During an eight-month planning process, Delaware County Board of Developmental Disabilities (DCBDD) staff diligently worked on developing a customized strategic plan to meet the needs of the evolving community it serves.
According to the 2020-2022 Strategic Plan, DCBDD will focus its efforts on three core goals aimed at having a positive impact on the individuals in the community it serves.
The core goals are as follows:
• Maximize opportunities for independence and inclusion throughout a person’s life.
• Foster a person-centered culture internally and externally to promote excellence.
• Advocate for developmental disabilities initiatives to enhance the lives of all people.
“Like any strategic plan, it has to be revisited on a relatively frequent basis to make it a living document,” DCBDD President Louis Borowicz said.
According to Superintendent Kristine Hodge, statutorily the plan has to be revised every three years.
“We started the process back in the spring or the early summer by determining a facilitator and starting the process of building a committee; getting input from the community, our staff, the families we serve, our board; and doing surveys and focus groups,” she said. “From there, we gathered the data and analyzed it to build our goals and initiatives.”
Hodge added the thing that stood out from the majority of those that answered the surveys was “they were very, very happy with our services and that we communicated really, really well.”
“They felt we were in line with our strategic plan,” she said. “What we think is our strategic plan, that we just finished, laid the groundwork for our new plan. It was the building blocks to get to where we are today.”
According to Anne Flanery, public relations and community education manager, 400 responses were returned.
“This year, we took a new approach in developing our three-year plan,” Hodge said. “Our planning committee was composed of 21 representatives from each team in our agency who provided thoughtful input into the development of each of our three goals and their initiatives.”
Hodge said there are two facilitators per each goal with a team of people working to break down the work plan objectives that will lead toward the accomplishment of the goals.
“Everyone is involved at all levels,” she said. “One of the consistencies between this plan and the last plan is the focus on person-centeredness. It’s about that person. You build the plan accessed from their needs and what outcomes they want, and then we fill that service plan.”
Hodge said person-centeredness also encompasses the employees and how important it is for them to be trained well, that they fill passionate about the work, and that they want to serve the people in the county.
“By supporting our staff very well, we’re supporting the families that we serve,” she said. “Person-centeredness has to come first. It’s what we really worked hard on the most.”
Hodge said the board was given regular updates during the planning and unanimously approved the plan on Dec. 12 in a regularly scheduled meeting.
“As a board member, I was truly impressed by the significant amount of work that was accomplished during the last strategic plan,” Borowicz said. “As a parent, I am excited about the goals and initiatives outlined in the new strategic plan. I know it will only enhance the level and quality of services for people with disabilities in our community.”
