The success of Plummer’s work depends on relationships, and successful relationships are built on trust. Trust arises when people feel safe, valued, and have a sense of belonging. These are hard to achieve in the context of a child welfare system in which youth of color and LGBTQIA+ youth are overrepresented and experience worse outcomes than their white, cisgender peers.
Much of the 2020-2024 plan was intended to solidify our growth from the previous 10 years and set the stage for continuous learning. We started this journey in response to our recognition that every person should grow up in and with family. To that end, we developed the Intervention and Outcome Model and brought in the practice and evaluation expertise to implement it.
Having spent several years implementing key practices across all our programs and reporting on permanency outcomes, we then shifted the focus of learning to how well we are implementing the practices and whether the outcomes are equitable across all sub populations. As we neared the end of the plan and recognizing that many of the priority areas were still in process, in September 2023 we decided not to enter a full-blown strategic planning process, but to engage with Bridgespan to create an Adaptive Plan, focused on areas of growth within a shorter timeframe. The process led the senior team through specific milestones including:
- describing our desired impact and organizational destination
- identifying the steps required to get there and the most critical 5-7 priorities
- detailing the key short term (6 months) accomplishments, activities and potential hurdles
- and establishing an implementation plan.
Learning from the effort required to realize the impressive accomplishments of the 2020-24 plan as well as the areas still in play, the team established the following impact and organizational destination.
By June 2027 we are:
- learning about our effectiveness through implementing our practices with fidelity
- providing services in at least one new area
- enjoying key strategic relationships that advance our influence, and
- a safe, supportive and engaging culture
We accomplish this by:
- Enhancing staff capacity & skills
- Improving organizational capabilities, and
- Maintaining a healthy financial outlook
By January 2024 we identified six priority areas that included embedding fidelity to practice, expanding access to permanency through new or expanded programming, continuing our commitment to the facility, expanding youth and family voice, solidifying key strategic partnerships, and paying deliberate attention to change management as we implement these- and ongoing – priorities. After receiving board feedback through a retreat, we refined them, incorporated them into the annual budgeting process, and conducted extensive scenario planning to determine the next best step for the priorities in general and our consulting work in particular.
This process resulted in a narrowing of the priority areas to those we determined to be most mission critical at this time while maintaining responsible fiscal oversight.
