At its September 15, 2021 meeting, the Community Homeworks Board of Directors made history by unanimously adopting its first multi-year strategic plan.
“The 2021-2024 Strategic Plan unleashes an ambitious Community Homeworks 2.0 vision to accelerate sustainability and growth initiatives,” said Executive Director, Chris Praedel. “It builds an organization built to last.” He goes on to say, “We aim to position ourselves as a leader in the local housing space, knowing critical repairs are a crucial and undeniable piece of the housing continuum that is too often overlooked.”
The strategic plan outlined four overarching themes integrated into all areas of the plan, including:
- Organizational Sustainability
- Meaningful Partnerships
- Commitment to Equity
- Reducing Barriers to Access
Organizational Sustainability
We will take steps to build long-term sustainable and resilient capacity, a diversified revenue stream, and the necessary transparency, oversight, and accountability to guide the work into the future.
Meaningful Partnerships
To best serve our neighbors, we will prioritize meaningful community-based, neighborhood and housing partnerships. We believe in the mindset that we are stronger together. Working in a silo is an added barrier to access and stifles progress to those we serve. The organization will be intentional about partnerships to strengthen referral and navigation coordination, share knowledge and best practices, and find opportunities to maximize resources.
Commitment to Equity
The organization will remain committed to examining ourselves through an equity lens, from pay equity to examining our service delivery policies and procedures. In all areas, we wish to better reflect the neighborhoods and households we serve and demonstrate our values through our actions.
Reducing Barriers to Access
We understand the adversity those we serve already face. Health and safety repair issues in the home exacerbate the already tenuous stressors many homeowners encounter. We are committed to reducing barriers to make our services less burdensome and stressful. These barriers are referred to as “friction points.” We want to minimize wait times to get in homes and seek to better understand the ways to best serve our neighbors.
The Planning Process
In late 2019, the Community Homeworks Board of Directors and then Interim-Executive Director, Jason Byler, identified strategic planning as a high priority in anticipation of the new Executive Director hire in 2020. The Board enlisted the expertise of Tim Fallon, strategic consultant with the Clarion Group.
Mr. Fallon has over 30 years of experience in helping clients increase the strategic effectiveness of their organizations. He facilitated two board planning sessions, one in December 2019 and another in January 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the strategic planning work during much of 2020 and early 2021. The organization resumed planning in fall 2020 with staff and board members and this continued through summer 2021.
The Board of Directors doubled the size of the group in fall 2020, electing five (5) new board members after a conducting a skills gap analysis of itself. Staff felt it was necessary to involve the newest directors in aligning the new three-year plans.
Staff held two afternoon planning sessions in fall 2020 and senior management met individually with all new board members to elicit their continued input in the process. The planning delays also enabled the organization to commence many of the early phase strategies outlined throughout 2021, including:
-Expanding Navigation Support Services
-The formation of constituent Input Advisory Groups
-Launching virtual education content options
-Elimination of the co-payment structure
-Diversifying our budget model
-And much more!
Community Homeworks will continue to provide status updates on the progress of the Strategic Plan through our e-newsletter, social media, events, and our website. Stay tuned for more!
