Editor’s Note: The following update on Solid Ground’s ongoing Strategic Planning Process is from Solid Ground’s Strategic Planning Committee.

Real Time Strategic Planning, used with permission of La Piana Consulting

Dear Solid Ground Community,

We want to provide an update on our Strategic Planning process and why this work is critical to the agency and our community! The Strategic Planning Committee is made up of representatives from each department within Solid Ground, as well as members of our Board and Advisory Council. This Committee intentionally brings together multiple stakeholders at all levels to create a strong plan for this organization, one that balances our aspirations but also deals with our current realities in understanding how we can actualize those dreams. Modeled in alignment to our Anti-Racism Initiative Action Teams, we meet on a monthly basis to work towards developing shared priorities for Solid Ground and strategies to meet those priorities. We operate on a decision-making model (Fist of Five) which allows for critical dialogue to assist us in working towards collective goals.

We acknowledge the challenges facing our agency today that dramatically affect consumers of our services at every level. We also face the internal struggles we all know so well. But as Ron Chisom and Dr. Kimberly Richards of the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond reminded us recently, it’s times like these when we can bring hope into changing this organization for the better!

One of our first actions in the Committee was to bring Staff, Board and Advisory Council members together at an All Staff community event on May 23. We generated ideas on what the new mission, vision and values should be for Solid Ground and then gathered feedback on the drafted mission, vision and values. We tried our best to incorporate the hundreds of voices we heard from throughout the five-month process. You can find our new mission, vision and values here.

In the past three months, the Committee also gathered information directly from constituents and key stakeholders around Washington State through listening sessions, focus groups and interviews. This, along with data collected from our staff, funders and partner organizations, will be put into a final report to help guide the Strategic Planning Committee through our October retreat. At this retreat we will develop several tools based on the La Piana Real-Time Strategic Planning model to clarify our future business model and create a Strategy Screen for decision-making in the organization. We will also develop a Big Question that Solid Ground faces right now. This Big Question will be used by the Committee to create targeted strategies and a plan to address this question organizationally and programmatically in the coming year.

At this turning point in the life of Solid Ground, the Strategic Planning Committee has extended our timeline by one month. We hope to use this time to tap into the best of all of us to figure out how we can serve our community needs with respect and human dignity at our core. We need your input, engagement and questions. We believe it is a critical piece in living up to our new mission, vision and values.

The Strategic Planning Committee’s retreat will be held Monday October 24. If you have feedback or questions, feel free to contact Ariana Cantu at arianac@solid-ground.org or 206.694.6860.