July 16, 2021

Dear TOC Registrants and Colleagues,

The year 2020 was truly a strange one for all of us! The worldwide pandemic thrust us into a world of virtual interactions as we adjusted to keeping ourselves and loved ones safe from the coronavirus. As we incorporated face masks and social distancing into our lives, we witnessed portions of our communities face unprecedented bias, harassment, and discrimination, adding stress, horrors, and uncertainty to the global crises we were struggling to understand. We felt all of this at TOC as we continued to see, hear, and speak out on our communities’ struggles as well as coping with the new realities of a virtual hybrid world.  We believe we see a path forward this coming year, incorporating more face- to-face interaction in a safe and responsible way.

A core tenet of TOC has always been, and always will be, to provide a community-minded network where all registrants know they belong and are actively collaborating in support of meeting the Government’s mission.

Though we have not seen your smiling faces for over a year (March 2020 was our last in-person event), TOC felt we were together in spirit – with a renewed sense that this community is committed to knowledge sharing, learning, development, and sometimes just a listening ear. We continue to stand together as a community leading one another into the 2021-2022 program year. As it stands now, after careful consideration, we are beginning to return to an in-person model to collaborate, network, share, and see each other IN-PERSON. We will announce specifics soon. Our plan is to regroup after the challenging year of 2020 and begin to put it behind us while incorporating the lessons we all learned through the challenges.

We missed seeing you each month, but hope you enjoyed connecting with us during the monthly webinars and newsletters. Although our program year was modified and completely virtual, we want to highlight a few noteworthy accomplishments:

• Two and a half days of a first-ever, All Virtual Annual Institute where we heard from the top researchers, professionals, and collaborators in our communities. 
• A stellar, all-virtual awards program recognizing top performers and contributors to our professional community. 
• Three deep-learning Professional Development Program symposium events with dynamic presenters, including extended time for collaboration amongst participants.
• Three month-long roundtables focused on topics such as Coaching, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging; and Measuring the Impact of Development.
• Ten webinars delivered to all to extend the TOC community and develop a wider audience.
• Eleven newsletters showcasing our programs/presenters, spotlighting registrants, and our history.
• Nine recorded TOC sessions posted on our website for viewing at one’s leisure; and
• Innumerable social media postings on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter!

As we embark upon our 83rd TOC Program Year, we hope that you will join us.  Watch for further information on our upcoming program. Registration is now open! This year’s program will run from September 2021-June 2022.  Our winning theme this year is brought to you from one of our registrants Mozella Ademiluyi. It is “Reset Your Compass – Chart Your New Future”. We also created a logo that will be used to incorporate our theme into every aspect of our program this year:

We look forward to seeing you in person.  We are striving to incorporate the lessons learned through these trying times.  We pledge to become stronger for our registrants, for our communities, and for the citizens we serve.

May your compasses all be reset this year.

Respectfully welcoming you back to TOC,

Steve

Steve Dobberowsky
TOC Chair