Over the summer, our Board of Directors met to develop a new Strategic Plan that was adopted at the Board’s September meeting.
Whenever we look into the future, consider our potential goals and the challenges we’ll need to overcome to get there, we get excited about the possibilities and look forward to creating the kinds of connections, services and supports that will allow people with developmental disabilities to live quality lives in our communities.
This planning cycle, we decided to share this excitement and involve more representatives from our stakeholder groups to get broader feedback on what we need to improve, where we may need to expand and what goals we should prioritize for the coming few years. We received excellent input from our survey and focus groups as our strategic planning consultants at MNP facilitated sessions that elicited deep-felt responses. We are very fortunate to have such positive support from our families, staff, self-advocates, members and funders. We all have a responsibility to ensure our communities are safe, welcoming and inclusive of all abilities, races, ethnicities and sexual orientations from all socio-economic levels. We have a long way to go and can only get there together.
Belonging resonated most with us as a major theme this year. We were challenged to move beyond inclusion to belonging, ensuring that people with developmental disabilities have places to go where they are not only welcomed but can feel free to be who they are without judgment because they are known, accepted and share common experiences with others. We all belong to our families but we also belong to our neighbourhoods, our work, our friends and our common-interest clubs or teams. Our job over the next few years will be to more fully deepen relationships in these areas and explore others.
Through this strategic planning process, we clarified our Vision, Mission and Values, then prioritized four strategic directions for the upcoming three to five years at DDA. We thank everyone who participated and invite one and all to join us in creating a diverse, welcoming community where people see the possibilities and everyone belongs.