January is Vocational Service Month. This is an opportunity to think about how your club and district do vocational service. In bringing together people from diverse professions and backgrounds, Rotary recognizes the importance of all skills and occupations. In Rotary, your professional life and vocational service can work together. Members have a responsibility to represent their occupations within their club and to exemplify the ideals of Rotary in their workplace.
Download the Vocational Service in Action handbook to learn more and to discover ways to share your knowledge through Rotary, advance ethical standards in your workplace, and help others develop professionally.
Heart Safe Plymouth, a partnership of the Plymouth Public Safety Department and the Plymouth Rotary Club, announce free CPR/AED training dates for 2022. Training is open to teenagers and adults. Register to learn hands-only CPR – chest compressions without mouth-to-mouth breaths – and how to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). To schedule a free training session for a group or business, call 763-772-7671 or email heartsafeplymouth@gmail.com.
Weekday Training Sessions Weekday sessions are 7-8:15 p.m. on the second floor of the Plymouth Public Safety Building, 3400 Plymouth Blvd. Class sizes are limited to 25 participants. To register, visit heartsafeplymouth.eventbrite.com. · Monday, Jan. 24 · Thursday, Feb. 17 · Thursday, Feb. 24 · Thursday, Mar. 10 · Thursday, Mar. 17
Impact! 2022 is the first-ever Tri-District Conference for Rotarians and Rotaractors from Districts 5580, 5950 and 5960. Pack your bags and get ready for an engaging weekend filled with education, camaraderie, celebration, inspiration, personal growth, and fun!
By participating in this one-of-a-kind event, your club will be measurably stronger, healthier and happier in the year to come. Your ticket gives you full access to the entire conference; guests are invited to fully participate.
Dakota County Technical College (DCTC) is home to the District 5950's new DCTC Rotaract Club. Advisors Erin Manthey and Brett Kolles are planning a January 26 Induction Ceremony for approximately 15 student members.
Special guests will include DCTC president Michael Berndt along with Rotarians from the sponsoring Rotary Club of Apple Valley and others associated with DCTC. The guest speaker will be Ryan Murphy (Eagan Kick-Start).
Click on this link if you would like to attend via Zoom at noon on January 26. (Meeting ID: 926 0166 5566 Passcode: DCTC)
In my day job (a pleasant, if time-consuming distraction from my Rotary duties), I work in design and technology. For the past several years, this largely white and male industry has been asking itself, “Where are the Black designers?” From Maurice Cherry’s influential 2015 SXSW talk of the same name, to the proliferation of online directories of Black designers, and now a new non-profit organization working to “support, amplify, and make space for” Black designers, it’s an uphill battle. According to one industry report, just 3% of designers identify as Black.
Many American Rotary clubs have a similar challenge. In large part, that’s because most people come to Rotary through a personal invitation from a current Rotarian — and most of us simply don’t have very diverse personal or professional networks. So even as we strive to grow Rotary, our clubs end up looking like the people who are already there.
That’s a long-term problem for Rotary. We’ve all seen the statistics that prove the importance of diversity, but how much have we focused on diversifying our own professional networks?
You’ll never meet new people — especially those who don’t look like you — if you don’t put in the time and effort. To increase the diversity of your network, start spending time in spaces — and consuming content from people — that don’t match your current network. Be deliberate and intentionally step away from your usual preferences. Set a goal of meeting new people every month (and inviting them to Rotary!). In time it will become part of your routine — and will help ensure a Rotary that looks like the communities we serve.
Diverse Voices is a regular column written by rotating contributors from the Rotary District 5950 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Action Team. For more information about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in our district, please see our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Statement.
Rotary is about the power to connect, partner, and create change. Our work is methodical and steady, generating long-term results, like our decades-long commitment to eradicate polio. And when urgent needs arise, Rotarians arePeople of Action— whether it’s by providing food and shelter after disasters or getting protective equipment to health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rotary’s 2021 Annual Report highlights how members and participants like you helped Rotary increase our impact, expand our reach, enhance participant engagement, and increase our ability to adapt.
Posted by Steve Solbrack, Environment Action Team Chair
Our District 5950 Environment Action Team and several Rotary clubs are sponsoring a Climate Solutions Workshop on January 25.
Workshop participants will identify solutions that keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees C, and preferable not more than 1.5 degrees C, above pre-industrial levels by the year 2100. These could range from adjusting energy efficiency, carbon pricing, fossil fuel taxes, reducing deforestation, and carbon dioxide removal among many others. The solutions are tested in the En-ROADS Climate Solutions Simulator (Energy – Rapid Overview and Decision Support model, http://enroads.org) where their cumulative impact on global air temperature, sea level rise, ocean acidification, and air quality among other can be seen. The En-Roads simulator is a transparent, freely-available policy simulation model that provides policymakers, educators, businesses, the media, and the public with the ability to explore, for themselves, the likely consequences of energy, economic growth, land use, and other policies and uncertainties, with the goal of improving their understanding.
Register on the website or Facebook event. Join registrants from eight other states (and counting!).
This workshop is sponsored by The Rotary Clubs of Twin Cities EcoClub and Maple Grove, Eden Prairie ESRAG, District 5950 Environment Action Team and a Group of MIT Alumni.
Rotary is hosting webinars that explore creative ways to increase our impact, expand our reach, enhance participant engagement, and increase our ability to adapt.
Join us on Thursday, January 13 at at 5 p.m. (CST) for Expanding Our Reach, the third webinar in our Engaging Members + Delivering Value series. We’ll learn how to think beyond traditional partnerships and build connections with people who share our commitment to service.
Posted by Steve Solbrack, District Environment Action Team Chair and Past District Membership Chair
Rotarians who invite friends and associates to attend a Rotary meeting or event continue to be the lifeblood of Rotary. Rotary International now gratefully acknowledges those dedicated members and their extraordinary commitment to sharing the gift of Rotary. These People of Action have expanded Rotary’s reach by sponsoring 25 or more new members.
RI currently recognizes 427 Rotarians worldwide as sponsoring 30 or more new members to Rotary, and three of them are in Rotary District 5950: PDG Tom Gump (Edina / Morningside) sponsored over 50 new members; Gerry Nelson (End Human Trafficking) and Steve Solbrack (Twin Cities Rotary EcoClub) have sponsored over 30 new members. Learn more about the Membership Society on the Rotary website.
As past District Membership Chair, I know that other 5950 Rotarians have sponsored 25 or more new members. Why aren’t they included in the society? Because their club did not enter their name as the sponsor when entering new members into ClubRunner. If you are an administrator for your club’s membership info in ClubRunner, please take the following actions this month:
Review all your active members in ClubRunner and identify those without a sponsor. Ask each who sponsored them and enter the sponsor’s name in ClubRunner.
Review all your terminated members in ClubRunner and identify those without a sponsor. Circulate the list to your club members and ask them to identify the former members they sponsored and enter the sponsor’s name in ClubRunner.
When you add new members into ClubRunner in the future enter the sponsor’s name.
Rotary has made it easier to learn how to use the Rotary brand mark and logos to strengthen our communication. Visit the Our Brand page in the Brand Center* for updated guidance in a web-based format. You’ll also find resources to create club logos and materials that are distinctly Rotary and adhere to our global brand standards. Our stories are more memorable if they are promoted under a unified brand.
The 2022 Rose Parade marks the 42nd consecutive year the RRPFC has spearheaded Rotary's representation in America's New Year Celebration. This year's theme, “Changing Lives Through Education,” aligns with one of Rotary's seven Areas of Focus: Basic Education and Literacy.
January is Vocational Service Month. This is an opportunity to think about how your club
Impact! 2022 is the first-ever Tri-District Conference for Rotarians and Rotaractors from Districts 5580, 5950 and 5960. Pack your bags and get ready for an engaging weekend filled with education, camaraderie, celebration, inspiration, personal growth, and fun!
Special guests will include DCTC president Michael Berndt along with Rotarians from the sponsoring 
Many American Rotary clubs have a similar challenge. In large part, that’s because most people come to Rotary through a personal invitation from a current Rotarian — and most of us simply don’t have very diverse personal or professional networks. So even as we strive to grow Rotary, our clubs end up looking like the people who are already there.
Workshop participants will identify solutions that keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees C, and preferable not more than 1.5 degrees C, above pre-industrial levels by the year 2100. These could range from adjusting energy efficiency, carbon pricing, fossil fuel taxes, reducing deforestation, and carbon dioxide removal among many others. The solutions are tested in the En-ROADS Climate Solutions Simulator (Energy – Rapid Overview and Decision Support model, 
RI currently recognizes 427 Rotarians worldwide as sponsoring 30 or more new members to Rotary, and three of them are in Rotary District 5950: PDG Tom Gump (Edina / Morningside) sponsored over 50 new members; Gerry Nelson (End Human Trafficking) and Steve Solbrack (Twin Cities Rotary EcoClub) have sponsored over 30 new members. Learn more about the 
Rotary has made it easier to learn how to use the Rotary brand mark and logos to strengthen our communication. Visit the Our Brand page in the 
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