Alice Saddy Foundation's Annual Susan Shepherd Educational Talks presents Dr. Al Condeluci World Café

In 2023, Alice Saddy Association celebrated its 50 th anniversary. While we enjoyed the opportunity to reflect on our past, we also took the time to plan for our future. A key part of this planning was updating our strategic plan. The pandemic brought about many changes, some challenging, some positive and others transformational in how we support people with developmental disabilities. The process of creating a strategic plan gave us space to pause, reflect and plot the future we want for our families, individuals we support, staff and community. After much consultation and vigorous discussions, we determined the following strategic priorities will guide our work from 2024 to 2028. Person-directed supports Staff engagement Responding to community Streamlined operations You’ll notice three of our priorities are internally focused. Coming out of the pandemic, we recognize the need to strengthen how we operate and support individuals. Empowering people For individuals, it’s about ensuring they’re directing decisions about the support they receive. This means strengthening their self-advocacy skills and helping them know their voice is being heard. Like many businesses and organizations, we’re dealing with labour shortages. To help retain our valued staff, and recruit new faces, we’re focusing on how we train, recognize and communicate with staff. We’re also looking for ways to streamline our operations to maximize the quality of supports provided to individuals, families and staff. Finally, we know there are many more individuals who are seeking support than our current capacity allows. That is causing stress for families. We’re committed to working with our community to find creative and flexible ways to respond to their needs. We look forward to updating you on the progress on our strategic priorities. Watch for updates in our newsletter. It’s an exciting time for change.