STRATEGIC PLAN. Creating Pathways of Hope and Opportunity

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1 STRATEGIC PLAN Creating Pathways of Hope and Opportunity

2 STRATEGIC PL

3 AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Creating Pathways from Poverty to Hope and Opportunity According to the Supplemental Poverty Measure, one in five residents (18.7%) in Santa Clara County live in poverty. The way individuals and families experience poverty varies widely. Poverty is complex, deeply-rooted, and cyclical. Some encounter unforeseen circumstances that lead to short-term, situational poverty. This sudden vulnerability can last into a long-term state of chronic poverty. Eventually, the challenge of poverty can be passed down to affect the lives of children and youth as generational poverty grows. OVERVIEW A national leader in social innovation initiatives, Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County is at the forefront of the movement to cut poverty in Silicon Valley. As a member of Catholic Charities USA, we are committed to going beyond service delivery by advocating and incubating innovative solutions to poverty. We recognize the growing challenges of poverty in the midst of plenty. Over the next three years, Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County plans to realign its resources to a more efficient and effective model to address three aspects of poverty: chronic, generational, and situational. Each aspect requires a targeted approach focused on poverty alleviation, poverty prevention, or poverty reduction, guided by our three-fold mission of service, advocacy, and convening, in order to realize a vision of a transformed community. Through the achievement of new strategic inputs as well as improvements in client outputs and outcomes, this strategic plan offers a roadmap for changing the lives of individuals and families for good. Together, we are creating pathways from poverty to prosperity, opportunity, and hope.

4 HOPE STARTS HERE Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County is a comprehensive social service and social change organization. We employ multiple services aligned to impact the underlying reasons for poverty. In order to achieve our vision of hope and opportunity and to meet our social impact goals, we are transforming our own agency approach. Our social change impact goals directly target three states of poverty through strategies of alleviation, prevention, and reduction: 1) We alleviate chronic poverty by stabilizing vulnerable clients so that they can live in dignity; 2) We prevent the growth of generational poverty by engaging children and youth with opportunities to break the cycle of poverty; and 3) We reduce situational poverty by creating pathways of economic opportunity. In order to create these pathways from poverty to opportunity and hope, we need to focus on five critical strategies: 1) Move towards a client-centric model of services rather than be driven by a service-centric model; 2) Advocate for policies and best practices to address the barriers and underlying causes of poverty; 3) Incubate social innovations to find new solutions to poverty; 4) Strengthen the agency s infrastructure to improve effectiveness; 5) Transform the agency s funding model for greater flexibility in service design.

5 OUR STRATEGIC INTENT It is our vision that through these strategies and our overwhelming commitment to serve those most in need, our work will not only serve agency participants, but will also create social change at the neighborhood and broader community level to address both the effects and the causes of poverty in Santa Clara County. We welcome your involvement and participation in this endeavor as we adopt these five strategies over the next three years. EDUCATIONAL DISPARITIES 26.3% of Santa Clara County residents who have some college education live in poverty. Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies. (March 2015). Poverty in the San Francisco Bay Area. Retrieved from

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7 Become Client-Centric We believe that agency participants know what the best path is for building their self-sufficiency. We partner with them to achieve this goal by transitioning away from a service-centric model and towards a client-centric culture. SOCIAL IMPACT Rather than be the objects of services, agency participants will direct the course of their engagement and develop greater hope, resiliency, autonomy, and connectedness. In turn, staff, parish, and community volunteers will be subject to fewer restrictive service-driven program requirements and will be free to engage clients with greater creativity. GOALS 1) Develop a client-centric organizational culture through training and revised program design. 2) Create and implement client-driven methods and tools, including Individual Opportunity Plans and client advisory councils. 3) Create a system of primary service coordinators to triage client needs and centralize an internal referral system. INCOME INEQUALITY 57.3% of Bay Area residents make $75,000 or more, whereas only 13.9% make less than $25,000. The Bay Area has some of the highest median household incomes in the country, but the region also has a widening gap between high earners and other workers. Avalos, George. (2014, August 11). Santa Clara County has highest median household income in nation but wealth gap widens. San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved from santa-clara-county-has-highest-median-household-income.

8 ADVOCATE FOR POLICIES Systemic and structural policies and practices that perpetuate poverty or act as barriers to solutions need to change. We are committed to finding practical policy alternatives and best practices to address today s challenges. SOCIAL IMPACT With successful advocacy efforts within three years, we will have influenced changes in at least three policies, which will in turn enable clients to access services and benefits more easily and enable more residents in poverty to improve their economic status and standard of living. GOALS 1) Establish policy priorities and criteria for advocacy. 2) Develop advocacy strategies that engage clients, parishes, partners, and community members. 3) Successfully advocate for three anti-poverty policies. POVERTY An estimated 46.7 million in the U.S. live in poverty. United States Census Bureau Highlights. [Data file]. Available from % of Santa Clara County residents live in poverty, according to the California Poverty Measure. This is a large difference compared to the federally under-reported 10.2% by the Official Poverty Measure. Wimer, C., Mattingly, M., Levin, M., Danielson, C., & Bohn, S. (2013). A Portrait of Poverty within California Counties and Demographic Groups. Retrieved from

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11 INCUBATE SOCIAL INNOVATION The persistence of poverty over time requires that we think and act anew to develop creative and disruptive solutions that are in service to our mission, rather than accept the status quo. SOCIAL IMPACT Catholic Charities latest incubated initiatives will immediately impact individuals whose lives may best benefit from employment and skill development. The broader impact will include the expansion of social finance in the region, including social enterprise and Pay-for-Success social services funding systems. GOALS 1) Incubate one additional social enterprise, such as Transportation Services for Older Adults and Children, Translation Services, or Child Care Services. 2) Raise seed funding for a minimum of three years (Year 1-3). 3) Pilot one of the sectors by Year 3. FOOD DISPARITY 823 million meals are required daily to feed low-income families, but due to lack of availability and costs, 204 million meals are still missing to feed low-income families. Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. (2014). Hunger Index. Retrieved from

12 STRENGTHEN THE INFRASTRUCTURE Catholic Charities seeks to create a stronger and more sustainable operational model to better meet the needs of our agency participants. We are set to strengthen our agency infrastructure (people, process, place, culture, and technology) in order to improve effectiveness. With our expansive growth over the last 10 years, the need to invest in training and in core processes, tools, and facilities has become an imperative. SOCIAL IMPACT A stronger infrastructure is essential to enabling effective social services and social change. GOALS 1) Train and develop staff in client-centric service model, operating, and service processes and technology. 2) Revise processes and create program business plans. 3) Use new technology to improve staff productivity, client services, reporting, and revenue generation. 4) Strengthen the agency s culture of a faith-based inclusive community of effective, innovative, and compassionate professional and volunteer change agents. 5) Upgrade facilities to better meet needs of clients and staff. HEALTH CARE 28.9% of Hispanic families in the Silicon Valley are uninsured. 36.1% of residents between the ages of are uninsured. Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies. (March 2015). Poverty in the San Francisco Bay Area. Retrieved from

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15 TRANSFORM THE FUNDING MODEL Transforming the funding model is essential to obtaining the flexibility needed to unleash social innovation. Diversifying our funding streams will allow us to serve our clients in more innovative and targeted ways. SOCIAL IMPACT Increased flexible funding will result in more clients and county residents in poverty benefiting from poverty alleviation, reduction, and prevention through increased services and advocacy. GOALS 1) Improve our fund development infrastructure: a) Hire more grant writers; b) Provide grant development coaching, research, and training support to staff; c) Encourage cooperative grant applications across divisions to raise more funds to support programs as well as broader social issues. 2) Develop more social finance, particularly expanding social enterprises, fee-for-service, and crowd funding to diversify revenues and provide more opportunities to get poor people out of poverty. 3) Pursue long-term advocacy with government and private funders so that they will create more integrated, flexible, and streamlined funding policies and practices that better meet broader community needs, particularly on issues facing poor people. HOUSING BURDENS Only 44% of residents can afford to buy a first-time home. Massaro, Rachel. (2015) Silicon Valley Index. Retrieved from

16 Creating Pathways from Poverty to Hope and Opportunity By focusing on these strategic inputs, Catholic Charities should realize improved results not just in the number of services provided to more people, but in the progress that people have made in improving their living situations in relation to developing resiliency and engagement in community; accessing nutritious food; increasing their physical and mental health; living in safe, decent, affordable housing; and obtaining a quality education and employment, thus gaining sufficient income and assets to make ends meet. Outcomes are measured through the Self-Sufficiency Measure developed from Catholic Charities Step Up Silicon Valley network. Food Housing Health Education Income Employment Hope Social Impact By following these strategies over the coming years, agency clients and other county residents living in poverty will experience measurable improvements in resiliency and in access to food, housing, healthcare, education and income, as measured by the Self-Sufficiency Measure. Our goals remain flexible in order to respond to the changing needs of our communities. As part of the national ministries of Catholic Charities USA, we are also committed to incubating innovative solutions to poverty and leveraging our learnings with the national ministries resources. Vulnerable residents in chronic poverty will see their lives stabilized with resources sufficient to make ends meet. Children and youth in generational poverty will improve their academic success and develop resiliency to disrupt the cycle of poverty. Adults in situational poverty will learn skills and gain the income and assets to move up and out of poverty over time.

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19 The Long Range Planning Committee, composed of five key representatives from the Board of Directors, six staff members including the CEO, and three community volunteers, met over a seven-month period and provided leadership throughout the strategy formation process. They worked through the content from the retreat and helped refine the final strategy roadmap. This committee was given the charge and responsibility to act on behalf of the Board. BOARD MEMBERS Mike Blach, Board President Veronica Duluk, Long Range Planning Committee Chair Khanh Russo, Board Vice President Rev. Brendan McGuire Sandra Sepulveda-Bromley Gregory R. Kepferle, CEO COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS Mike Yutrzenka, Emeritus Board Member Catherine Gallagher, Long Range Planning Committee Member Paul Sanchirico, Long Range Planning Committee Member Bill Beasley, Long Range Planning Committee Member STAFF Maggie Williams, Chief Administrative and Financial Officer Jackie Copeland-Carson, Chief Operations Officer Steve Hicken, Senior Division Director of Economic Development Services Almaz Negash, Managing Director of Step Up Silicon Valley John Rinaldo, Parish Partnerships Director Catholic Charities of Santa Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County CatholicCharitiesTV

20 OUR VISION We envision a valley where every child has the opportunity to learn from cradle to career and lives in a neighborhood free from fear, where families can afford to live in safe and decent housing and eat nutritious food, where enterprising workers can earn enough to make ends meet and save for the future, where immigrants are welcomed, and where those who are imprisoned, physically and mentally ill, elderly, and vulnerable can find healing and hope. OUR MISSION Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County serves and advocates for families and individuals in need, especially those living in poverty. Rooted in gospel values, we work to create a more just and compassionate community in which people of all cultures and beliefs can participate Zanker Road San Jose, CA (408)