Staff Strategic Planning

Connected, Caring, Communities

Goal: empower community and neighborhood organizing
Goal: be a known hub of resources
Goal: Expanding coalition work
Goal: intentional outreach and public education
Goals: Socially branch out. Get to know people. I don’t have co-workers or clients, I have neighbors.

Families

Goal: Hopeful trainings for the communities
Goal: Host Opp. For families to connect
Goal: Remain in community links program
Goal: Resource list for connecting families to their area of need
Goal: Educate and listen to new and old parents on self-regulation, parenting, ACES, mentor/coaching?
Goal: Support parents and families through parent/family programs/initiatives.

Resilient and Hopeful Youth

Goal: Find ways to support existing, prevention intervention in the schools
Goal: Expanding our reach
Goal: expand youth leadership
Goal: find ways to support existing prevention intervention/ healthy youth development outside schools

Systems with Resilience embedded

  • Neighborhood-based connecting *** other category

  • Laughter, safety, creativity together *** other category

Goal: Provide Resilience Training in Community
Goal: Build a dynamic organization with a broad plus diverse membership to work together on initiatives/ projects in our community to promote positive, healthy youth development
Goal: Understand/Research Current Needs
Goal: Easy, accessible, efficient and smooth processes
Goal: WFCN Systems

WFCN operations

Goal: WFCN creates culture, policy and procedures that reflects the diversity of the community
Goal: WFCN known as a place that support the wellbeing of its people and partners
Goal: Establish WFCN facility that focuses on wellbeing and connection
Goal: WFCN has a sustainable foundation and attracts philanthropy

ALL GOALS

Goal: empower community and neighborhood organizing

  • Chances for community leadership, youth voice
  • With more of their voice
  • Finding volunteers from community
  • Establish a wfcn presence in EVERY neighborhood in Bellingham/Whatcom County – as a resource for connecting people and communities.

Goal: be a known hub of resources

  • Create Resource List—in many forms
  • Be better accessible and “used” by the community—not just “in” community—be of use to community.
  • Connecting community members to resources
  • “WFCN is part of our neighborhood”/”WFCN helps us connect/remove barriers and fear that keep us in our homes/isolated.”

Goal: Expanding coalition work

  • Coalitions (WPC, MBCC)
  • Sustain the WPC coalition and support the development of a coalition in every community in Whatcom county (Ferndale/Lummi, Blaine, Lyden, Mt. Baker, Bellingham).
  • Expand to four days a week plus other areas
  • Strengthening families
  • Eliza project (after school tutoring)
  • Promoting/ supporting plus risk taking for positive development
  • Community school support
  • Expand to have in all county MS plus HS more volunteers to support more community support

Goal: intentional outreach and public education

  • Increase percentage of population in WC who know why Resilience, Toxic stress and Hope matter—and understand the concepts personally.
  • Social norming dissemination
  • Safe, trusted adult campaign—media driven/youth developed
  • Community wellness campaign
  • Resilience building campaign—community outreach
  • Increase marketing and public outreach communication. If we are truly connectors for empowerment, people need to know how to find us and what we do.

Goals: Socially branch out. Get to know people. I don’t have co-workers or clients, I have neighbors.

  • Community organizing liaisons
  • There are lots of willing folks- just have to get the right people on bus (Jim Collins)
  • Community members taking initiative in starting plus sustaining projects that matter to them
  • Community know to come to WFCN for information and community building project
  • Convening (providing space)
  • Neighborhood how to party 101: tips, tools, reasons, resources
  • How to organize block watch (partner with Bellingham police) to execute
  • As neighborhoods shift, help existing and new residents bond
  • Our voice
  • Convene conversations that matter
  • Increase activities around compassion and connection
  • Host connection events with neighbors convening block parties, trainings, meals, potluck
  • DO MORE community building projects, like BW International Market

Goal: Hopeful trainings for the communities

  • Resilience training/ Aces – smaller more often
  • WDRC
  • Resilience summit
  • Increase FUN—connection based activities that don’t “add to” calendars and schedules. More spontaneity.

Goal: Host Opp. For families to connect

  • Bilingual Zumba
  • Flex nights at Birchwood (more)
  • Creating space for connection
  • Host family fun nights
  • Fun game nights, discussions, dinner

Goal: Remain in community links program

  • Greater audiences
  • Community links involvement
  • Community links

Goal: Resource list for connecting families to their area of need

  • Ample early childcare is available
  • Increase “concrete” resources available through WFCN
  • Parents are a great resource to each other. Money for childcare, food for more classes/outreach
  • Hub for family resources

Goal: Educate and listen to new and old parents on self-regulation, parenting, ACES, mentor/coaching?

  • Ask for their voice and listen
  • Resilience building training
  • Family focused presencing and purposing skill building opportunities
  • ACES training for families
  • Tailoring curriculum to meet their needs as a family
  • Parent coaching and strengthen families
  • dads group- boys to men group
  • prenatal parents are versed in self- regulation skills and knowledge of NEAR sciences
  • more direct services
  • work with new parents (to learn how to raise children)
  • parenting class for every child in high school as a prerequisite for graduation (Miguel)

Goal: Support parents and families through parent/family programs/initiatives.

  • Re-energize Parents Matter or develop programming that serves families through the WPC.

Goal: Find ways to support existing, prevention intervention in the schools

  • Support PI clubs based on individual club
  • Support PIs based on individual PI needs
  • Create a collective spirit between Pls and clubs, and coalition coordinators for collective impact
  • Increase support for prevention intervention in schools
  • Prevention clubs
  • More support for school. PI’s mental health for children youth, etc.

Goal: Expanding our reach

  • Engage more with schools
  • Expand to more classes and schools
  • Mad hope
  • Wider audience
  • Build sustainability into MAD HOPE Youth Suicide Prevention Program, expand program to serve the entire county with goal of zero youth suicides
  • More volunteers wider audience

Goal: expand youth leadership

  • Strongly relying on students to present
  • Give them tons of opportunities
  • Work outside
  • Keep meeting fun
  • Get to know people
  • Office is everywhere
  • Identity development
  • Resilience building focus
  • Get them into leadership
  • Youth/teens support more teens
  • Expand the “experience leadership” project idea—older youth/younger youth
  • Youth leadership opportunities—fun, developmental, accessible
  • Leadership in prevention
  • Large youth leadership summit or conference
  • Youth presenters
  • Youth adv. Council board get them into leadership!
  • Party 101 classes—fun-filled/drug free
  • All graduating teens have been provided NEAR sciences information and self regulation Skills/S-E training

Goal: find ways to support existing prevention intervention/ healthy youth development outside schools

  • Engage more with larger youth serving organizations, whose missions align with ours.
  • Community schools support for: WDRC, Brigid Collins, Community Links
  • Activity nights monthly?

Neighborhood-based connecting *** other category

Laughter, safety, creativity together *** other category

Goal: Provide Resilience Training in Community

  • More during the year
  • Hire trainers/ Have a trainer position on staff
  • Training with mindset shift focus
  • Employers see and understand the value of trauma-informed workplaces
  • WWU/WWC embed in new professionals- teacher education, H.S. Psych, S.W.
  • Increase trauma informed practices in schools/ youth serving systems
  • Aces in schools (trauma informed practice trainings)
  • Expand training and implementation of Near sciences/ trauma informed practices across publiv agencies plus private
  • Training governments in resilience/toxic stress, juvenile justice
  • Law enforcement and emergency response services trained and valuing NEAR sciences
  • Healthcare professionals trained in NEAR sciences/ health systems practicing via a trauma informed lens
  • Disaster responder’s/CERT volunteers trained in NEAR
  • Childcare providers trained in NEAR sciences hire trainers/ have a training position on staff
  • More systems government and city/county law enforcements, healthcare; business
  • Bellingham is a resilient city all staff are trained

Goal: Build a dynamic organization with a broad plus diverse membership to work together on initiatives/ projects in our community to promote positive, healthy youth development

  • Embed connecting as a system culture practice
  • Build a dynamic organization with members who work together on (a broader and diverse membership) initiative/projects in our community to promote positive, healthy youth development, collaborate with their community coalitions to create a collective impact to dramatically decrease youth drug and alcohol use, abuse and youth suicide prevention, and increase opportunities for positive healthy youth development and risk taking.
  • Build cultural competency, diverse representation and student voice into WPC, increase school representation in WPC, create a coalition that is responsive to changes in community as a lending force in creating healthy communities for youth and their families.
  • grow our relationships with schools/staff/leaders
  • Intentional coalition outreach to variety of sectors plus fields
  • Indirect service through parents/teachers

Goal: Understand/Research Current Needs

  • Identify the challenges/barriers that children/youth/families face as they work to achieve goals
  • Meet with key community leaders to conduct a community society of needs assessment to guide our work
  • Conduct a community priority of needs assessment to guide our work
  • To more intentionally bring “conflicting” groups together for unity
  • 1 on 1 meeting with leaders: ask what they know, ask what is possible
  • Engage with city of Bellingham leaders more—communicate our ideas
  • Support the quality of social/emotional shifts (find out what school needs to succeed and host space to provide for the need)
  • Focus on positive approaches to problems solving—through community capacity building: the community does the work. Engage and Advise the leaders.
  • Respect big brother/big sister program
  • WPC collaborations to affect systems/policies for example no vaping ordinance

Goal: Easy, accessible, efficient and smooth processes

  • Advocate for systematic change toward equitable resilience based processes in community institutions
  • Economic growth advocacy (medical and food)
  • Advocate for courts to be able to prescribe rehab as part of a sentence
  • Prosocial opportunities that are free cost alternatives to drug/alcohol use
  • Advocate for universal healthcare in Whatcom county
  • Staff with Multiple languages

Goal: WFCN Systems

  • Space rental Roosevelt
  • Volunteer staff handle scheduling phone
  • A gathering place for community
  • Casual place for connecting
  • Professional development opportunities (CPPs, community health workers, individual growth opportunity)

Goal: WFCN creates culture, policy and procedures that reflects the diversity of the community

  • Lots of different people engaged hire people with language skills, from the neighborhood
  • WFCN connects over strengths and the ways people enjoy celebrating
  • Our workforce is diverse, with ability to speak a different language
  • Equity remains central to our decision making and planning—who we focus on for resilience building/ community building as priority: Lummi Nation/Nooksack Nation/ isolated by geography, economics, social stigma, language.

Goal: WFCN known as a place that support the wellbeing of its people and partners

  • Something like “high-fiving” or “fist-bumps”
  • I feel young and healthy
  • Youth gathering at facility
  • Parents at facility
  • Children playing at facility
  • Access to children and families for creative reminders and inspiration
  • Ability to retreat from noise
  • Babies to hold
  • Lots of different people representing all of Whatcom county
  • Healthy staff, happy staff, adaptable staff, learning and developing always
  • Unity across team members and programs—All for One and One for All, kind of feeling
  • Increase teamwork, organization and common connections across WFCN team/programs and in how we grow
  • A thriving board of directors, who are engaged, knowlegable and motivated
  • Well respected internship and volunteer program with high quality coordination and supervision. Volunteers in leadership positions

Goal: Establish WFCN facility that focuses on wellbeing and connection

  • Flexible workspace
  • Kind of a space like Roosevelt with garden and living room space
  • Different organizations coming in and out space for youth
  • Peaceful garden outside with place to get one with nature- focus breaks
  • clean, spacious, uncluttered, vibrant
  • plants, office spaces that give people room to think/ be creative, come together
  • windows central area in middle of office to come together and talk collaborations plus reenergize
  • coming and going in community, people visiting
  • open floor plan
  • windows! big ones!
  • Everyone together in one building, large table for meetings and sharing ideas
  • Soft warm colors like yellows, sage green, relaxing colors on walls, windows to peaceful outside
  • Small area for breaks, lunch
  • Roosevelt center is home base
  • A central program/ services office where ALL staff, paid and unpaid can work ir gather—perhaps co-located with other youth serving organizations

Goal: WFCN has a sustainable foundation and attracts philanthropy

  • 6 months rainy day funds in reserve
  • Look for grants that fund (compassion, connect, activity) these things rather than substance/ suicide prevention based- grants
  • Add more fiscal sponsorships, but truly help develop them into viable, sustainable nonprofits
  • A strategic funding plan that is diversified and not all on the shoulders of one or two people to procure
  • Find permanent, sustainable home for MAD HOPE youth suicide program