip to the US, in keeping up to date with family and friends, and in learning some crazy-ass things about people I know. I’ve been waiting for the “FB replacement” to come along, and thought that this may be in the guise of Google+, alas it does not appear that this will happen. Of course, in my thinking this is a good thing, as I can use Google+ the same way that I thought I would use Facebook (before it went public). So there is still hope, especially if you join my circle!

Twitter has been on the decline over the past 12 months. I’m not sure why this is, but it seems that overall I’m sharing less about what is going on with life and happenings in life that previously. Perhaps social networking fatigue is setting in after all.

Overall 2011 was a good year. There were some parts that I would rather not have to endure again, but these are outweighed by the many good things that happened throughout the year. I’m sure there are many other occurrences that happened during the year that are worthy of including in this post, and it will be one of my new goals to share these as they occur in 2012. For now, we move into the new year with hope, with love and with (almost) serenity.

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Since being ordained, I have done one wedding ceremony – a civil union. I thought it would be cool to have this option for friends and people in the know, but I haven’t actively pursued being in front of more wedding parties. I hope that will change one day soon.

Over the past few months I’ve been looking more at the spiritual side of things in life – nothing too crazy, but looking for opportunities to learn more about different parts of the spiritual world. Organized religion doesn’t suit me. It never will (tried it, didn’t like it). I do, however, love to learn more about the different faiths and beliefs that people hold. One great resource has been the ULC Seminary which not only offers ordinations, but many classes to help guide a person’s spiritual journey towards knowledge.

The beauty of the ULC is that the tenets of the church fit neatly with what I truly believe: “To do that which is right.” If you find that organized religion doesn’t quite do it for you, but you have a desire to learn more about the different spiritual options out there, why not check out the ULC Seminary?

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“One More Try” by George Michael. It has a lot of memories attached to it and it always takes me to a place and that mixed emotion of happiness and sadness.

Day 26: An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)

Chris gave me this print a few years back and it has hung on my wall at the old house, and looking for a space in the new home. I love Steve Walker‘s art, and was really happy when I got this one. This is based in a city that we both love and – with the exception of sitting at separate tables – captures what we both love to do when relaxing: sitting on a porch or patio looking out to the water.

Day 27: Favorite movies

This is tougher as I need to be in the right frame of mind for some movies. One that always makes me smile and is just fun to watch is “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” which I have seen more times than I care to remember.

Day 28: Explain how you got one of your scars.

When I was younger (can’t recall the age) I was running across Anzac Avenue in Seymour and I tripped and felt on gravel road. I had a very bloody knee and to this day there is a scar from that moment in time. I’m more cautious when running across roads now.

Day 29: If you have tattoos, show them. If not, talk about the tattoos you want or why you don’t think they are right for you.

I have one tattoo. It is of the Southern Cross. It’s on my lower tummy / groin area. I plan on getting one more.

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