For 50 years, Solid Ground has been singularly focused on doing one thing: Solving poverty.
Our commitment to that mission has never changed, but the tools we’ve used to achieve it have. As the needs and challenges of our community have evolved over the decades, we’ve listened and responded to those we serve to make sure our programs and services evolve as well.
So as we celebrate the thousands of lives Solid Ground has reached over the last half century, we’ve turned to our community once again to help chart our shared course in the years to come. And thanks to the leadership of our Community Accountability Council (CAC), we now have a map to guide us on that journey.
We’re calling it Vision 2030, and we were thrilled to finally share it at our 50th Anniversary Gala on May 8.
“Solid Ground is at our best when we are responsive to the needs of our community,” CEO Shalimar Gonzales told members of the Solid Ground family gathered for the celebration. “And we can’t talk about the future without dreaming with community. We can’t talk about programs and services without listening to those we serve and those we might serve in the future.”
Human-centered response
To develop Vision 2030, Shalimar asked CAC members to lead a community-driven strategic planning process that ultimately involved 17 listening sessions, more than 70 stakeholders, and one afternoon spent taking photographs around Seattle with a group of highly opinionated teenagers.
“We used a design process with roots in community organizing that created space to dream. And a space to play. And a space of hope,” Shalimar said. (Learn more about the planning process in our blog post, How we’re making space for community to shape Solid Ground’s future.)
“In Vision 2030, we see interactions with human services that are consistently filled with joy and respect.” ~Shalimar Gonzales
In all these conversations – and in the feedback we collected for our Community Needs Assessment – one thing we heard again and again is that systems that are supposed to help our most vulnerable neighbors continue to cause harm instead. We heard that our safety net has been set up to serve some people and not others, and that anyone who tries to access it faces a maze of hurdles that sometimes feels as if it were designed to keep people from getting the help they need.
In response, Solid Ground is committed to taking a human-centered approach toward eliminating barriers and assuring that everyone we serve receives the support they need and the dignity and respect they deserve.
Or as Shalimar put it: “In Vision 2030, we see interactions with human services that are consistently filled with joy and respect – that people feel seen and supported without having to repeatedly explain their trauma to multiple providers.”
To realize this vision, Solid Ground will:
- Use our trauma-informed and client-centered approaches to support people to navigate systems.
- Listen to and organize with community, bringing participant voices forward to advocate for breaking down barriers between external support systems.
- Work to ensure that resources are developed and deployed strategically to be equitably available to all who need them.
Be the village for today’s youth
Poverty, domestic violence, and other traumatic experiences in childhood can cause harm throughout a person’s life, leading to worse outcomes for health, income, and wellbeing. Fortunately, research suggests that young people who participate in positive youth development programs are less likely to experience poverty as adults.
“We envision youth coming of age with hope for their future and the world around them.” ~Shalimar Gonzales
But we also heard from our community that these kinds of programs aren’t consistently available – especially for young people from families living on low incomes.
“We learned that today’s young people are disillusioned by the failures of our education system, and the fear and lack of support they face,” Shalimar said. “In Vision 2030, we envision youth coming of age with hope for their future and the world around them. They are confident in their abilities, because they have been nurtured by mentors and their peers.”
To realize this vision, Solid Ground will:
- Greatly expand youth programming to provide asset-based opportunities for area youth that are validated by the experiences of program participants.
- Build on our experience mentoring and supporting formerly homeless youth to succeed in school, including our successful pilot program that enhances developmental assets to help interrupt generational cycles of poverty.
- Advocate for and with youth to create public policy that sets them up to thrive and addresses their priorities and vision for their future.
Enhance well-being
Hope lives in the heart of every human being, but we’ve heard that a growing number of our neighbors are struggling to find it. Appropriate behavioral health services remain out of reach for far too many people, particularly Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, and those living on low incomes.
“We imagine community members who are resilient because they have access to culturally competent behavioral health services both in quality and quantity.” ~Shalimar Gonzales
“We heard directly from people about the critical lack of behavioral health services and the shortage of providers who reflect the diverse communities seeking those services,” Shalimar said.
“In Vision 2030, we imagine community members who are resilient because they have access to culturally competent behavioral health services, both in quality and quantity.”
To realize this vision, Solid Ground will:
- Increase partnerships and collaborations to make culturally relevant, age-appropriate behavioral health services and other asset-based wellness services available to program participants.
- Build on the Behavioral Health Partnership at our Sand Point Housing campus, using its successes as a roadmap to expand access to mental health services across all of our program areas.
- Develop wellness services to support a broader sense of well-being.
- Advocate for increased public funding and easing of barriers to critically needed mental health and wellness services.
Organizational excellence & resilience
Our ability to make meaningful differences in the lives of people we serve depends on the skills and dedication of Solid Ground employees. And yet we know that human service workers across the nonprofit sector are undercompensated for the value of their work, forcing many to seek careers in other fields.
“We pledge by 2030 to provide staff with even more support, even more resources, so they have the capacity to thrive.” ~Shalimar Gonzales
This represents an existential threat to our ability to hire and retain the people who are essential to fulfilling our mission. As Shalimar put it: “Human service workers face unprecedented burnout and financial challenges.”
“I know we have the best staff. I’ve seen it firsthand – the commitment of a team that is called to serve and does so with talent, grace, and humility. Therefore, we pledge by 2030 to provide staff with even more support, even more resources, so they have the capacity to thrive.”
To realize this vision, Solid Ground will:
- Provide advocacy, leadership, and support for systems-wide efforts to secure wage equity for human services workers.
- Enhance our internal leadership development to build an even more talented team with the resilience and grace to continue working to solve poverty in Seattle/King County.
Just as we turned to our community to craft a vision for 2030, it will take the support of that community to make it a reality. To learn more about how you can help shape the future of Solid Ground, go to Get Involved.
“We need your presence. We need your voice. We need your commitment,” Shalimar said. “I would be honored if you’d join us on this journey.”
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